I have been in my role as manager at a charity activity centre (riding school) for just over a month. Basically I am employed by the directors. They are volunteers. Very hands on.
They employ a professional person (me at the moment) to run part of their charity. This is because you need particular qualifications and skills.
The directors speak badly of the previous manager. I would say this is unprofessional, but they are volunteers. The last manager was entirely professional. The problem is here that there is no money for more staff and resources… but the problems caused by lack of staff and resources are the fault of the manager.
I have no control over these things. That is handled by the directors. I have raised these things and there is no way of changing it. Really the Centre should close down, re organise and come back when it has the funds and staff to do so.
Example… can’t run the required activities because there is no staff. No freelancers will work here because the pay is so low. Directors know this. They don’t care.
Example, yard is untidy… but there are no actual staff paid to tidy up. Kids don’t do it properly because they are kids and only here for a couple of hours. Actual staff are working beyond their hours and not paid for extra they do.
I need out before the same thing happens to me as the last manager. They didn’t delete the emails from before I took over. I can literally read about how my future will pan out.
How can I mitigate the inevitable bad reference and stain on my CV from leaving after such a short time? AIBU to think things are a bit unfair towards job seekers with this background? I get it that employers need to be cautious, but what when there is a genuinely bad situation like this?