Reasonable work request?

[StraightOuttaChorlton]

I’ve been with my large public sector employer for almost 5 years, but the first couple of years was at a trainee grade. Within a few months of qualification / not being a trainee, I was given a specialist role. Lots of others who qualified with me stayed at the more common general role. I’m still the same salary and level of seniority as they are, just more specialist.

I was asked to work on a customer project, which I had no problem with as it’s a fairly common ask, and to support a trainee. However my manager has just dropped (a couple of months in) that I need to do it as a generalist, not a specialist.

I don’t have the knowledge base to do it as a generalist. I was only in that role for 6 months and didn’t complete all the training as I moved to the specialist role.

I’ve made it clear that I’m happy to complete the work as a specialist but don’t have the knowledge and experience to do so as a generalist. My manager won’t accept this and says as we’re short staffed I have to do that work.

AIBU?

YANBU. You can 100% say no to anything you’re not comfortable to do, that is reasonable. It’s how you then suggest going forward. Not in your remit? Refuse politely and say someone else is better qualified to do it. If it is something you should’ve been trained on why not suggest you won’t do it on this occasion but if they’d like you to in future then you’re happy to do some CPD

how long would it take you to train up to do the generalist work? is there a formal qualification or is it just something that you pick up on the job?

Thanks both.

I should have been clear that the generalist role would be considered a step back, even though as mentioned it’s the same salary etc. The specialist role is more technical and challenging (and required external qualifications I did in my own time).
It would be more common for the generalists to become specialists over time, I was just fast-tracked. For me to learn the generalist skills and knowledge rather than build my specialism further would not be a positive addition to my career.

Is it the case that usually a specialist would have been a generalist?

If so then YABU and should be expected to be able to do both rolls.

That’s sometimes the case, but not always, many people directly become specialists, especially if they join from outside the organisation as I did.

However, over time many generalists become specialists. It is not the same kind of role but it would be like asking a research scientist to be a GP as they both have medical degrees. It is a totally different skill set and knowledge base, even though they start with the same basic training.

I'm a bit confused about how you can be told a couple of months into it that you need a different skillset, but I presume it makes sense to those in your line of work.
I think what you need to do is to make sure that it is minuted somewhere that you don't have all the training expected for this role, and that you will need someone who does to check things over and/or provide some support. If they're short-staffed, it may be reasonable to ask you to be a bit flexible, but they need to recognise your limitations. If you ask for any specific help, again, make sure that's recorded. If something isn't done right, you need to be able to show that you asked for the help.

My experience of working in the public sector is that we are commonly expected to change roles, and do work that we neither applied for nor are trained for nor particularly want to do.

I would advise politeness and positivity, a willingness to learn, but, to always put it back to the Manager .......
"I am very happy to support the trainee, but obviously it isn't going to help them being trained by someone who doesn't fully understand the role. Would you prefer I hand over some aspects of their training to someone who knows the role better than me, or is there a plan to train me in the work first ?" type conversation.
It's not confrontational, but is assertive. It's not being negative, but is setting boundaries and offering more than one possible solution rather than just 'having a moan'.

Are you a DC who’s being told to do the project as a PC? If so, I’d say stop being so precious. They’re not completely different skill sets and any additional skills/training you require will be relevant to your duties now or at some point in your future career, if only to understand the role of your colleagues better.

@Happytohelp2 if you’re referring to the police (I’m assuming so with “PC”), then no, that isn’t my organisation and those aren’t the types of roles at all.
Not sure if that changes your views in any way?