Thought I'd come here for some advice on a work issue, as I'm at a bit of a loss.
So, I have quite a good job in financial services - it's not what I set out to do, but rather fell into and it suits me and generally it's quite good. when I first started out, I had a fabulous fabulous manager, who was very encouraging and supportive, gave me lots of exposure, responsibility etc. and it was great. She then moved on and I ended up with a line manager who a) had never actually worked in my field before so had little technical knowledge and essentially didn't really understand what I did for a job, b) was a micro-manager and c) didn't really like me. She (and the manager above her) often took credit for work I did (e.g. I was finishing off researching something for a meeting with senior management, she walked past my desk and said "don't worry I'm finishing it off right now") that kind of thing. So, I thought that it was a good idea to find a new job as I wasn't going to be able to develop in any way, or get anywhere soon.
I then moved to my current role. the managers were fabulous - my line manager (let's call him Mr A) was very very experienced in this area, so great to learn from, I felt the other managers in the team respected and admired me and it was great. I was very happy. then, management changed again and my line manager changed (he stopped having direct reports) and they brought in someone to be more of a "manager" than a technical specialist (let's call him Mr B). Now, again, I'm in the situation (though not as bad as before, to be fair) where I'm reporting into someone who I have more knowledge and experience than, who doesn't listen to me (e.g. he was asking me about something, and he said "this company does x" and I went "well, no, it doesn't, it does y because ..." and he insisted that they were doing something they weren't) and is a micromanager. He is also appalling at communicating stuff. A colleague did an exchange with another department, so I helped cover some of her work. When she came back, she picked it up again but now he's been sending me chaser emails about her work and when I questioned him on it, and whether or not it was something I'm actually responsible for, he came back with "we'll clarify your roles".
Good luck if you've made it this far!
Now, next week I have my annual review. I can't continue like this - I'm so miserable at work, I'm nearly in tears most days and actually dread coming in in the morning. I would like to say "I would like to move into a different role, internally if possible", but how do you say that without jeopoardising your job (particularly at a time when they're doing rounds of redundancies every few months). Also, how do you constructively and nicely say I hate having to report into, and kow tow to, someone who is less experienced and less knowledgable, and frequently passes off my work as his own and takes credit. I do think, from conversations with Mr A (who I think Mr B does have a dotted line into, but again, it isn't celar) he at least knows what's going on. For e.g. I am running (in reality, though not in terms of getting credit for it) a sort of global team, ensuring that we have regular calls, that issues are dealt with and communicated etc. Officially, Mr A is the global coordinator of this, and Mr B is the EMEA head. I was discussing work coming out of it, and Mr A said "why hasn't Mr B done this? It is actually his role. Also, he needs to come back to you on stuff"
WWYD? (apols it's so long it's very difficult to describe the situation and give examples without giving identifying details).