I can't stand my job anymore but I'm priced out of the market.

[shouldaknownbetter]

I know most people would kill to be in a job where they are 'overpaid' but it's making it very difficult to leave!

I am doing a job where I am basically left to rot most days with not enough work, my boss takes all the juicy/interesting work including stuff that should be done by my level, leaving me with the basic/junior crap. Despite this, I am paid quite well - around 5-7k more than similar jobs on the market. I think this is because my boss creams off all the decent work so I'm left with the really basic stuff.

She doesn't communicate with me or my colleague (who is same level as me) so half the time we don't have a clue what is going on which leads to some embarrassing moments when the people we advise know more than we do about a situation. Total mushroom management.

We have asked numerous times for more development/communication/work but she just makes excuses or it falls on deaf ears. She seems to not want us to develop, I think she may see it as a threat as she used to work at the same level as us before being promoted a few years ago, and can very touchy if ever she's wrong about anything.

The basic problem is that there's not enough work to go round, in most (competent) organisations they'd restructure but it's been like this the past 4 years and no one seems to notice or care about this.

Last straw was last week, boss going on annual leave, told me to be available to support a project she'd been working with some other people on, and then went on annual leave without giving me any details of the project I'd be supporting. So I had to go to the client to get details of the project in order to be able to advise/support.

I want to leave but the problem is that due to the fact that I've only been given really junior work to do, and increasingly so, over the past 4 years I've been there, my skill set is now out of whack with my salary. Plus the job was probably a bit overpaid to begin with in the first place.

So to get another job I'm realistically looking at around a 5-7k pay cut (about 15-20% of my salary).

I don't know whether to stay where I am for the money, get a different job on less pay (feels like I'm going backwards in my career, I sort of am) or look at temp work to get my skills back up.. which would be possible but obviously a lot less secure than perm work.

I have stayed there so long because the hours were very family friendly and I started when my kids were small, but now my kids are getting bigger that's less of an imperative to stay and I feel like my career is just going down the tubes the longer I stay.

There's no point going to her boss, or her boss's boss as there's a general culture of not giving a shit about these things so I don't think anything will ever change. I'm fed up to the back teeth of this organisation, so don't feel I can stay, but am gutted to think that I've actually gone backwards in my career and earning potential.

I sympathise with her tbh. It’s just shit management from the top. There basically isn’t enough work for the 3 of you. Like you say any decent organisation would have restructure and move you and your colleague to another position that needs staff. There are many places like this, where higher management isn’t clear how many actual staff is needed. This is the joke about how British Gas (or substitute any big utility company) needs 15 engineers to dig a hole.

She is just doing what she can to keep her role relevant. I don’t think she’s deliberately not developing you. If there is enough good work, then she can’t do it all.

The project she left me high and dry with no information would have been a good opportunity to develop me. Instead she chose to go on leave without giving me any info, and just passed my contact details to the client!

Can you use the time/energy to get extra qualifications to boost your earning potential?

Look for a new job. With your current on paper responsibilities and salary. Take every opportunity to research and understand the tasks your boss is doing even if you don't actually do it yourself. Use this opportunity to ray in touch with this client and set up regular meetings with your boss to review what the team is doing. Force yourself to be informed on what is happening across the team so you can speak confidently about the skills you should be practicing at your level. Look at your job description and make sure you can talk.confidently about all aspects of it even if you don't practice these skills every day. The evidence that you are paid to do this will be enough. Remember, men apply for jobs when they are qualified / experienced for 60-70% of the requirements, women are more likely to shy away unless they believe they tick all of the boxes. Don't fall into this trap. And when you get your new job, insist that you ask many questions so you can understand how they do things especially if it's an area you have had little practice in. It is normal in a new job, use the first 3 months wisely.

I think I am going to just look for a new job and accept that this will probably involve a pay cut. I'm just getting so miserable where I am now, it's affecting my mental health. I've been hanging on til the kids are bigger, but being poorly managed over a long period of time gets you down.

My guess is your company also has crap training for people new to management. You said she is new to it so she possibly doesn’t know she needs to.

I think forgiveness words are wise. Start looking for a new job but sell it as if you are doing what your job spec and pay says you are doing.