mis-sold new job so I quit after just 2 weeks

[madeamistake234]

I suppose I am just interested to hear from anyone else who found themselves in my situation and what happened next (I am hoping that it turned out OK?).
I work in social research. In my previous job, I was undertaking research for a non-profit organisation, and I was using skills directly related to my PhD day in day out. However, after two years in the role, I was increasingly frustrated at the lack of progression opportunities, so I left for a substantial promotion at a private company.
That company subjected me to two rounds of interviews where all the questions and tests were related to my research skills. However, when I arrived, EVERYTHING that I was asked to do was project management related. I have no background or experience in project management, and as I am dyslexic while my analytical skills are good, my organisational skills are not fantastic, so project management is my idea of hell.
I did discuss the issue with my line manager before quitting, and he seemed surprised that I was pretty much only doing research in my last job. He explained that while they could change the ratio slightly for me so that I was doing more research relative to project management, project management was always going to be a large part of the job.
I handed my notice in three days later. I felt that this job wasn’t just going to be a bit dull compared to the research-heavy job that I had expected to be doing based on the interviews, but fundamentally unsuitable and stressful for me given my dyslexia. I never would have accepted the job if I had known that it had such a large project management component.
I am now really very angry as I quit a 35k job where I was allowed to work from home two days a week in order to take this new role, and now I am left with nothing (my old workplace has already hired a replacement so going back is not an option).

Why would you quit before securing a new job? Are you working your notice or have you walked out?

Sorry, you should have given it more than 2 weeks to see if you adjusted to the job. Most people struggle in the first few months of a new job

I'm not understanding why you quit before finding another job. Do you have savings to see you through until something appropriate comes up?

What was the job title? Do you have a copy of the job description/roles & responsibilities? When did you receive them?

What was the job advertised as c/w your contractual title?

What was your old job title? (I'm wondering if there's been confusion between similar role names).

@LazyPuppy and @NoBaggyPants , I quit because I am dyslexic and have no prior experience in project management. In my previous role, I was doing quantitative (statistical) research; this is also what my PhD focused on and what I was lead to believe that I would be doing in this job (most of the tests and questions during the interview were on my skills in this area). However, once I was in post, it emerged that this would only be about 25% of the job, and most of my time would be spent managing other people to do tasks, etc.
The role as it was wasn't something I could just muddle through with until I found something else, as I am dyslexic and while I am great with analytical tasks I struggle with anything that requires a huge amount of admin or organisation. My choice was either quit early on and make it my own decision or wait until I get fired/fail probation because the role was so poorly suited to my skill set.
I did have some savings to fall back on and am doing bits and pieces of freelance work.
@AnnieOH1 , It would be a bit outing to give away the exact job title, but both my previous job and the job that I just quit had “Research” in the title.

Self correction: *led to believe

It's very odd that what the role was not defined. I wonder if there was some confusion, they assumed you knew and you assumed they did. And it wasn't properly discussed. Hence your managers surprise at your last role being only research.

I take it you can't go back to your previous job?

You have been completely mis-sold this job. it's crap what people are like and there's no comeback for the candidate, it's insanity.

@RosaWaiting. A former colleague who I still keep in touch with told me that my old work made an offer to one of the candidates for my old role last week. That candidate accepted and she will start at the end of July.
They currently have no one else on the team who can do what I used to do though, so they have just commissioned me to do a freelance piece of work for them. That work will obviously dry up once the new person starts at the end of July though.

I was in a similar-ish situation to you OP. I left a £40k WFH job as there were no opportunities for progression. I started another job, similar salary only to find out I was essentially someone's dogsbody and would have no autonomy or responsibility for my own clients.

Looking back the interview was quite rushed, they did a lot of tests and assessments to find out what my potential was but neglected to really explain the role to me although in hindsight I should have asked more questions. I guess I got lured by the 'thrill of the chase' and a desperate need to quit my current employer. Patience has never been a strong point of mine.

Its shit, but happens quite a lot I think. Its hard to know exactly what you're getting in to from a few interviews.

I too left sooner rather than later - to those questioning that have you any idea how hard it is to take time out for interviews when you are still in probation. In my case the kind of roles I was going for were generally national, so interviews involved a day of travel. No way could I have explained the need to take time off so early.

All you can do is keep looking. I actually got quite depressed over the cock up that i went through, I blamed myself as much as the employer (and it all ended very nastily when I said I was not happy in the role... long story but my line manager basically kicked me out)

However I'm pleased to announce that it was a temporary situation. 3 months later I found a much better job where I have a lot more responsibility.

So you may be in for a rough ride, but now you can be available on the market for something better and its bound to come round before too long. Good luck.

it must have been detailed in the job description what the role entailed.

And just because you are dyslexic doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to do the job - there is specialist software you can get through Access to Work.

You should have had discussions with your manager and HR about getting these adjustments in place and that could have reduced the pressure on you.

2 weeks is not enough time to get settled in, you didn't give the job much of a chance and I find it hard to believe you didn't know what it would involve.

It's very ill advised to leave a job without one to go to.

I have multiple disabilities and don't get the support I need but I won't leave until I find something else and I'll always check the job descriptions before I apply too.

Sounds like you were thinking about the money and not the job.

@DontPressSendTooSoon , Thank you! This is so helpful and does sound extremely similar.
I was desperate to quit my last job after my previous line manager told me that while I was "welcome to apply" for her maternity cover role, they would prefer someone who was primarily a qualitative researcher (i.e. the opposite of my skill profile).
That reinforced to me that while I was good at what I did and essential to my old team (they freaked out when I got this new position and gave notice) they just saw my role as that of a problem-solving technician, and they had zero interest in providing any career development opportunities.
I was desperate to leave, as I did not want to endure the awkward situation of working with the person who did get that maternity cover post (in the end myself and that person only had two month’s crossover before I left for the new role).
In my case, it wasn’t just the difficulty in getting time off to prepare for and travel to interviews while hanging around in the new job (which was definitely a factor), there was just no way that I was going to be able to keep on top of the huge project management side of it without working excessive hours due to my dyslexia. I was already crying every day after just two weeks, so that’s why I decided "Sod this for a game of soldiers" despite having nothing to go to.

Are you me OP? I left my original job because my line manager kept telling me and a colleague that if she got pregnant again we'd be able to go for her mat cover. Keeping us dangling with carrots to keep us in line. Probably hoping we'd fall out with each other over who could suck up to the boss the most (but we didn't, we both hated her and became very good friends)

Fast forward to when she did get pregnant, almost immediately she started talking about getting a temp in to cover, going to agency etc. Made it very clear it wouldn't be us! So I had to leave after that and recognise that feeling of not wanting to stay where you're not wanted.

It can make more sense to leave early on (if you can survive financially of course) and take the job off your CV rather than stick it out when you KNOW its wrong. So don't listen to the posters saying why did you quit... it's not always that easy. Particulalry if you fear failing your probation period.. better to leave on your terms.

I hope you can now find something better, as I did. Its just round the corner.. out of sight now, but there, waiting for you.

@FFSeverynameisused I suggest you re-read my post. I was asking to hear from people who found themselves in the same situation, not snotty patronising critiques of my decision

Well, you know what to ask about in future interviews now at least!

It would seem unlikely to me that any future role that is a 'substantial promotion' would not include some management role within it. Managing other people's output is generally how most people progress up the ladder. If you don't want to do any of that then it will limit your options.

Obviously if it would be outing don't say anything on here, but consider what you thought the type of research was going to be to justify that kind of promotion and then consider if there are actually any roles for that out there. There may not be, unfortunately. or only at your previous employer (and it doesn't sound as if the higher levels were available that often).

I think you were a little impulsive to hand your notice in so quickly, and it would be wise to come up with a prepared answer for any questions about that in future interviews so you can brush it off.

Good luck with the job search OP, it's good that you've got some freelance work to fill the current gap.

I am dyslexic and have been very successful in project and programme management. You should have come to mumsnet before you quit so we could have shared strategies. Project management skills are essential for managers in every industry, and new starters are often given projects or programmes to earn their keep right from the start. So you will need to get your head around PM for your next job.

'Change of focus/priorities/reorganisation for the business shortly after I started' would probably work, I may have heard that mentioned in interviews.

There will be a fair few people who have thought the job isn't what they expected after they started OP, so I wouldn't worry too much. It's not unknown by any means!

@ChicCroissant, thanks, that's useful and I will keep it in mind as a potential explanation for future interviews.

In my experience quitting a job do soon didn't penalise me on the market. I had an otherwise stable CV... if I'd had loads of short term jobs it might have been different.

I was worried it would mark me out a a 'bad egg' but most employers were understanding that I'd taken a wrong move. I think most people probably have at some point.

@FFSeverynameisused, so you read the job description and were sitting in on my two rounds interviews with this company were you? As I am amazed that you can talk so authoritatively on what happened! You don't actually know me, and seem to have some sort of chip on your shoulder or axe to grind, so I would prefer that you saved that vitriol for someone else rather than kicking someone when they are down.

you only gave it two weeks! You barely even tried to resolve it!

Good luck job searching and good luck to your future employer too.

/signing out

Unfortunately, @DontPressSendTooSoon I think I am going to ask MNHQ to take this thread down. I was hoping to hear from posters like you so that I could get an idea of how long it would take to find a new role, etc. and how you coped in the interim.
I avoided posting in AIBU precisely because I am feeling down, and wanted to avoid people with their own agendas hijacking the thread with unsolicited critiques and nastiness. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem possible. Thank you so much for your kind posts!

I think it can be hard for people with no experience of dyslexia to understand exactly how exhausting it can be to do the stuff which isn’t in your neural pathways. There are a lot of people who think that dyslexia = can’t read and you can get a software package for it. It’s not always as simple as that. I think you have found a type of work you are really good at, which is great, and you tried something different. It didn’t work out. Unfortunately unless you ask at interview what proportion of the work will be x and y, I don’t think you have any comeback. However the situation you are in now means you will question opportunities more carefully next time and hopefully you will find something which suits you.
Pp’s comment about project management being a crucial part of going up the ladder is interesting. With that in mind, you can think about what directions might allow progress for you. Good luck!

sorry OP I asked that very quickly without explaining myself!

I was in a similar situation - I left after 3 weeks. I was taken back by my old company into a different job.

I completely understand that you can't do a job that doesn't remotely fit your skills. It bugs me to see how employers get away with this shit.

PS the 3 weeks is not on my CV!