Tricky situation at work

[djsosn]

Apologies for being vague, I'm quite paranoid about being outed.

I'm quite new in my new job. It's a new role and is quite technical, compared to other jobs at the company. So technical that no one else has a clue what I do, and my manager is a general manager who also has no idea about my field.

It's become apparent that many people at the organisation think my job is something different to what it actually is, and think I can do things that are definitely not in my field or job description for that matter. The things they think I can do are in a completely different field and require degrees and advanced training to do. To give a comparison off the top of my head, it would be like being employed as a GP, and others assuming you can perform surgery on animals.

I am not sure how to approach this - if they looked up the general skills covered in my role, they would know what they think I can do is a completely different remit. But they have no idea what my role even is in the first place as it's so new to the company.

I am scared to tell them I can't do these things, as it's not what my job even requires, in case they get rid of me. They never asked if I could do these things in my interview, and as I said, it's not on my job spec and it's clear they are confused about what my job title traditionally involves. Advice please

Well you only have two options really. Tell them, or don’t tell them.

What do you think happens if you don’t tell them? Presumably at some point fairly soon, they’ll realise that things they are expecting you to do aren’t getting done, and will raise it with you?

Struggling to see the advantage in not telling them really?

I would tell them, but at the same time have a solution ready, either in terms of developing your skills so you can do these things, or an alternative route for sourcing this expertise to work alongside you if you think the stuff they are expecting you to do actually does need to be done.

I started my new job relatively recently and I was employed to do a specific job because of my specific skills experience and qualifications. When I arrived there it became apparent within hours that they had literally no idea what they were asking me to do and what I could/couldn’t/wouldn’t do (some of what they thought I would do actually broke laws had I done it!). I saw it as being part of my job to educate them about what was an wasn’t possible, especially as I am creating this role and won’t be doing it long term so the job description/expectations will be important for the next person who might not have the same experience as I do.

I can’t see the advantage of keeping quiet about it. The longer you leave it the more awkward it will be.

It's quite common, I think. I work in quite a niche role that isn't well understood in my workplace. We (small team) are regularly asked to do something and have to say "we can't give you the information you want, exactly as you want it, because we don't collect information in that way. However, we can do x, and can use that to give an indication of y."

I think you just have to be clear about a) what is possible, b) what is not possible and c) where your job role can be used to help them (or not!).

Need to work this out with your general manager.
Be totally frank about what you're qualified to do & getting your manager to support you in setting the boundaries & definitions.
Their fault if they hired the wrong person but until they tell you that, assume they want you for what you CAN do. That what you CAN do is exactly what they need someone to be doing.

it's a huge opportunity, to make the job how you want it to be. Be Brave. You can make this happen.

Yes unfortunately this is fairly familiar territory for technical specialists particularly in small-ish companies where you are the only one. So common for expectations to be completely mismatched with reality or for the company in their ignorance to have hired someone who works in the general technical area but not the specific area they want - e.g. a company I once worked for hired a server and hardware engineer when what they wanted was a software engineer and programmer, then got annoyed when their 'computer expert' couldn't make them a new website and app!

I think you need to develop a firm but polite line here - does/could the company actually employ someone to do the work they are asking you for? Or is it that they think they need X task but actually they need Y which is what you can do? Or is there no way at all that what they want can be achieved? I would probably say something along the lines of "Sorry Colleague, I understand you are asking for X but actually my role is to do Y [explain in simple terms not using jargon]. Here's what I recommend you do in order to achieve [what they want] and what I can do to help with that is...". If they persist in trying to get you to do things after you've told them no then I might do a bit of a passive aggressive tinkly laugh and say 'Absolutely not, it would be more than my license is worth/do you want to get me struck off/we'll have the regulator/courts/police/ombudsman on our backs if I did that when I'm not qualified to" (Delete as appropriate). If people still persist then you'll have to refer them to your manager. But I would have thought that for most people a simple explanation of what you can and can't do to help them would be fine - after all they aren't experts as you say and so they need a bit of help to understand what you can do. I'm sure I've made the same mistake myself with colleagues where I don't fully understand their job and so haven't always made best use of their skills but I would always take the time to listen and don't mind being redirected to somewhere or someone more appropriate - after all I just want the work to get done!

Do you have enough to do/are you busy doing what you are actually employed/qualified to do? Have you been set objectives/targets and are you on course to achieve them? Have you had any feedback from your manager? Unless you are twiddling your thumbs waiting for work to come in which doesn't exist, I wouldn't worry they'll get rid of you for saying no to things you can't actually achieve...