Applying for a new job three months in to a 'new' job

[JobHelp123]

Hi everyone,

I'm having a bit of a dilemma and hope you can help.

I am three months in to a new job. It's been a difficult start, partly to do with personal circumstances outside of work (family bereavement) and partly because this is a new field for me. I am qualified to do the job and had to do extensive application tests, so my employers must have been convinced I could do the job before employing me. However, although I have the skills, the work is outside my subject area and I frequently feel out of my depth with seemingly small things that everyone else seems to be able to do. On my days off, I am in total fear of what they might find that I've accidentally done wrong/messed up and I feel like a total lemon in meetings that I can't contribute to/having to ask or check every small thing. It's been getting me down and I've asked for 1-1s with my line manager, but she seems to think things are going fine.

I also do some part-time/freelance work for a second organisation. This is totally within my field of expertise and something I feel comfortable doing - not in a 'bored' way, but in an 'I know that I'm doing a good job here' sort of way. In the past week, an opportunity has come up for a full-time, permanent role with this organisation.

I think what's holding me back from applying is the fact that I'm so new to my 'main' job. I've been working on the side for the second organisation for 18-ish months, so I'm known to them (in certain departments, at least). I'd been hoping that a full-time role like this would come up with them, but I wasn't expecting it to be so soon.

My previous roles before this have been 1 year/18 months temporary things while I build up my skills (I'm in my mid-20s), so I'm wary of looking flaky to the second organisation, but at the same time, I've been working with them part-time for 18 months already and want to build on this by moving into a full-time/permanent role with them. Do you think that would look OK?

I'd need to double-check some of the conditions of this just-advertised job but, if they were all OK/in line with what I was looking for, would I be totally mad to apply?

Hope this made sense - my brain is all over the place!

TY all

@emptyplinth, sorry for missing you! That's really reassuring, thank you. I think I'm just trying to find the right fit for me. I think it really depends on what Organisation #2 come back and say about the conditions/relocation requirements. I've enquired, so I'm keeping things crossed. If it doesn't work out with this newly advertised role, then I'll keep plugging away at my current role to get through probation. It's not bad enough to leave with nothing to go to, but I would probably leave if things were right with Organisation #2 and if they offered me the role.

I ended up taking my current role because I just needed something/anything with more structure and stability, so I totally agree about making decisions we might not otherwise have made. That is the problem, you should move jobs, your heart is not in it - cut your losses.

@CBARN thank you, I think you're right - my heart doesn't feel in it, I think partly to do with the bereavement and partly because of needing 'anything' to get out of the zero hours job.

Apply for the job first and see what happens. If you get the job just take current main job off your cv as you are already working for this co part time. Hopefully as you already know the co you are applying for you'll stay there a while as you already know you like it.