Tips on how to persevere in a job you don’t like

[Blipblopblue]

I started a job in the civil service recently. It’s not for me. The work in my particular office is busy but dull, there’s days packed full of pointless meetings, and my manager is difficult.

The trouble is I’m stuck here for a year until myself and my husband can get a mortgage. He earns less than me and we need my permanent pensionable job to stand any chance of getting a decent mortgage. Once we buy a house I can find a less stable or less well paying job that better suits me. After a year I have the option of transferring within the civil service too which I’ll investigate.

My question: How do I suck it up and do this job for another year? I’m doing this for my family which is of course a powerful motivator to stay but I really need day to day tactics to keep me from going stir-crazy.

Any good ideas, big or small, welcome 😊

If you've only started there, couldn't you just look for another job immediately? If you need to be there for 12 months and you've only been at your job for a short while, surely it's better to just start the 12 month countdown elsewhere? Unless by recently you mean a good few months?

If you insist on staying there though, I'd advise you to just keep your head down and just do the job. Nothing more, nothing less, don't get dragged into any pettiness or office politics, just let it go. And do not take work home with you. Once your working hours are done, switch off and don't let it take up any mental space.

A busy environment is great as the days tend to go quicker. Your biggest problem is probably going to be your difficult manager.....

Are you new to the civil service or just this job/dept?

I'm wondering whether you could look out for any expressions of interest, loans or projects. People move around quite a lot this way in the CS, a new job within your current one. You'd still on the same payroll, at the same salary so I don't see why it would make much difference to the mortgage provider.

If you can schedule a quick, confidential chat with HR Admin in the dept, you could ask about applying to internal vacancies before your probation. Explain that whilst you want to stay in the dept, this job is unfortunately just not for you so is there anything they can suggest. Obv don't be negative about the team or manager or suggest it was mis-sold or anything. I know someone who did this, she got put onto another team and was fine. Not saying it would be the same for everyone.

Otherwise, I would just get your head down, make the most of as many learning and development opportunities as you can (look on the intranet for interesting ones), use up your volunteering days on something you care about- I used to get 5 a year, look at streamlining the number of meetings you need to attend, and spend time on your hobbies outside work. Make the most of it, glean some good competency examples out of your time there and move on as soon as you can. As PP says, don't let the job take up any mental space outside working hours.

Do little things like having a walk outside every lunchtime to break the days up.

What's the deal with your difficult manager and how much of the problem is them?

If you can't move and need to stay for a year I would book my holidays as long in advance as possible so you have always got some time off to look forward to.

Are there any training courses you can go on to mix things up?

Thank you for your replies. All good advice I’m taking on board.
I’ll look into having a quiet chat with HR. I’ve holidays booked right up to June, definitely helps!
And I’ll see if there are other jobs out there (the nuclear option!)
thanks again 😊

Maybe you could get a mortgage with 6 months work only instead of a year.

I'd be very careful to what you say to HR as a new employee; moreover, if you're still in probation. Unfortunately, HR is there to protect the organization, not so much the employee.