New job regret?

[Kanoe2]

Have you ever started a new job and quickly regretted it? What did you do?

I'm 4 weeks into a new job and after the 1st week I could sense maybe I had made the wrong decision. Everyone is busy, so no one has time to train me. The team dynamic is off and everyone looks miserable. I'm sat twiddling my thumbs for 7 hours a day, as there is no work I can do. I have asked for something, anything to occupy my time productively, but nothing filters to me. Spoken with manager a couple of times, recieved apologies and told they are freeing up resource to onboard me but so far nothing has happened.

There is another new start been at the couple a few months longer than me, poor soul is sinking in a sea of cluelessness with a workload they have no training on how to complete. I can't help but wonder if I will be in the same position as them in a few months time.

I've become disengaged and feel a hingerance to keep pestering for something to occupy my time.

I feel I need to set a deadline, make a decision to either persevere or whether to cut my losses and move on. Has anyone experienced the same, what did you do and what was the outcome?

Sorry to hear that you are still lacking support. Have you spoken with your manager again? I can’t understand how workplaces fail to handhold new starters - a lack of initial support is hardly going to instil confidence or loyalty. I get that people are busy but they need to have some empathy.

Why not apply for the internal job - it might at least evidence how you are feeling? Particularly if you’ve tried and failed to get your current manager to address the issues you are facing.

Do you generally like the field you are working in? I’m personally floundering as I don’t think I want to continue working in mine but I’m seriously lacking confidence in my general abilities - middle age anxiety 😟

Yes, I am in a job now that I regret taking. It was a career change in the NHS for me and I was offered this role at the same grade as my old role. It’s awful. Understaffed and overworked. Very old fashioned in systems which creates a lot of time wasting exercises.
I have been there 3 years now and hopes things would improve - they haven’t. I’m so unhappy. I’ve started applying elsewhere.

I’d leave as soon as you get the opportunity.

Yup am a year in . Poor onboarding, induction and training. Told people I didn’t know what I was doing multiple times to get told no no you’re fine. I got to a point after a few months where I just did what I thought was right and carried on with that thinking that someone would tell me if I was wrong which they didn’t (which I knew was nonsense as there was no way I could know all this stuff) but can only assume that’s what everyone else is doing too so went with it.

Then got a new line manager who seems absolutely shocked by my work but has my back and has acknowledges it’s poor training and seems to want to mentor me. But honestly I feel like what a waste of a year and also it’s highlighted the slagging other people off ( eg. Old line manager, manager etc) .

Sorry finished that prematurely. I got a funny feeling from interview in the job if I’m honest, then day 1 it was just weird- team seemed miserable etc

Yup I’ve lost sleep over this job and it’s affected my time off etc. I wish I’d left at the beginning and gone back where I worked before . but yet again i find myself giving it more time. Who knows! I hope your situation gets better one way or another

Yes last year.Same industry with very good hours much better than previous role.
First day was just odd working in silence from working in a busy bustling environment.
Poor poor onboarding which partly resulted in colleagues telling me stuff months later.!
It affected my MH however I focused on the creative side and threw myself whole heartedly into that gaining support from our company social media.
Almost a yr on things are better but not where I want them to be.
Trust your gut feeling.I only gave mine so long for the dream schedule.

I started a new job last month with the MoD and my god, if I didn't need the money I would have left in the first fortnight.
Hardly any onboarding, even less training and nobody has the time or inclination to guide me.
So far I've just muddled through by looking at what my predecessor did.

I need a laptop to do an important part of my role, there are none and I'm on a waiting list.
I spend a lot of time making coffee, playing on my phone and doing e learning (all the mandatory was done in the first week).
My boss just says don't worry, you'll be fine - but I'm not.
I'm a confident person, once I am shown what do I can work autonomously but I need to be shown first FFS.

I had such high hopes.
I've worked in the CS before for a different dept and the training, shadowing and support was amazing. I had everything I needed from day one.

Two months in and they are paying me for doing next to nothing. Such a waste of time, money and my skills.

If I were you I'd use every minute of every day to do some online training so I could aim for the next job up. Make the most of being paid to do nothing. I'd pay someone to make my cv better & make sure it's ATS compliant. Polish my application letter and start applying up a role. Is this an option for you?

In my current role I spent quite a lot of my first few weeks organizing 1-1s with people to get a feel for the company.

@dollybird your post could have been written by me! I left a permanent teaching job with great holidays and good pay to work in admin in a university. Not sure what possessed me! 6 months into probation I'm feeling a bit down and that I made a big mistake. While I was 17 years teaching and felt I needed a change, I don't think this is the right change and I've been struggling a lot with the culture, expectations, nature of the role etc. 45 this year and feel like a bit of a failure.

@Scorcher79 dont feel like a failure! I have just changed track in mid forties too and it is really hard. Having worked in FE & HE I would say you have certainly landed in a difficult place, but this is only a stepping stone. You knew you had to leave teaching, and now you’ve gained loads of information about what else you do (or do not) want to do.
it feels easy for me to say all this to you but I know it’s not at all easy when you’re in the middle of it. What helps me is to look around and find women in their fifties or older who I want to be when I’m older. It gives me something to aim for instead than a job title - it could be an attitude to life, their work life balance, or their relationships with colleagues. I think the days of being ‘A Something’ are well and truly over and we all have portfolio careers now

I echo lawanddisorder's reply. Don't feel like a failure, you just made a choice that didn't turn out as expected.

I'm now five months into my new roke, and it's great. I went back to the NHS, and it was like coming home. Everything made sense from day one, and the team are fab. I feel no stress, and am much happier.

The role was a bit of a step back for me, so is easy. I could maybe do with more of a challenge longer term, but I am still in 'recovery' from my last role, so not pushing yet. There's a lot to be said for having a job that causes you no stress and you fully understand.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do next.

@lawanddisorder and @dollybird thanks so much for your kind and supportive comments. I'm feeling really low at the moment so it means a lot. I have struggled in this role from Day 1 and have come to the conclusion that I simply don't have the skillset that's required and can't acquire them at the pace they need so will probably hand in my notice. I'm really unhappy, not feeling supported, not enjoying the job and it's as simple as that really.