New job or not after only a few months?

[Brightlights23]

Hi everyone,

needing some advice. I’ve been posting on a thread about leaving a job due to menopause and thought this area might help as well.

brief background: returned to a under 10 hour week job when my youngest started school nearly 9 years ago. Slightly upped my hours in 2021 to take a small admin role. In 2022 I got a 20 hour a week job plus another part time job. Earlier this year I decided I needed one job and 9-5 as my part time ones meant I was working evening and weekends and money was quite low. Peri menopause kicked in and I’ve been on HRT for a year and currently trying gel to see if helps with anxiety as this has increased in recent months.

started a new job 9 weeks ago. Small but growing company. Admin role and does look like room to develop although unsure what this will look like and how long.

the 9-5 job is much better but my anxiety is not reducing and I am wondering if it’s the right job. People are lovely. Big expansion plans although directors seem to think all head office staff (8) have capacity to take on more which even those longer term staff don’t share this.

some of my anxiety is due to a new job and not entirely knowing what I’m doing. Had hoped that would reduce a bit by now but after a long weekend nope.

I will see about going to dr and either changing HRT again (been nearly 4 weeks on new gel).

is it the peri at root or is it the job as well? Never left a job under 18 mths and my last 20 hour one I kind of had reservations about quite soon but kept at it.

my new job is only one I got offered and only had a few interviews for jobs over 6 mths.

i last worked full time when my eldest was born 19 years ago and despite having a degree, my experience is limited and I have no idea what I want to do.

the new job was a pay rise from my last part time jobs but isn’t amazing and under £30k.

any thoughts to help me see through the anxiety and decide what’s best?

I have had a quick look at local job market and not much out there.

Perceived wisdom is that it can take 3-6 months to settle into a new job. I'd say give it more time especially as you haven't worked full time in one place for such a long time. Think positively - a positive outlook can really affect how you feel and how others see and respond to you. (I'm one of the lucky ones who wasn't affected by peri and didn't take HRT so can't advise if changing medication will work, sorry.)

Good luck.

Thank you.

my rational mind does know that I need to give it 6 mths. I have had jobs inc my last 20 hour a week one where I have felt like this and stuck it out for over 18 mths when I should have left sooner.

the new job is for a small company which is growing but head office where I am is unlikely to get anymore than 10 and we are at 8 now.

I have never worked for a small company before and it’s the whole lack of cover for my role while I’m on annual leave or being asked to cover urgent things for other areas when staff off that isn’t helping.

I will have a think and a search over the coming months on jobs and if I still feel the same at 6 mth mark will start to look as this job took 6 mths of searching.

peri is not helping but can’t put it all down to that I don’t think.

or I need to win the lottery!

I think that's a good idea to give it another couple of months. Often it can take several months to settle into a role. Keeping on job hunting may not be helping as it's telling your brain you're not staying and this is temporary, which won't be helping with settling in and making it "yours".

Unless it's a really awful workplace I'd put on your energy into the job for another 2-3 months and then review where you are. If it's still not working for you then look for something else

I am going to give it a few more months before I start looking which is good advice.

at times I think it will be ok and others not so much! Have a meeting tomorrow about roles and responsibilities of my role as it is now different to what the previous person did. So will see what is said then as this may give me a guide on where they want the role to go and if that aligns with what I would want to do.

Still unsure and trying to be positive about it, although just have this small doubt in the back of my mind about working at a small firm as I haven’t done this before. Although there is cover when people are off, it’s bare minimum and makes you not want to take time off and others work on their days off - most are off over Xmas and said they will be contactable and will be doing some work each day anyway!