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Graduate job disappointment

Hi guys, would like a bit of advice about what you would do in my situation.

I started a my absolute dream graduate job three months ago - but so far it's been a bit disappointing. Parts of it are really great - I get to study for a qualification and I've had opportunities to meet really inspirational people and shadow a variety of roles in the sector I want to work in. However, I'm getting very little out of it in terms of work experience. The majority of the time I have absolutely nothing to do - or I'm palmed off with little admin tasks.

I'm not trying to say that I think I'm better than admin or secratarial work (I 'volunteered' doing admin for free before I got this and applied for administrative work when I applied for this job). But I'm not currently employed as an admin assistant/ secretary and the guidance given to my employer (by the organisation that runs the grad programme) states that I'm supposed to have "as much responsibility as possible" and that they're not supposed to give me "menial" tasks. Another thing is that on at least two occasions my manager has given me something small to do (e.g. write an email) and after I've sent him my work he's gone and rewritten the whole thing himself - it's really demoralising and fustrating that I'm not even trusted to write an email to internal staff members when the other graduates on the programme have responisibility for their own projects. (Btw I know it's not me or my work - there is another graduate at my organisation who has almost exactly the same problem as me.)

I've spoken to both my managers about it and keep promising me it'll get better, and I've spoken to the programme manager (from outside the organisation) who has discussed the matter with multiple people in my organisation including one of the directors. Since this has happened I've been given a bit more work to do - but the vast majority of this is still admin.

I'm really worried about what I'm going to do after my contract ends (I have 9 months left of a 12 month contract) as thus far I don't really have anything to say for myself in terms of what I've contributed to the organisation and the way it's going I can't see anything improving particularly quickly. I'm wondering whether or not to start applying for other jobs but there are a lot of things holding me back from this. So I guess I want to know what you would do in this situation?
Original post by deadwing
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If your organisation has regular staff appraisals this can be a good opportunity to talk frankly with your boss about this sort of thing - generally in one of these you would have some sort of target setting which would then go on file, which you can get out and wave in front of your manager later on if you don't feel you are getting the opportunities you need.

To be honest if I were you I would be looking for another job for when the 12 months ends (or maybe before, if you can do so without breaking the terms of your contract). Make the most of the opportunities you have to network as one of these might lead you to a new job without you having to go through a tedious application process. Even if you don't feel like you're being productive you will have gained a lot in the year which you can use to market yourself - you mention the qualification, also the general exposure to your sector and I'm sure that you will have some experiences (if you haven't already) which you can big up on an application form. And worst comes to worst I assume you could plod along in your current job a while longer?

You may well find it gets better as you get more settled in the organisation - it is a lot of effort to settle someone in and make them useful especially if they're inexperienced. It sounds like either your boss isn't very good at this or he's just too busy and would rather do something himself than have to explain to you and check your work. At some point the balance may well tip and at a busy time your boss may decide you've "observed" for long enough, now can you get on and do something as he's not got the time, then is your chance to impress and make him realise what you're capable of.

BTW - getting your boss to check your e-mails before you send them is something to be avoided if possible. They will always want to change something as their style of written English will be different to yours. This really knocks your confidence and means you feel you ought to show them the next e-mail you send... vicious circle. Instead why not agree with them beforehand what you want it to say to make sure you're not missing out any important points, then go ahead and write it and send it yourself?
(edited 10 years ago)
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deadwing
OP
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Hey, thanks for responding.

Original post by thefish_uk
If your organisation has regular staff appraisals this can be a good opportunity to talk frankly with your boss about this sort of thing - generally in one of these you would have some sort of target setting which would then go on file, which you can get out and wave in front of your manager later on if you don't feel you are getting the opportunities you need.

To be honest if I were you I would be looking for another job for when the 12 months ends (or maybe before, if you can do so without breaking the terms of your contract). Make the most of the opportunities you have to network as one of these might lead you to a new job without you having to go through a tedious application process. Even if you don't feel like you're being productive you will have gained a lot in the year which you can use to market yourself - you mention the qualification, also the general exposure to your sector and I'm sure that you will have some experiences (if you haven't already) which you can big up on an application form. And worst comes to worst I assume you could plod along in your current job a while longer?

My parents pretty much said this too. I guess it is quite good I'm just worried about getting another job off the back of this one as I don't have much to say for myself. The graduate programme I'm on is absolutely brilliant and the other graduates are all doing such interesting things - I'm worried about future employers knowing this and deciding my lack of having done anything is a reflection of my compentence.

Original post by thefish_uk
You may well find it gets better as you get more settled in the organisation - it is a lot of effort to settle someone in and make them useful especially if they're inexperienced. It sounds like either your boss isn't very good at this or he's just too busy and would rather do something himself than have to explain to you and check your work. At some point the balance may well tip and at a busy time your boss may decide you've "observed" for long enough, now can you get on and do something as he's not got the time, then is your chance to impress and make him realise what you're capable of.

Thanks. I should have mentioned this in the original post but one of the reasons why I've not had much to do is the funding being cut for the project I was working on (it was a government scheme). So I keep getting promised that things will improve once they've renegotiated the funding, but so far they haven't. So I guess that's a major part of it but I think a lot of still is not knowing what to do with me. Despite the funding problems, there is still work going on in the organisation but I'm only given little admin tasks to do.

Original post by thefish_uk
BTW - getting your boss to check your e-mails before you send them is something to be avoided if possible. They will always want to change something as their style of written English will be different to yours. This really knocks your confidence and means you feel you ought to show them the next e-mail you send... vicious circle. Instead why not agree with them beforehand what you want it to say to make sure you're not missing out any important points, then go ahead and write it and send it yourself?

He asked me to write an email for him, that's the kind of task I have to do. :frown:

Sorry most of my respose to this is just me ranting heh. Thanks for responding though, I do appreciate it. :smile:

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