By john (John123) on Tuesday, May 15, 2012 - 7:17 pm:  Edit

Here is my issue:

I am a fresh worker right out of college (age 22). I am now working in an office environment doing tech support. My father is actually a programmer in the company, and a highly respected one at that.

I entered the company by getting a job as a phone representative on their help support line. The company has a whole floor for IT. I was actually hired for a TEMP position. During my 3 month temp job, I was able to impress my department supervisor (i guess this would be considered the tech support line manager?).

I was very enthusiastic and helped out other departments with other projects outside of my regular work. The whole intention of my temporary position was to get my foot in the door, and find a permanent position within the company. Many department heads would come up to my father and tell him I was doing a great job, and I kept trying to open possible doors within the IT floor. Anyways, my head boss (the one i mentioned earlier) understood that I did intend on getting a permanent job. She has been SO supportive, and I could not appreciate her help more. I have been introduced to one of the other departments through her, and have been working with their supervisor (as well as my department head) to try and get me a position over there.

So this is where the issue begins (I apologize for how much fluff there is, but it all plays in).

I am not even sure what to call this individual, but the tech support line team has like a, lead person i suppose? This individual manages the department, while my head boss handles the higher issues. I was working with my head boss for the most part during my temp job.

Now, after my temporary position was up, the two other temporary workers were let go. I was elected to stay because I did well during the project. HOWEVER, I was not given a position, because they do not currently have a position open. My head boss has been helping me ease into this other department (lets just call it "dept. b"). It is on the same floor, but is different work. It also offers a much higher salary (my current temp job was hourly pay), and for a person out of college and who has a family, this was important to me. Anyways, the manager of Dept. B really would like me to come work for them. I applied for a position within the department, and I have been in a wait for around 2 weeks now. It may take even longer to see whether I have gotten this job though.

So what am I doing now if my temporary job is over?

That is a fantastic question because I have no idea, and I have never been more frustrated in my life. My head boss told me to train within the main tech support line area, and also to work with Dept. B to get experience. This way, if Dept B does not work out, I still have somewhere to go if a position opens up. So in a way, the tech support line area is my stepping stone. My head boss advised that I train 1/2 of the day in the tech support area, and then after lunch, that I go over to dept. B.

This is not working. The "Lead" that I was speaking about previously, is not supportive of my move to Dept B. at all, and is making my work life horrible. I have had problems with this individual when I have helped out Dept B during the project. Many have told me that because I am new to the company, the Lead individual is jealous because he has tried to get out of the stepping stone dept, but cannot. But this department was opening their arms wide to accept me. I think that the lead did not like this, and is very unsupportive of me training there.

I feel like I am in pre-school at my job now. I go in, and work in Dept A for 1/2 the day. If i am lucky, I do not receive any negative feedback from the lead (but thats nothing to complain about, if I make a mistake, thats my fault and im 100% willing to correct it. It's how the area is supposed to run.). However he intentionally tries to pick out little things that I do wrong, just do "put me in my place". When my lunch is over, if I did not send him an email saying "Dear lead, I am now going over to Dept. B to help them out with _______", I will get yelled at by this lead continuously.

I have issues with this for a few reasons.

#1: If my HEAD boss, or, "department manager" (I'm sorry if im not saying this correctly, I am 100% new to an office environment as I'm sure you can tell), tells me that I can work half days in 1 department, and half days in a different department, why do I have to send an email every day to this person? Is it not my department manager who decides this? not a lead of the team?

#2: I am very quiet, I do not do any kind of arguing with these people. I just nod and pretty much do what I am told. When the lead gets angry about these things, they go to my head boss, complain, and then try to spin it to make it look like I did something very wrong.

#3: This is my BIGGEST question of all. My department manager told me "you can train here for half the day, and then work a half day in dept. B" (like i said before). Now, Dept B's manager always has work for me. I can perform the tasks they assign, and she (along with other workers in dept B. does) not understand how strict Dept A. is being with my "Roam Free to work for whoever" workstyle right now. People are now COUNTING on me for certain tasks. Even so, when I try to complete them, I am just yelled at by my lead for working on them. My main PC (during my temp job) is right outside of the main tech support line. Today, after lunch I began working at my PC on an issue Dept. B had. He came out and started asking why I did not alert him that I would be working half the day for the other department, and then he told me that he wanted to see my notes for training on dept. A tomorrow, in such a way that it was trying to be rude. And also tried to imply that I was not working and maybe just relaxing at my desk.

Now, I am not an experienced worker by any means. I just came out of my college, and I have only had part time jobs until now. And I will be the first to admit, I did not take them very seriously. They were college jobs for small spending change.

My father works for this company, and I have a family now. I have NEVER in my WHOLE life, ever tried so hard at something, then to be successful at this position. I have tried to go above and beyond to please every one and work very hard. And it is very frustrating when people (especially some one higher up than you), tells you that you are not working.

I am very frustrated and I do not know what to do about this. I am just praying everyday that I get a call from Dept B and get the job so I can move out of Dept A.

Does any one have any advice on how to deal with the lead in my department? I have tried speaking to my head boss about what EXACTLY I am supposed to be doing in this dept. A, but they are always so ambiguous. They say "You can do this, this, and this", but then when I go to do it, my lead has a problem with it.

Is there any advice? Am I doing something wrong? Please help me out here. I could definitely use it. I am sorry that this was so long as well.

Thank you in advance for any advice you have to offer.

By Daniel Robin (Admin) on Friday, July 06, 2012 - 1:24 pm:  Edit

That's quite a story. If they're paying you, and continue to encourage you to explore avenues for landing a "regular" position, then they clearly value your contributions. Just as college teaches most of us to, well, get through college in one piece with a degree, to "matriculate" (look it up), most entry-level positions that have any real value for the employee involve some adversity, require patience and persistence, and occasionally direct (open and honest) communication to authority figures until you "break through to the other side." What I mean is, you're doing the right thing, including recognizing and talking about how frustrating the situation is.
Key is to be clear (with yourself) about what you want. What will that do? And how will you know when you're there?
1. What do you want?
2. What will that do for you? For the company?
3. How will you know? How will they know?
Write it all down. You express yourself well, so use that strength to get crystal-clear about your goals ... 1 month, 6 months, then (if you like) 1-3-5 years out. But start with the immediate goals and as you achieve them, continue to reflect and inquire -- perhaps using a good listener as a sounding board -- to extend the time horizon for your intended future. You might also get a hint at your purpose or longer-term "life vision" (see abetterworkplace.com for details). You probably know exactly what you want, but something about committing that to paper (yes, plan to print it out!), in writing, has a clarifying effect. Then you can go about figuring out how you'll get there, if need be. But don't be seduced by the need to figure out the HOW; dig deep into the WHAT for starters (keeping that end result in mind), and often, how it actually unfolds will be a source of continual surprise and amazement.

I realize I'm not answering your question directly. You're better off if you focus on what you're doing right, and building on that. If you're doing anything wrong you'll hear about it, eventually. Asking for feedback is always a good idea, but only do so once you know what you want, so you can speak to that, and bypass negativity, fear, anger and frustration.

Got more questions? Write back, or contact me directly to discuss.

Best of success, and hang in there,
Daniel