Bad supervisor or am I being dramatic?!

[harlowvart]

Does she really need to review your work? What if you suggested to her that you just send it directly to X and save her some time?

I would much, much rather have a boss like yours than a micromanager. Imagine how nice it would be to be able to do your work in peace, without interference. Instead of nagging her for edits, make both of your lives easier by saving her the double work. If she's never actually doing the work, it doesn't sound like her proofing adds much value anyway. Why waste time pretending?

[harrisce4]

Originally Posted by yellowsnow

Your real job is to make your boss look good. And your secondary job is to cover your own hind end.

Everything needs to be email and I'm glad you are already doing this. Keep everything that proves you performed as agreed and met your deadlines.

You can't make your boss do their job. Just accept that. You can do your part by making sure you do everything you are assigned to do on time or early.

What??! No. The OP's job is to design beautiful, user-friendly websites and make their company look good seeing as how their company's trademark will be at the bottom of the website (typically) and it will be a reflection of the company as a whole. It is the OP's job to create what sounds like patient materials and create effective communication for them.

I worked in Pharma Advertising and can tell you the Account Managers had to review all materials -starting with me as an Assistant Account Executive at the time, then to my boss the Account Supervisor and THEN it went on to the actual Medical Editor to fact check. Between those 3 sets of eyes, it also went to the client to review before anything was sent to the FDA and legal department. So, it is extremely important for your boss to ensure that all materials are accurate whether it's as small as 2 periods (that the OP referenced) or misspelling errors it doesn't matter. Especially when dealing with pharma and healthcare.

If I were you OP, I would go to the person highest on the ladder that will hear you out and talk about the performance of your boss. Just as you can be reviewed by your boss, you can also review your boss' performance and if thousands of company dollars are being wasted due to their lack of fact checking and ensuring everything is accurate then it is not good for financial health of the company and you should do something about it. Ugh, that sounds like such a frustrating situation. Since you started in April and haven't been there a full year, I would try to stick it out first and see if the situation improves after you have a talk with someone in charge. If not, then I would look for something else.

[sweetjess1951]

The problem is that this company as a whole is just a disaster. I actually work within a healthcare system and honestly, no one here knows what they are doing, nor are the competent enough to make rational, well-thought out decisions. I've been in my career long enough to know that you don't always encounter the sharpest tools in the shed but I have people who call me to ask how you fill out a form. And they literally have me walk them through it!!

It hasn't been like this since April. It has slowly progressed to this. My boss isn't stupid by any means, but I will say that she is a horrible manager. She likes to pick and choose when she micromanages. So I have to be on my toes and ready for when she wants to fire something ridiculous at me. She is tasked with all these projects from our senior leadership team and when it comes down to the wire, she brings me into the project and expects me to complete it last minute.

Do I think she needs to review my work? Honestly, no. Sure, it is nice for her to look over and make sure there aren't any mistakes but when it comes to writing skills, mine far exceed hers. In fact, there are times I review her work, as well as other people on my team and just think to myself "Did you not pass 5th grade English?!".

I've stopped conversing with her in person and relied solely on emails. Its just when she makes comments like "Our jobs may be on the line" when she hasn't done her side of the work on the project.

[harrisce4]

In that case, I would definitely keep those interviews and hopefully you can get out of this situation. Good luck!

[sweetjess1951]

I have another situation that I wanted people to weigh in on.

The other day, I noticed that one of my supervisors from my previous job viewed my LinkedIn profile. It may be nothing but I couldn't help but wonder if he was viewing my profile because the company I am interviewing now already reached out to them for references. Is that typical? Do companies reach out to your previous employer before asking for your references?

The reason I am asking is because this makes me nervous. Things didn't end well (not on my part - I was totally professional).

Here is the background...

I worked with this company for 2 years. About a year into it, the suddenly fired my supervisor, leaving me with no one to answer my questions or teach me how to do things correctly. She had YEARS of experience and that was reflective in the role she had at the time. After they let her go, the company expected me to step up in her role - minus the salary she had and the years of experience I was lacking. I did my best and utilized webinars, books and google, but I really had no one to check my work or educate me when I was wrong. I mean, they were wanting me to manage million dollar budgets when I had no experience doing so.

I made some mistakes here and there (nothing HUGE) and instead of taking responsibility for throwing me into that roll without the experience, they placed me on a "Performance Improvement Plan". I bawled my eyes out. I've always been someone who did a great job and made the effort to learn things I didn't know. I really felt like they threw me under the bus, especially after all the work I had done for them.

After they put me on the PIP, I made it my duty to have it removed. I was constantly told that I was doing a great job, blah blah, but for MONTHS, was still on it.

When I got my current job's offer and put in my 2 weeks, they let me go on the spot, as if they had fired me. Even my mom (who NEVER takes my side) commented several times about how awful it was and how bad they treated me. It was to the point where I was crying every day from being so overworked and stressed. I would work 7am to 7/8pm, with no official lunch break - go home, eat dinner and work until 1/2am.

So anyways, I'm worried that they will reach out to my last job without my knowledge and I won't get a chance to explain.

[jwiley]

Yes when you stay in the same basic industry in the same area, many times someone knows someone at your former company. While it is usually informal they will contact that person and ask questions about you, of course it is officially off the record but it happens enough that a linkedin view would tell me it probably happened.

That said you may not get as bad a reference as you expect. While it was obvious you were over your head and had no idea how to do your job, if you showed up and worked hard than people will remember that as well. Also if your replacement came in and did worse, or they paid your replacement a ton more money and they were just average people will remember that as well. The fact is HR usually just has the dates and basic information they can give, but if I have known a guy you worked for a few years ago, and pick up the phone and call him to have a private conversation than you never really know what will come out of his mouth.

I have actually gotten job offers when this type of stuff happened in the past, 2 times I had an old manager track me down and make me an offer after a company I had applied to contacted them to inquire about me before I had even interviewed.

So just relax and keep doing what you are doing, do not worry about the things you cannot control.