Excessive idle time on a new full-time job? (job offer, employee, applying)
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Five months ago, after being unemployed for six months, I finally found a job opportunity in Hartford, CT and relocated from Columbus, OH to become employed again. The salary offered was fair market value and the recruiter told me it was going to be a great opportunity. I was unemployed for six months and my unemployment was about to expire. So, I paid thousands of dollars out of pocket to relocate back to my native area (Hartford, CT) and started the job, excited for the future. The company did not offer relocation reimbursement, but I really had no choice. I had to get employed again. And I looked for jobs in Columbus and interviewed with 3 companies, none of which made an offer. So here I am now.
I am now five months into the job, and wow....this job certainly did not turn out how i expected it to be.
First of all, I have 8 years of experience in my field (private company tax accounting -- no clients) and this job can totally be done by someone with 1-2 years of experience. I am here in the office 40 hours a week, but 40% of the time is idle time. In fact, the last two weeks of every month are about 90% idle time. This could definitely be a part-time job, without question.
This position was newly created two years ago and the first employee to hold this position ended up leaving after 1.5 years to take a much more career ambitious job. I can see why he left. A paraprofessional could do this job. The job was originally marketed to me as a Tax Manager, but was downgraded to Tax Analyst after I accepted, and they gave me the extreme low end of the pay range.
Also, a couple months ago, I started to notice a pattern in my workload. The last two weeks of every month, there's virtually nothing to do. I raised this to my supervisor a couple months ago and her response was, "good to know." Last month, I raised this to the CFO by telling him that my workload is light in the latter half of every month and he responded by saying, "okay well I might be able to give you a few things here and there, because we could certainly use the help." Still, nothing. I tried to think of all the ways I could "create" work for myself, but there's literally nothing. My supervisor avoids interacting with me as much as possible, because she wants nothing to do with taxes.
It's seriously almost like I don't have a real job. I mean, on the bright side, the stress level is very low and it's an easy job. But it's severely retarding my career. Will things change? I don't know.
It's a small company, so I feel like they experimented by creating this position two years ago, and now it turns out that it's really like a part-time job.
What do I do in this situation?! I recently relocated here for this job. And this is my 6th job within a 10-year period. Ugh!
As I pointed out, this is not a public accounting firm. It's a private company. I am a tax analyst in the accounting department and only do work for my company. There are no clients. All of our income tax work is done entirely by an outside firm. All I do is monthly sales tax filings, which are ridiculously easy. And property tax too, and a few other things.
6 jobs in 10 years, there is a deeper issue. Why are you out of jobs so often? It is either the types of jobs you are applying for, or something with your work?
At this point, go look for number 7, 7 in 10 years is not much worse than 6 in 10. This time find someone who has the job you want, and talk to them on how they found it. Your past approach is not working. Also, never believe a recruiter when they say it's a great opportunity. Nobody is going to say, welcome to the company, ohh by the way you are going to be bored out of your mind.
6 jobs in 10 years, there is a deeper issue. Why are you out of jobs so often? It is either the types of jobs you are applying for, or something with your work?
At this point, go look for number 7, 7 in 10 years is not much worse than 6 in 10. This time find someone who has the job you want, and talk to them on how they found it. Your past approach is not working. Also, never believe a recruiter when they say it's a great opportunity. Nobody is going to say, welcome to the company, ohh by the way you are going to be bored out of your mind.
I know. Recruiters are salespeople at the end of the day. I don't like recruiters at all. But in my profession, at least half of all jobs are obtained through recruiters. It's the norm. Most companies sign a contract to work with a recruitment firm to find talent, in the field of accounting. That's just how it's done. And like I said, I was unemployed and looking for 4 months and my unemployment was soon to run out, and this is the one and only job offer that came along, after applying to 71 jobs and interviewing with 4 companies.
I have been experiencing the exact same issue with my current position. That's why I am starting a new job on Monday. I have to feel like I am contributing to the progress of the company and I feel guilty for collecting a paycheck for doing nothing.
In fact, I am taking a pay cut, but it will be worth it to have an active role in the company and a position that will utilize my background and skills!!!
As I pointed out, this is not a public accounting firm. It's a private company. I am a tax analyst in the accounting department and only do work for my company. There are no clients. All of our income tax work is done entirely by an outside firm. All I do is monthly sales tax filings, which are ridiculously easy. And property tax too, and a few other things.
Can you do some of the income tax work, and get the bill cut for your corp? You said they are in the red, and laid off 5 a few weeks ago. Reducing an external expense would look good for you.
I know. Recruiters are salespeople at the end of the day. I don't like recruiters at all. But in my profession, at least half of all jobs are obtained through recruiters. It's the norm. Most companies sign a contract to work with a recruitment firm to find talent, in the field of accounting. That's just how it's done. .
Not accurate. Most allow many recruiters to look for the person they hire-the only one paid is the one who lands the candidate hired. Normally it is 20-25% of a years pay for a fee. That is why you often see many recruiters posting the same job, all trying to land it, while all but one of them get no fee from the corp.
When there is a contract, it simply specifies the % for the fee, and binds the employer not to hire the candidate for a year w/o paying the agency. It does not guarantee a placement to the agency, nor exclusivity.
Can you do some of the income tax work, and get the bill cut for your corp? You said they are in the red, and laid off 5 a few weeks ago. Reducing an external expense would look good for you.
I may be able to have some very mild involvement with income tax related work and have discussed that with the tax manager at the firm who does our taxes, but I'm not quite there yet. This woman is extremely unresponsive. It takes her like 3-4 weeks just to respond to my emails. But I hope I can get some involvement, once our relationship hopefully develops over time. What I have done, is indicated to the CFO that I would be happy to take on some general accounting work, since he said "we could use the help." He has given me some account reconciliations to do, but that's about it, so far. I will have to keep reminding him that I have lots of availability each month to do things. I don't know what else to do.
The work environment is very un-collaborative. Everyone just stays isolated in their cubes doing nothing and not interacting. Ugh. I may not want to work more than 40 hours a week, but believe me when I say that it is painful to sit there for 90% of the time doing absolutely nothing. I feel very unfulfilled. I just can't wait until my career ends and I can retire someday. It's been a pile of rubbish.
Since you're in a location where you're happy, I'd keep an eye out, but wouldn't jump for this reason alone unless things deteriorate.
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