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I was hired for a job that was a big shift from my previous roles. I've been in various analyst roles, which can mean a variety of things depending on the job and company. But the main point is that I've always been analytically minded and enjoyed the type of work where I have to break down a problem and piece together a solution (like a puzzle). I also have some high level Excel skills, SQL querying, and data manipulation technical skills that help.
Anyway, I was offered and accepted a job the middle of last year with an employee benefit broker/consulting firm as a financial analyst. It was a very new world to me from both a technical standpoint and industry knowledge standpoint. But that was all made clear during the interview, and the hiring manager made it clear that they'd train me up and that my background was sufficient enough for her and the team.
The training has been mediocre and infrequent at best, but I've tackled the work that has been set before me, and I'm always willing to learn what I need to. I feel like I lack confidence in many areas still, and that my team doesn't really fully trust me outside of putting together some reporting for them. For instance, they rarely consult me prior to client meetings, and I seldom get invited to go to those meetings. In the consulting world, that's a fairly big part of the role it seems.
Now they are hiring for a senior financial analyst, and I fear this will further push me out of the loop going forward. Based on the what I've gathered, they're looking for someone who has a strong grasp of the technical concepts and who can work with the team to inform and educate. He'll likely be responsible for more of the heavy projects, and I'll just sort of continue existing and doing what I have been doing.
I guess I just feel like I made a mistake coming to work here, and maybe they feel they made a mistake hiring me and hope I'll leave eventually once they onboard this new guy. I just feel like I'm not an integral part of the team, and that once they hire the senior analyst, I will be even less integral to the team. What do you think I should do? Should I stick it out until they tell me otherwise? I've never been fired or let go from a job, and I don't really want to let it get to that point. Should I bring up my concerns with my manager? I'm just nervous about how to delicately approach this fragile topic with her without giving the wrong signals.
I'm just disappointed in the whole situation as it stands, because I feel like I was misled about the amount of training and development opportunities there'd be in this role. And now I feel like I may end up pushed out. It's frustrating because I could have stayed with my last company until I found a better fit. I'm just feeling high insecure in this role, because it's different and has a steep learning curve, and it's making my mind go to worst case scenario.
Last edited by Sir Quotes A Lot; 03-20-2019 at 02:13 PM..
I'd bring it up with your boss and frame in a way that doesn't sound like whining. (not saying you are whining here)
This is going to sound ridiculous after what I shared in the OP, but she mostly praises me. Not verbatim, but she has essentially told me that I'm a highly valued member of the team and I have a lot of cheerleaders that I may not be aware of. She has also indicated that if I am ever planning on leaving, to come to her first to see what they can do.
The overly cynical part of my brain is telling me be cautious; that maybe she's just telling you this so that you'll stick around until they don't need you (i.e. once they find someone who can take over). The lack of confidence and insecurity of not being highly proficient at my job feeds into that cynicism.
This is going to sound ridiculous after what I shared in the OP, but she mostly praises me. Not verbatim, but she has essentially told me that I'm a highly valued member of the team and I have a lot of cheerleaders that I may not be aware of. She has also indicated that if I am ever planning on leaving, to come to her first to see what they can do.
The overly cynical part of my brain is telling me be cautious; that maybe she's just telling you this so that you'll stick around until they don't need you (i.e. once they find someone who can take over). The lack of confidence and insecurity of not being highly proficient at my job feeds into that cynicism.
I have 4 letters for you.
S.T.O.P.
You are going to drive yourself mad. If for some reason all your fears end up coming true then so be it. This would mean that you got one of the worst managers on the planet to tell you all these wonderful things then oust you soon after. You can only go by what they tell you. So either you are driving yourself crazy and it's all in your head or you got so unlucky to have such a crappy manager to tell you all this good stuff while scheming to get you to leave.
You are going to drive yourself mad. If for some reason all your fears end up coming true then so be it. This would mean that you got one of the worst managers on the planet to tell you all these wonderful things then oust you soon after. You can only go by what they tell you. So either you are driving yourself crazy and it's all in your head or you got so unlucky to have such a crappy manager to tell you all this good stuff while scheming to get you to leave.
Imposter syndrome—the feeling that you don't deserve your job despite all of your accomplishments in the workplace—is a psychological phenomenon that people across all industries and experience levels face. Some 70% of people experience imposter syndrome at some point in their lives, according to research from the International Journal of Behavioral Science.
Yep, sounds about right.
I think I just struggle because my last employer/management group was literally one of the most toxic environments I've ever worked for. I think I still have some residual PTSD from that situation, in that I don't trust words at face value from management. It was a very political and backstabbing culture.
It seems like even with in-demand fields and critical roles (I have an idea of what you do) employers continually set new employees up to fail.
USA GDP won't be high much longer unless automation/AI developments make up the lost productivity gap. OP's situation is all too common and a complete waste of talent. The same employer is whining and complaining to BLS or CNBC that they can't find or retain good analytical/technical talent.
This is going to sound ridiculous after what I shared in the OP, but she mostly praises me. Not verbatim, but she has essentially told me that I'm a highly valued member of the team and I have a lot of cheerleaders that I may not be aware of. She has also indicated that if I am ever planning on leaving, to come to her first to see what they can do.
The overly cynical part of my brain is telling me be cautious; that maybe she's just telling you this so that you'll stick around until they don't need you (i.e. once they find someone who can take over). The lack of confidence and insecurity of not being highly proficient at my job feeds into that cynicism.
The bolded could be a farce. They could be trying to use you as insurance of some sort just like you are thinking. But unfortunately we usually don't know until it's already too late. Just keep your eyes open at all times. Listen to the grapevine! It's one of the things that helped me in my career make sure to try to jump ship before it capsizes. It seems like the boat always sinks at some point...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sir Quotes A Lot
Yep, sounds about right.
I think I just struggle because my last employer/management group was literally one of the most toxic environments I've ever worked for. I think I still have some residual PTSD from that situation, in that I don't trust words at face value from management. It was a very political and backstabbing culture.
Keep your guard up. Make sure to go the gym as often as possible (something I need to work on) to blow off steam and don't go too hard, just enough to get the heart rate up to your target (220 minus your age) in intervals or 5 minutes total in the beginning. Buy an apple watch (not confident in the lower cost one's accuracy)
Keep your physical health in as best shape as possible and be mentally on guard. I'm in a somewhat similar situation.
But you are 1000% correct, never trust words at face value from management. ANYWHERE....
Did you and your supervisor agree on a set of goals and accomplishments when you hired on ? It's been almost a year....have you had a formal review ? Did you meet/exceed the goals ? If no goals were set by your supervisor, no training schedule identified and/or training offered/successfully completed....I'd have to ask why not....
Words mean nothing unless backed up in writing in the form of a performance evaluation.
Did you and your supervisor agree on a set of goals and accomplishments when you hired on ? It's been almost a year....have you had a formal review ? Did you meet/exceed the goals ? If no goals were set by your supervisor, no training schedule identified and/or training offered/successfully completed....I'd have to ask why not....
Words mean nothing unless backed up in writing in the form of a performance evaluation.
Regards
Gemstone1
Not a lot of details were given on expectations and goals. 'Learn the reporting and produce them each month' was one specific goal, which I'm actively doing now and every month. We have some proprietary tools in house that I have had some exposure with, but will need more real-world experience with to be comfortable with them. The only way to get that is to work on real-world client scenarios, which I'm seldom included on. I think a lot of that has had to do with availability of resources to mentor.
Training has been infrequent and intermittent. A lot of what we do is proprietary to the vendors/clients we work with. So YouTube and Google will only get you so far. I've had some high level training here and there, but some of the concepts we work with and the tools we use are complex and require consistent application. There is as much an art to what we do as a science, so getting a feel for 'how we do things' requires a lot of hands-on experience. And unfortunately the one gentleman who was supposed to available to me in this time is on the road or not in the office about 85% of the time. The rest of my financial unit is in Dallas, so our interaction is limited, and hence I don't get the full immersive experience that you'd get working amongst your team. Working in insurance on the financial side, learning the underwriting concepts and actuarial concepts is important, but that's hard to come by in a broker setting because most underwriters are trained and developed at actual insurance carriers in-house. Apparently our company tends to poach those underwriters, but offers little in the way of developing their own.
I have not had a formal review yet (not sure if that's done here), but we did talk at the end of last year in a very informal setting and she indicated that I was doing well and offered up some praise. I think that was mostly to discuss COLA/merit increases.
This is going to sound ridiculous after what I shared in the OP, but she mostly praises me. Not verbatim, but she has essentially told me that I'm a highly valued member of the team and I have a lot of cheerleaders that I may not be aware of. She has also indicated that if I am ever planning on leaving, to come to her first to see what they can do.
The overly cynical part of my brain is telling me be cautious; that maybe she's just telling you this so that you'll stick around until they don't need you (i.e. once they find someone who can take over). The lack of confidence and insecurity of not being highly proficient at my job feeds into that cynicism.
Google impostor syndrome.
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