please help ease my mind about looking for another job

xpost

I'm going on eight months, and that *is* the truth. I think I'll try that. :)

There's a bit of honesy in there.. Also 8 months to decide that you're ready for new challenges seems a bit short. How hard have you tried to take on new challenges on your own? Are you waiting around for the company to hand them to you? (These are rhetorical questions.. Things an employer might think. I'm not accusing you of not trying to make the most of your job.) Also, the work "Challenges/challenging" always seems a bit contrived to me - like it's what your career advisor told you to say.

How hard have you tried to take on new challenges on your own? Are you waiting around for the company to hand them to you?

Well, sir, I do have constant outside projects in web development, and manage two websites on the side. Neither of these are paying jobs, however. And at a company as small as the one I work for -- only three employees -- the opportunities for growth are very limited.

Oh, me too, but that's why I'm so bad at interviews. In lieu of feeling full of shit, I end up not seeming full of shit enough. Employers want a little bit of shit, I think. I just can never gauge how much.

I guess it depends on your industry. I can't stand getting bullshitted in an interview, not that I do a whole lot of them. But I don't like negativity either. But examples of people doing more than they were asked (including doing outside/volunteer work) as ways to learn on their own and improve themselves/the company is important (to me. But learning & improvement is my business.)

Advertising/design is a whole different world...

:/ :/ :/

In my opinion, bosses (especially bosses who have a personal stake in the operation) are always going to be hard to deal with. It's how you relate to them that ends up determining your experience. My advice is to make the best of it for a while longer and see if you can maybe get the guy to change his ways a little bit. Can you talk to him reasonably?

Of course, I'm eternally optimistic. The dude probably deserves to be told off.

Hm. Not really. Sometimes I can make him feel bad, so he gets all fake-nice to me for about two hours, but his abrasive personality is not going to change. One of the most instructive conversations I overheard recently is recounted on the "whose boss is the biggest ass" thread -- a lawyer that he recently hired was trying for *days* to explain to him why he did not have a legitimate case, very patiently, much more patiently than I would have been able to pull off, and the conversation ended when my boss threatened to fire him. "Do you want to continue this conversation or terminate our relationship?" he asked. And all the guy was doing him was EXPLAINING THE LAW. It wasn't a matterr of opinion at all.

So, yeah, he's really about the most unreasonable person I can imagine. Paranoid, too. I could go on for days. Dude's just a nut.

If you have a point-by-point person specification for a job, these days (at least in the UK) that means they'll ask you in one way or another about all of those points, so do plan how you will convince them you are good at teamwork, managing your own time, planning your work, dealing with conflicts or whatever.

I've been interviewed a lot over my decades in the job market, and I've done some interviewing, and I've taken some very good interview training, so I think I know a lot of what sells by now, and how to deliver that.

"It's an incredibly depressing place to work. Office morale is very low and people barely speak. I want to work somewhere more dynamic."

"I've hit a bit of a glass ceiling - I've been here three years, accomplished as much as I can and there's nowhere to go from here."

"The company is haemmorhaging cash and I'm worried it isn't going to be here in six months time."

I got the job, and I haven't looked back since.

Is this a "small" business (is he the owner?)

THe worst part about this is my sort of work relies completely on networking and recommendations from people I've worked with before, because it's rare that jobs in my field are posted on Craig's List, for example. I despise seeking work, because it involves e-mailing people I'm not friends with, acting friendly, and then asking if they know of any jobs or if they could pass along my resume.

I'm quite likely going to find another job in this field soon, but I'm seriously considering taking on something full-time. Freelance work is a nightmare; three or four month jobs, no benefits, horrible hours, and the constant stress of not knowing where your next paycheck will be coming from, or if there will even be another job waiting for you!

Don't hold your breath for benefits, though. I don't have any. Actually... should I bring up the lack of benefits at my next interview? I mean, if I know they offer benfits?

though obv you have plenty of other reasons as well.