Going nowhere fast!

[Sabien]

I'm STUCK at work and don't know what to do. Long and drawn out - please bear with me as I explain.

I'm 35 years old and have an MS degree. I have been in my current position (non-union shop - which will become obvious soon enough) for 4 years.

When I took my current job, I agreed to a stipulation of no raise in the first 2 years. This position requires extensive road time, and they agreed to reimburse my mileage costs. Okay by me. That same year I was accepted to law school, but decided not to jinx a good situation - plus this new job provided much needed health insurance for my wife and I. She works in COMMISSION ONLY sales. Path not taken...

In my second year, the department head who hired me retired, and was replaced by a guy that I'll call "Dick". "Dick" eliminated a 1/2 time assistant that I had working for me and replaced with a new 1/2 time assistant that I have to share with 4 co-workers. (There is a new person hired each and every year for that 1/2 time job) Again I was okay with that. Also, for the first time in this department, each employee was forced to purchase a portion of their health insurance. It was about 1% of my annual salary. With no raise, my take home pay decreased.

In my third year, "Dick" eliminated the "coordinator" of the program that I work in. Essentially he removed a level and I now report directly to "Dick". This meant additional reporting duties and job responsibilities for me. This year I was forced to pay about 2% of my salary for health insurance, and my family switched insurance companies (and doctors) to avoid paying even more out of pocket. Oh yes, and there were no raises for anybody in the third year. My take home pay again got lower...not to mention paying about 1/3 more out of pocket for gasoline (mileage reimbursement rate stayed the same.)

Now in my fourth year I received a 1% raise, but I am now forced to pay 3% for health insurance (buh-bye "raise"), and my family had to once again switch insurance companies to avoid paying even more out of pocket. This actually increased my take home pay by about $100 per YEAR from the year before (but it's still less take home pay than when I started 4 years ago). Near the end of my fourth year, I learned that my wife and I are expecting our first child.

I'm no dummy and see that I'm going backwards and I start applying for similar positions. In the past month I've had 2 interviews at other places that pay MUCH more than I make now, which results in very stiff competition. I was rejected for both of them.

Last week I had my performance review with "Dick". For the 4th year in a row, I was given an excellent rating. I shared my personal situation (baby on the way), and reflected on my 4th excellent review in a row, pointed out that I'm taking home less pay today then when I started 4 years ago, and asked "Dick" for a raise. He replied that he'll keep this in mind, but I need to know that in order for him to give me a raise he needs to take it away from somebody else. He also said that a kid is a tax deduction, so I'll get to keep more of my salary. I'm not joking - he really said that...

I should mention in the past year, there has been 3 vacancies in our department (about 10% of the staff) that "Dick" hasn't filled...he just keeps shuffling duties onto others still there, myself included.

Today "Dick" pulls me in and says that he's doing some shifting, he will assign additional duties to me with no additional compensation, and will require me to be on the road less - this means a 25% drop in mileage reimbursement. In fact, this will result in a TOTAL TAKE HOME PAY CUT of over 7%.

Again, this is just 1 week after I told him that I was expecting my first child and asked him for a raise.

The Human Resources Depts. that I interviewed with in the past month WON'T RETURN ANY CALLS, I'm just asking for good, honest information/advice/feedback on where my candidacy fell short, but can't get anybody to talk with me about it...only able to leave voice mails - they ignore my requests.

I don't know what the hell to do.

I'm not throwing myself a pity party here, I'm just trying to reflect the situation that this "Gen X"er finds himself in.

Anybody have any thoughts on what I can/should do?

[Minnesota Libra]

1. Being on the outside looking in I can see that......

....if for the "past month WON'T RETURN ANY CALLS" they are telling you something. So try to get out if you can. If you can't get out now then start applying for every other job you think you might like - hopefully hundreds of them - and in the meantime just do your job. Be decent but don't share any information and just don't be their best friend. If you have to stay there very long then sooner or later one of them will screw up, everybody does it, and you SHOULD NOT be of any assistance to cover their ass. Just let them know their actions carry a price.

[Flabbergasted]

2. Replace Can and Should with Want.

[bemildred]

3. A couple comments:

HR departments often are instructed not to talk by the legal departments as a form of prophylaxis against lawsuits. This is probably why there are no returned calls.

I do not know what you do, but I'd be looking overseas, if I could. Otherwise I cannot comment in that area. The economy in the USA is going to be extremely hard to get ahead in (by honest work anyway) in the years ahead. I hear Canada is great, and with an MS and a decent work ethic, they might be interested.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/index.html

(You can google up lots more poop on this.)

[acmejack]

4. I wish I knew what to tell you.

I am sitting here with a MS and have been out of work and I can't even get an interview! Of course I am 20 years older than you and now have a major gap in my employment history coupled with serious health issues, so I am effectively unemployable. The only gigs I ever get are consultancies.

You on the other hand, are young enough to still have options, even if it doesn't seem like it. I don't know what your profession is but if there is any way you can tailor it to allow you to operate independently, do it. Get shed of the big corporation cubicle farm warehouse world. Go to law school, obviously you are interested. Don't get stuck like me.

[Warpy]

5. There is now stiff competition for every job out there

so, while you can keep looking, don't be too surprised to get turned down multiple times. It's nothing about you, personally. It's the kind of market where they can pick people who look like other people they like and that sort of thing without worrying about qualifications, since a high number of people will be similarly qualified.

You may be locked into that job for some time, with decreasing pay and decreasing numbers of coworkers. It is not going to change and Dick is probably acting on orders from higher up.

You are being exploited and it sucks. Just realize that none of this has anyting to do with you or your value to the world or even to that company. You are going to be rejected--a lot--for other jobs, but don't take that personally, either. It often does come down to a beauty contest when multiple qualified applicants are presented.

My most heartfelt advice would be to examine your finances very closely and draw up a budget at half your income and try to stick to it. Save enough over the next months or even couple of years to allow yourself to tell them to stuff it while you reevaluate law school or any other different career choice.

Good luck.

[raccoon]

9. Great post. nt

[sendero]

6. Welcome to the "booming economy"....

.... nothing you are saying here is surprising. Companies are cutting costs relentlessly to try to turn a profit in a "down" market, and because of plain old fashioned greed.

Try not to blame this on "Dick", more than likely he has ABSOLUTELY NO CONTROL over the situation. A close friend works in a similar situation. From on high, budgets come and the middle managers HAVE NO CHOICE but to make the cuts needed to meet the budget. This person works in a company that is quite profitable, yet they feel the need to put the squeeze on. Fact is, management of most American companies sucks. They don't know if things are being efficiently run, so their method for finding out is to cut, cut, and cut some more until product/service suffers. Often, by the time customers start complaining it is basically too late. But that is a subject for another thread :)

I would definitely be looking for another job, but be aware that it is not going to be easy to find one.

[Coyote_Bandit]

7. Count yourself lucky

You have a job and you are getting interviews.

I have 3 graduate degrees, 2 professional licenses, good references, and a solid work history. I am a single 40 something prfessional female. My last employer laid off about 30% of the workforce. I've been unemployed now for over 3 years and have collected well over 1,000 rejection letters. During that time I've had less than 10 interviews.

BTW, mileage reimbursement is not a form of take home pay. If your travel expenses are less because you don't drive as much then you will be reimbursed less for those expenses. "Dick" may actually think he is doing you a fovor by reducing your travel responsibilities. You are, after all, expecting your first child. Your life is getting ready to change dramatically.

[DaveJ]

8. I did a double take

When I first started reading your message, I was wondering if it was something I had posted and forgot about because it so similarly describes my own situation. Seriously, I'm starting to just give up. The only reason I keep trying is because I feel that I have the ability to go into business for myself. I'm working on developing a product that should be finished in less than a year or two.

I think we have to accept the position we are in and be happy we aren't worse off. You said you have had assistants so I presume they made less than you. Have you thought about how in the world they make it? What about them? I am in a bad situation fiscally speaking but there are others I work with who are similar or worse situations. I'm just trying to put things into perspective.

Granted it gets more frustrating when one comes to realize that their education means squat. I'm not sure what to say about that. Obviously the pResident makes it astoundingly clear that education is more of a hindrance than an advantage in life. That fact doesn't really make things better though.

Anyway I wish more people would come forward with their situations instead of feeling too embarrassed to talk about them. I think that if we came together we could accomplish something positive.