PSA To everyone: please know your boundaries and be firm about boundary-setting! I will need to learn to stop putting work above my well-being as well.
I grew up in a very very competitive city, worked all the time. Parents and all adults around me praised this hardworking attitude and no one encouraged rest and leisure.
As a result, I always had to be working, if I wasn’t, I felt so unproductive/restless/like a burden (cause I wasn’t making any money).
I got my first full time job a few months ago. It was a shiny start-up with tens of thousands of followers on LinkedIn and thousands of employees. I was promised work-life balance and a mentor (since I’m fresh out of college). When I got the job, I accepted immediately because I was rash and I wanted work
Interview with co-founder wasn’t an interview at all, they just wanted to get a feel of my “vibes” (which I passed). They promised a mentor.
They kept pressuring me to start earlier than the start date agreed upon in the contract.
There was no onboarding process AT ALL. Zero. I was so confused but working a lot in the first month.
Found out their company only actually had 4 full-time employees despite what their LinkedIn said. Everyone was overworked and all processes seemed to always be on the verge of breakdown.
I in fact did not have a mentor. Was just thrown work to do which would supposedly help me “grow like hell”.
The person I thought I was going to report to went MIA shortly after I joined, no one could really contact them. Apparently they took a break from work to work on their personal issues (I had to find this out like a month after they stopped being contactable).
Found out from a co-worker they were also on the verge of a breakdown every day. Found out that this company had a VERY high turnover rate.
New boss comes into the picture. They type paragraphs of work for me to do, ignoring our project management system and just dumping everything in chat.
^ threatened to fire me after 1 mistake in my 2nd month of working there. Then tried to sweep all the bad feelings away in a call with the usual “I care about my employees” bs.
Said they were giving me a ‘second chance’ and then proceeded to fire me a week later.
On hindsight, it was good they fired me cause this was a shit environment to work in. I was miserable and barely had time to eat during weekdays. I was so stressed about the possibility of being fired I broke down on a Friday night.
I’ve heard that no job is worth your mental health, but I didn’t realize it was going to affect your mental health THAT much. Coming from someone who has experienced it, it WILL wreck your self esteem and relationships with others if you force yourself to continue working in a place like that.
I was impulsive in accepting the job, I ignored the red flags in the interview stage, I didn’t wait for other offers. When I got the job, I was so scared of doing the ‘wrong’ thing I kept quiet instead of standing up for myself. This isn’t me blaming myself because they held all the power and I was/am a young adult just trying to adult. But I’m going to be better the next time around.
Lesson learned, You should consider your job offers very, very carefully. Sharing here to vent, but also for others can learn from my mistake.