This is more of a vent. The company isn't doing well, so our hours got cut. I'm already doing the footwork to get out of this company, learning new skills, and getting certificates for random jobs on my own, etc… While I have gotten a few interviews here and there, no one has reached back post interview. I'm trying to keep my hopes up and keep applying, but it's been so frustrating to put in all this effort and get nothing.
I debated posting this, too. I do like working with my co-workers and my supervisor, so this isn't on them. They've been supportive and amazing through everything over the years. But UM has made this so difficult to even want to drive here.
I didn't hate working at my job until Upper Management (UM) decided to have my department do sales calls. The “training” we got was “All you have to do is call and talk to someone. It's easy.” Needless to say, it hasn't been going well. I make the most calls by default (my team helps other departments) and have gotten only a handful of interested people, but no actual hits. Mostly, people just hang up on me, decline, or send me to voicemail.
Last Monday, UM said they wanted to see me work. They sat with me for a few calls and didn't like anything I did. From the voicemail to people actually answering, they said I'm just “going through the motions” and not putting in enough effort. They decided to do TWO mock calls. One was a super easy “sale.” I barely said anything and they loved my whole bit (this was beyond unrealistic). The second was a difficult “sale” that just left me feeling defeated. I was told to re-structure what I say, how I say it, and how I respond to people and “learn not to take No for an answer.” I asked if I could take a day or two to research how to do sales and see training videos to get better. I knew this was a futile request, but wanted to play along. They said “If you want to research, you can do that on your own time.” BUT still no guidance except “Just sound excited.” No actual feedback on how to improve.
My supervisor knows exactly how I feel about UM and their involvement in all of this. BUT, she wants me to keep going because this is the only thing that makes UM feel like I'm not just sitting at my desk doing nothing. And you know what? I don't want to do it anymore. I am tired of being held to this standard when I have ZERO experience in it and receive no clear direction. AND from people I've never worked directly with and themselves have no idea what they're doing. This has been a complete waste of time and mentally draining.
Before all this, I was able to fly under the radar by doing the bare minimum and pretending projects were taking just a bit longer than they actually were. I didn't take on more responsibility than what was comfortable with and now, I can't. They're starting to micromanage everything we do and with the volume slowing down more and more, tasks are able to be finished faster than before, so they're questioning our work ethic from before.