Dear people of Reddit, I'm posting here because I'm not sure where to go, so excuse me if my writing is a bit all over the place, English is also not my first language (sorry I wrote a bit long post but I felt the need to explain my situation – added a TLDR at the end).
I decided, ever since my burnout, my original career (customer service) is just not for me anymore. Like, I have a degree but this is just not what I want to do with my life. After healing from that I got wrongfully terminated anyway 2 years after (handled all that with a lawyer). So I want to find another path, like going into a new direction.
I surely don't want to go back into something that caused me burned out in the first place, as working with people in a service desk/ customer service setting is really not for me anymore. I'd dread going to work or even when the phone rings. So I started to look elsewhere, and found a job recently in the medical field as a doctor assistant (even I'm somewhat shy in new places, but nothing too major, I am a very social and empathetic person as well). I nailed the application process, and it really seemed a good fit. The guy who interviewed me was the practice manager and we clicked so well. All good, and they had an offer. I was extatic , as I really wanted to work and as this is something new was eager to start, as I have been looking for jobs for several months (current market isn't easy).
So, I got a written offer after that as well via e-mail, and accepted to sign on my first day. They expressed how happy they were to have me on the team, and how badly I was needed as they are understaffed atm. So, the first day rolls around and there was no contract ready yet, but the doctor I would work with came in and told me to just shadow him for the day, and have an impression what the role would be. Ok, sure? Eventhough I specifically discussed with the manager I would sign that day. Was it a bit weird? Yes , but I don't want to make waves on my first day and since everyone knew I would start that day and their offer was pretty much accepted, I went with it and was working that day as to the best I could do. Note, the practice manager who was with my interviews was (and is usually) not present.
I was handling calls (phone) in the morning at somepoint semi- on my own (my own initiative, as they all seemed so busy as they are understaffed atm so I pro-actively took some work I was comfortable with on my own, maybe a mistake in hindsight). I admit that trying new things I'm unfamiliar with is something out of my comfort zone (as this IS a new field for me) but did it with the best of my knowledge. Patients seemed happy, I was also scheduling them for appointments and so on, and in the afternoon I would shadow the doctor.
I asked questions, and he was explaining things really well. I thought it's a good sign to show new colleagues what I could do, and asked them if I could help with something to please let me know, so they could focus on more important tasks only they could do, so i could learn the ropes.
But they (doctor and the team) never seemed that interesed in me in general at all. Example, during lunch no one was really talking to me and just busy with themselves, while I tried to make small talk and chime in on their topics. All day it just felt as if there was a distance between me and all the staff working at the practice.
During the week, the practice manager called me to let me know the doctor thinks I'm not a good fit as I appeared a bit nervous — on my FIRST day (the manager tried even explained to him that's totally fair and valid on any first day). I honestly briefly expressed that to them I'm a bit shy by nature but do interact well with people, I just need to warm up so to say. So the manager kinda wanted to hear my side of the story but the vibe was that they wanted to look for someone else in the end.
I just thought, who does that? Like, the doctor wasn't even once present during my interviews but that manager was. So he knew I was about to start/ sign that day and the manager was adamant I would love the job/ be a good fit. I already got and accepted an offer followed by a written offer in email which we confirmed verbally (as well as to sign it on first day) and then the doctor just goes with ''you seem to be a different person from what the manager described to me”. But, why not be present at the interviews to determine if someone will fit your practice/ personality ect? As I would have to work with that doctor he is my boss so that's a bit strange to me why they would not include him during interviews.
Do any of you experienced something similar and what would you have done (differently) in this situation? Honestly, this kind of put me off to try more in the medical field now. Thanks in advance!
TLDR; Accepted a (written by email) promising job offer in a new field (medical). Started working a full first day and everything went pretty good (or so I thought), tried to help out colleagues and patients the best I could, stayed longer to help at the end of the day etc. I was barely introduced in most of the tasks, but I have some years of work experience so I handled everything the best (and nicest/ polite) way I could to show some pro-activity too. However, they still decided I was somewhat 'nervous' at times on my FIRST day, so they still did not want to proceed with me further. You constantly hear how hard it is to find people in certain fields, yet this is how you treat future employees? That seems to be a bit of a weird reason? Ain't anybody a bit nervous on their first day?