For the last six months I have been working for a small religious private school. They hired me on part-time as their Admissions/Enrollment Director. When I applied for the position back in November it was a full time job with the additional responsibilities of Development Director. At that time I had every intention of quitting my job if I got this new one.
Well, they hired me on and told me they split the job in two (because “it was a lot of work”) and were only going to pay me half the salary ($20k). I told them upfront I wouldn’t be able to quit my regular job for only 20k but I was happy to work both my 3rd shift job and then this job after. They were thrilled.
The first red flag was the first week. They had no one to train me on this job- not a single person knew how to do it. I was to go through binders left by the previous employee (who had quit) and figure it out. Mind you, the responsibilities and roles and tasks would change by the month, as I would be in charge of scholarships, tuition balances, enrollment, withdrawals, the entire admissions process, reaching out to new parents, tours, scholarships and financial aid, and going to state meetings about the voucher system. All apparently as a part time employee. With no training.
Next I noticed the second red flag. There was a massive communication flaw in this school. No one would pass on information, there was no streamlined process for anything, and it took AGES to get an answer out of people for anything. I tried to plan an Enrollment/Information event back in February and the principal wouldn’t answer my questions about planning it until MAY.
But I bore through it and ignored how the women in the office could be mean about the smallest things. I figured if I just kept pushing through I’d be okay. Only one person actually helped me my entire time at this job- the bookkeeper. Bless her.
Meanwhile, my fiancé and I are planning our wedding and fill out the forms to get married at this church with this priest. Kinda weird because he’s my boss but okay.
As admissions season comes up, the previous admissions employee makes a stop at my office and gives me a warning. “I used to be here 12 hours a day just for this part of the job. I told them when I left that this needs to be TWO FULL-TIME positions. I don’t know how you’re going to do it.” I filed that in the back of my head and kept it there.
Meanwhile, I’m chugging through this process, trying to answer dozens of emails a day on time, coordinate visits and shadows and tours, process paperwork, and still working full-time at night on top of this. My body is not doing well with 70 hr weeks. No one is really checking in on me and no help is offered. I was admittedly drowning a little in work. Last Friday I was there until 5:30 finishing up three tours. I came in on Mother’s Day for 4 hours to tie up loose ends.
Then my six month review comes up. It was with both principals, the priest not being around that day. I walked in on Monday, handed both principals a file containing student info and reminded one principal about her meetings tomorrow, and the other that meetings still needed to be scheduled for this new student. They sat down and told me I was fired. And I was stunned.
Apparently I wasn’t doing enough. I had “lost” one family due to communication issues, and MY communication was lacking. Apparently I needed to be telling secretaries when we were having tours (despite them not being involved/tours being after school) and not just the principals. (Again, never informed this.) Sometimes I wouldn’t get back with voicemails for a day or two (if they called on Friday evening I wouldn’t get back to them until Monday.) I was blamed for enrollment starting late. (It was supposed to start in January. The finance committee didn’t approve the new budget and tuition until March 15th. I rolled out enrollment the 17th.) A host of things were blamed on me. I’ll admit I was not a perfect employee. I was also still trying to figure things out. At no point did anyone ask how they could support me or check in on my actual work. But it was MY fault things weren’t perfect. No one else bore any responsibility. Never mind that the high school principal alone lost us 17 kids this year due to “unprofessional administration” (her).
I was asked for my key and was told to immediately clean out my office. As soon as I got home I withdrew my membership to the parish and cancelled my wedding prep. Honestly I’m less mad about the job and more mad I now have to plan my wedding all over in a different town.