Twice a week we publish problems that will feature in a forthcoming Dear Jeremy advice column in the Saturday Guardian so that readers can offer their own advice and suggestions. We then print the best of your comments alongside Jeremy’s own insights. Here is the latest dilemma – what are your thoughts?
After several years working as the only digital/comms person in a small company I got a job as a manager in a larger organisation, believing I would be managing a small team and have responsibility for a bigger budget. At first everything seemed great – I was given an important project, which has since been completed successfully – but within months of my arrival my employer announced the organisation was struggling financially, and I found myself having to tell my team they’d lost their jobs. For a first-time manager, particularly as I had to find a way to motivate unhappy staff to complete the project.
Following this I’ve had to deliver their work and my own on a smaller budget, and I’m unhappy about it. I can’t shake the beliefs that my employer knew about the financial problems before I was hired, and that the scope and opportunities of my role were exaggerated.
As all my colleagues are suffering from budget cuts, I’m trying to put my suspicions to one side and make the best of the situation, but I’m also looking for another line-manager job. I’ve had two interviews at larger organisations but have struggled to answer questions about my management experience. I told one the truth – how I’d tried and succeeded to motivate staff at a difficult time – but I think I came across as angry and resentful, and they also seemed to have been put off that I’d managed people for less than a year. At the other job interview I tried to fudge the situation and imply that I still line-managed, but I could tell they were suspicious when I gave woolly answers to their questions.
I don’t want to have to lie or exaggerate the experience I have again. How can I find a way to convince a potential employer to take a punt on me? And are there ways to get line-management experience without managing anyone at work – ie, by volunteering?
Do you need advice on a work issue? For Jeremy’s and readers’ help, send a brief email to dear.jeremy@theguardian.com. Please note that he is unable to answer questions of a legal nature or to reply personally.
