Weddingbee boards

My job was a dream come true. Almost two years ago when I started this job, I was fresh out of college and felt lucky to be recruited into a large company that looked like it would take care of me- a place where I could grow my career and have fun working.

Fast forward to today, and I hate my job. The main reason is that I just don't really feel like I fit where I'm at. My job is a lot of boring point-click work and taking conference calls. It's not challenging at all, and it's not what I want to do as a career. I ask for extra projects, but nobody really knows what to do with me. This is compounded by a severe lack of communication between management and the lower levels- nobody really talks to us about what is going on in our department- two people abruptly left, one person is on a mysterious long-term "medical" leave shortly after rumors started circulating that they were on the chopping block, and a couple coworkers got (big) promotions for no apparent reason. All of my peers are looking for new jobs because there is such a tense work environment right now. HR is somehow aware of this and we all had personal meetings with a rep from HR, and while it was nice to air concerns and relieve some of the tension everyone is still worried and still looking for new jobs.

I decided that I want to go into Project Management, and a position opened up in a related department (headed up by someone who I would just love to work for). I was recommended for the position and honestly, I really thought I'd get it, and nobody else was even being considered for the job. Unfortunately, due to budget complications, the position was cut the day before I was scheduled to interview for it.

I'm bummed, but mostly I'm just feeling lost. I have no idea what to do- should I look for a new job somewhere else? In the company? Both? Stay in my current position, bored and uninterested? Training budgets were cut (it's the last quarter of our financial year so I guess this is normal) so I really can't look into extra training for a few months for the career path I want to go on to make myself more marketable (it's way too expensive just to do out of pocket).

I don't think my boss knows what to do with me, either. I really like my boss, and I know he wants to keep me around but he can definitely tell that I'm bored and unhappy. He says that he wants to help me get to wherever I want to go, and we can develop some sort of plan for me to work on projects that interest me. But, he doesn't have any ideas for what types of things those might be, and if my coworkers end up leaving and I have to take their extra work, I don't even know if I'll have any time to work on extra projects anyway. My boss is a marketing guy, and since I don't want to go into marketing he is not really sure what I should or could do in my free time at work for career development and growth.

My boss doesn't know my coworkers are looking for new jobs. I don't really feel like it's my place to tell him about it, especially if my coworkers don't end up getting the jobs and want to stay.

Thanks for reading my long ramble-y post. If you have any advice/consolation/similar situations, I would love to hear them.

Thanks for responding- sorry to hear about your situation, that sounds really rough. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that you find something new, and better!

I really have no idea whether there will be opportunities or not. I'm trying to set up a meeting with the director of the deparment I'd like to move to (the guy I'd love to work for who referred me for that job that got cut) to kind of get a better idea of what the climate is right now for jobs and new projects and what it might be in the new financial year.

Going somewhere else is pretty much my last resort. This company is stable, and honestly I like the company, even though my current situation is not that great.

I stopped in the director's office (I always walk by, his office is on the way to my car but he's usually not there) and talked to him about it. He expressed frustration about the position being cut, in addition to several other things that were also cut apparently, but he said there will be some other stuff still opening up soon. He also agreed to help me brainstorm ways to make myself more marketable and things that I can do to help myself in my current situation. I am so glad I have a mentor to help me out :)