I've made a huge mistake changing jobs!

Hi Hazel, I did the same back last year, I really needed a change and wanted to develop and so I left my role for a HR Administrator role with a slightly higher salary. I was excited at first, the interview went very well, and as always I asked a number of questions (after all it's about the role being a right fit for you too!). After my first day I really did not know what to do as it turned out that the role involved me working on a reception desk within a HR department. There was no mention of this at my interview or the Job Description. I came home really stressed out about the whole situation, and as confused as I was, I went back the next day. I had an open discussion with the Senior HR manager there and addresses my concerns. He asked about the role I did previously, and when I informed him of this, his response was 'why did you leave that job for this?' I could tell by the time of his voice that I had clearly taken a big step back. I was lucky enough to get asked to go back to my previous job and I accepted this without a second thought. I contacted the new employee and explained why I was no returning, and that the role had been entirely mis sold to me. I didn't feel bad for doing this, in fact I felt proud of myself for dealing with the situation professionally and following my gut instinct.

Hi Hazel, I did the same back last year, I really needed a change and wanted to develop and so I left my role for a HR Administrator role with a slightly higher salary. I was excited at first, the interview went very well, and as always I asked a number of questions (after all it's about the role being a right fit for you too!). After my first day I really did not know what to do as it turned out that the role involved me working on a reception desk within a HR department. There was no mention of this at my interview or the Job Description. I came home really stressed out about the whole situation, and as confused as I was, I went back the next day. I had an open discussion with the Senior HR manager there and addresses my concerns. He asked about the role I did previously, and when I informed him of this, his response was 'why did you leave that job for this?' I could tell by the time of his voice that I had clearly taken a big step back. I was lucky enough to get asked to go back to my previous job and I accepted this without a second thought. I contacted the new employee and explained why I was no returning, and that the role had been entirely mis sold to me. I didn't feel bad for doing this, in fact I felt proud of myself for dealing with the situation professionally and following my gut instinct.

Hi Kimberley
Wow! That really was a step back for you, that is awful! What were the company thinking? I'm assuming that you were interviewed by someone in the HR department, they should have surely been more up front about the position and what it entailed! That's awful. I'm glad you managed to get your old role back.

I was interviewed by the CEO, so I don't blame him entirely, he just doesn't understand HR and what we do, so I wasn't really misled deliberately. I knew the role would be slightly different, but not drastically different. Because the CEO doesn't understand the role of HR, he wouldn't have known to point the differences out - the major one being no access to data! He would have had no way of knowing how important this is to someone in HR.

I've resigned since posting, so am now working my notice and have effectively made myself unemployed. I shall put it down to experience and will certainly probe more during the interview process in the future.

It's all a learning curve I suppose!

Hazel