Hi, first time posting here...I really need some advice please.
I've made the decision to leave but my question is this:
should I stay in a job where I can actually feel 'skill fade' daily and it's affecting my mental health?
Or should I resign and continue my job search with a gap in my CV?
(note this isn't about money)
For context:
I've been 4 months with a new company as a HR Business Partner role. I was with my previous company for more than 10 Years, and held a BP role for the last 3 years of that.
The reason I left was because I wanted a new challenge, not because I was unhappy. I believed my current role was part of the evolution of HR for this company from transactional to enabling. It has quickly become clear that while that's what has been said, it's not what they actually want. I'm a very well paid Advisor and Manager, but will not be given the resources (time, training) to achieve better results. I'm constantly firefighting.
This is not the job I applied for, and to be honest I think they've been dishonest in how they represented the role.
I have discussed my concerns with my manager and a trusted senior leader, both of whom accept the above. They also acknowledge they don't thing things will change and can't help me to influence the role HR has to become truly enabling.
advice appreciated, thankyou!
Only you can judge your mental health but the easy answer is to look for another job as it is always easier to find a job in a job.
If your mental health is deteriorating then that will not help you to find another job as it is very difficult to switch from depressed to positive just because you are in an interview.
Good advice from Peter Stanway clearly if this is having a sustained and substantial effect on your mental health you should go. But now you have made the decision and in some way can accept your course then if you can stay in work while looking it will likely be to your advantage.
SME? Standalone HR? Called a "business partner" but actually a transactional HR manager? Possibly the first dedicated HR professional in the business?
Be careful, as they say, what you wish for. I have been in very similar shoes and felt the impact upon my own mental health, but... I also discovered opportunities within the processes that were more transformational than I had expected. Senior managers were positively hungry to off-load work onto me, which led to the "firefighting" experience you've found but also gave me extraordinary opportunities to take on and improve broken processes in recruitment, induction, training and employee relations. I had to adapt to a different tempo of work: some days I would be entirely occupied with the latest dumpster fire. Other days I would be drafting brand new policies and getting them nodded through by Board members too wrapped up in their own problems to get in the way of me fixing their company.
By the time I quit (and I won't lie: a large reason I quit was sheer emotional exhaustion) they had a new HRIS, proper payroll procedures, a mid-level of management coached and trained in employee relations, a shiny new employee handbook *and* a complete 3-year draft business and people strategy that I enjoyed dropping on the Directors the day I left. My successor still had plenty to do (I left many dangling threads of projects I'd never been able to find the leverage to complete) but the whole thing was the opposite of skill-drain in the end.
This might be a long shot, and you might not be interested - but as 4 months isn't necessarily that long in recruiting for a skilled replacement, might it be worthwhile you approaching your previous employer about returning as you realise now you made a mistake leaving?
I've seen people post before that there is no shame in admitting a move to a new company was the wrong thing, it is how you go about extricating yourself from it that is the tricky part. Stick it out 6 months, 9 months or a bit longer and claim it as an interim position. As I always tell people HR is hard to get into but easy to fall out of!
I think it's easier to explain why you want to move on to a new role quite quickly (role not as described so you are finding it frustrating) than why you just 'gave up' and left, although I personally do sympathise with you about the effect on your mental health and don't mean to sound harsh there (but it is how some prospective employers might see it. What is your notice period? If it's short during the probationary period could you jump quickly into a contract or fixed term role for now?
Robey, your advice is extremely thought provoking, thank you for sharing your own experience. I have been torn between seeing and wanting to conquer all the opportunities there undoubtedly are, and the impact on me and my family and the risk of burnout. in the end, family has won, which is the right decision for me. I will, however, keep your words with me, they really have resonated!
Fiona, thanks that is helpful advice. I certainly wouldn't want to a) be seen to just give up and b) bad mouth my current emplouers: I'm sure a better candidate for this role is out there and would fare much better than me!
I posted something similar earlier this year about my own situation and being recruited into an HR Manager role for a manufacturing company that has never had an HR function. Several people left some great comments and I took that advise on board but ultimately, I left that toxic environment with no regards for HR and what it entails. Immediately I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders. Naturally I questions things like my own ability, did I make the right choice, could I have done more etc. But like I said, I used the advice I received on this platform and put it into practice with a new employer on a consultancy/advisory basis. That contract is soon coming to an end. Anyone want to give me a job?
Do what you feel is best for you. Health and wellbeing always comes first.
I'm in a similar situation and hunting around for the right role to move into rather than risking jumping from the frying pan into the fire. New job not as expected, lots of frustrations, I woke up at 3.30 this morning worrying about it all - but I'm sticking it out for now and trying to be positive about the elements I do enjoy. I've been meeting with agencies are they are all pretty understanding; I don't think it's an unusual situation to be in once in a career.
