| Topic Name: |
How do you deal with stress? Help? |
| Message Name: |
Some thoughts |
| Date Posted: |
01/21/2002 |
| In Reply To: |
No one ever said consulting was easy, but it doesn't have to be agonizing.
I am so burnt out these days, it is absolutely ridiculous. I feel like I've been sold a cheap bag of goods. I'm not doing any of the work that it was inferred that I would be doing when I got hired. I've essentially become a grunt for one of the higher ups, doing work that is neither meaningful or challenging but is necessary. I didn't need to go to grad school to do this work. I'm quite confident that any one of the bright people on this message board could do the work I do everyday without much training.
I'm reaching the point of absolute frustration and anger that I dread even coming into the office and having to deal with my direct supervisor (who is a self-serving jackass). I think all of this frustration has amplified the day-to-day stress that is typically associated with consulting. Double whammy!
Since I started working here, I've lost motivation, the enjoyment of the work and the will to keep going (even though I still somehow find a way). The manager who hired me has told me that he thinks that I'm a very bright guy with good skills. But I know that my lack of desire and motivation is showing in my work. They're just not getting what they want out of me.
I feel that I could snap any day now. And as I stay late tonight after all the bosses have left knowing that I will be stuck here for several more hours, I can do nothing more than wade through the knee-deep river of crap that I'm in and just try to survive.
I want to leave this job badly, but the economy has cornered me here. of course the next logical step would be to talk to the boss and level with him. I don't know how the office manager is going to react if I told him that I no longer want to work on the project that I was explicitly hired to work on, and I also don't know how he would react if I told him that my supervisor is a piss poor co-worker and supervisor.
If I know that I'm going to quit this job as soon as the economy heals and hiring within business/strat consulting firms starts kicking up again, then why would I "rock the boat" here by laying everything on the line? Wouldn't it be more prudent to suck it up (somehow), leave on the best terms possible, get a good recommendation and move on, or should I speak my mind and let the chips fall where they may?
Make no mistake about it, I'm miserable, to the point where I get a sick-to-my-stomach feeling every Sunday evening just thinking about the fact that I have to be here at work on Monday morning, no joke.
Any advice? Anyone feeling the same way about their job? |
| Message: |
I just got back from a long day of work at 10 PM on a public holiday when the office was supposed to be closed... I know how you feel. However, I don't get your sick-to-the-stomach feeling on Sunday night, as I'm usually still at the office.
We all feel like you do at some point or another. We all get shitty work, more often than not in our first couple years. We all get frustrated by our higher-ups who want to know how hard they can push us before we snap.
My advice is to calmly discuss this matter with your case team manager in a casual manner, such as over lunch. Keep in mind that lots of work is usually good because work = responsibility = ability to drive change = ability to get promoted. You can't make this a bitch session about how you hate your supervisor. Don't even mention him or her. Make it about your skill plan and what you need to do to develop into a better consultant. Make a list of all the tasks you've done and think about how you can expand your responsibilities to other types of work to build your skills elsewhere. Your skill plan is a contract with your manager: you need to develop certain skills and your manager needs to see that you get stimulating work with which to develop those skills. (This sort of work would presumably be different from what you're doing right now.)
You also have to be proactive in suggesting the direction of the work you do. The easiest way to get burned out as a new consultant is to allow yourself to become a data monkey without also analysing the data and making recommendations on that data. If you are proactive, your supervisor will be grateful that you saved him from having to do all the thinking and you'll stop getting micromanaged while you do crappy grunt work.
Insane hours are part of consulting, but hating your job ought not to be. But your career is now in your hands... good luck!
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