Another Thing That Makes Me Want to Rage Quit...

My work involves short term onsite visits to clients in the US, during which I meet with small groups of mostly management staff. I’m a 65 yr old white woman who doesn’t dye their hair and lives in a rural area of a flyover state. Recently a client accused me of racism, misinterpreting statements I made. I’ve said these exact words to others with positive feedback. The accuser is highly placed but actually asked me the race of an author of a book I recommended. I’ve been trained in unconscious bias and understand the unconscious part. I have a multiracial family and have had to address discrimination about family members, but don’t mention it because it’s irrelevant to my work. This happened right after the election in the US and I believe my accuser made assumptions based on my race, age and residence during a time of disappointment over the election. Now that the question has been raised, I’m at a loss over how and how much to say?

An year ago I left a company where I’ve worked for more than 10 years. At that point I was working at a Director level. This company has given me a lot in terms of my own development as I have had exposure to every process and part of he company and it has been a great experience overal. Just the growing responsibility became unbearable at one point to the point it started affecting my health, so I needed less responsibility. As this was not possible within the same company I had no choice but to find another job and leave. I started a new job in one of the big four at a senior level and without any line management responsibilities, which in my case was nearly perfect job. At the time I was starting I was so mentally exhausted that I just wanted to do my work, use my brain, but not to manage people. This job fit me well and it sill does. My team is amazing, my manager is amazing, most of the people I work with are extremely good professionals in their areas of expertise, which makes work much easier. My manager is younger than me but very skilful and professional and overall I have a very good relationship with them ( I am hiding the gender on purpose, so I will use the they/them pronoun). But… there always is a “but”. Despite that my manager recognises me as being one of the most knowledgable people on the team, and they use me often to train them and help them with work which is supposed to be management work or in situations they are unsure there have been a few events that left me with a sour taste of our interaction. 1. They promoted another person who is also a good expert, but engaging only in his own projects and does not help the team in any way, while me and a few others in the team are usually doing the shared work, the dirty work and help with the management work that our manager does not have time for and needs help with. I was rated as “outstanding” on all my 3 performance reviews so far and I’ve been told that my manager is looking for options to promote me. 2. We can choose the projects we want to work on, but somehow if I say I want to work on a given project I am told I will be assigned to it and then it gets assigned to another colleague while I am being assigned the projects that my colleagues usually were about to fail, the client is complaining, and I have to bring them back on track and do all the work in the project or much sorter time as I am compensating for others failures. 3. There are global roles and leadership roles made available where me and people from my team fit well, but my manager rejects them if my manager cannot step into them (not giving the opportunity to the others in the team who also have the expertise). Lately I am thinking a lot if I have made a mistake accepting a role at a lower level than my previous job. At that moment back then I needed less responsibility but now I need development as I feel like my skills are utilised and used, but I am not learning anything new. Others are learning from me, but I am not developing new skills and new expertise. I also feel like my manager is using me to learn from me, but they are not keen on developing me because this may mean they lose the option to use me as much for things they feel unsure or need help. I like my manager, my job and the company, but I feel like I am not developing.

I am not getting any calls, I have updated my resume and the ATS score is 78. I am applying on many platforms. I am a R&D Software Engineer with over 1.3 years of experience. Any suggestions/referrals/leads would be appreciated. Thank you :)

I have become so defeated by all the impersonal rejection emails I’m receiving shortly after applying for a job, and it’s not just the rejection itself, but how it’s worded. I am currently a Senior Administrative Assistant applying to other Senior Administrative Assistant roles. I just applied for one that I check every box for- not too qualified and not underqualified. My resume perfectly matched every bullet point on their JD. The rejection text I received today with no interview was that I do not have the background or experience for this particular role. The role did not require industry experience, only administrative experience. I know this is likely a canned message everyone they decided to turn down received, but I find it kind of cruel for recruiters to send copy and paste messages like that because it can really break someone’s confidence to have the message not align with the reality of the job application in fact matching the job posting. I can’t even ask for feedback because the message says replies are not received. How do you all think a rejection message should read, knowing not every company provides the bandwidth for more personal reach-outs from recruiters? Is there a way to do it in a way that isn’t so frustrating and deflating for the recipients?

I've been feeling a bit uncomfortable at work lately. Despite that, I truly enjoy my job and am passionate about what I do. I have a wonderful team of talented individuals who consistently support me in my work. However, the last few months have been a bit of a struggle. We have a new manager who has been leading our organization for almost a year now, and while I can't quite pinpoint the source of my discomfort, their actions and words have shifted my perspective in a way that's unsettling. I just needed to vent a little, as I don’t really have anyone else to discuss this with. Thanks for listening.

Join us for an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at this challenging but rewarding career in our upcoming webinar with Konecranes. We’re sitting down with a human resources manager, a trade school partnership coordinator, a recruitment manager and a safety manager to talk about the various aspects of a crane technician’s role—including how they get started, what they do on a daily basis and how they stay safe on the job. What: A Day in the Life of a Crane Technician: Safety, Recruitment and HR When: Wednesday, December 11, 2024 at 3 PM EST Where: Virtual Register for free today: https://fgb.fyi/3ZduP9e Hope to see you there!