Changing positions within my company (advice needed)

[Gman686]

Im going to try to cover as much detail as possible here. I work for a utility, where I semi-what recently took a new position (Sept 2020). All of our jobs are based on seniority and are bid on. Anyway, I took a position thats OK, but I don't really love it.

A new position is coming up soon, which Im interested in but I have a few concerns. 1. I feel bad wasting my co-workers time teaching me a skill for the past 10-11 months that I may walk away from. 2. Since everything is based on seniority, if I don't end up being highest bidder Im concerned ill get some back lash from the department 3. My position now is much more prestigious and valuable than the position Im interested in.

Im not entirely sure what to do here, just curious what some of you would do and would love some feed back.

Thanks!

 

[Fishinfool]

Everybody has got their own little soap opera's going on, and I wouldn't worry what others at work thought about my choice of job selection. I would much rather work at a job I enjoyed, given the opportunity. I would also think the more jobs you learn within the company, the more valuable / promotable you become?

Larry

 

[arjay]

Try taking a long range/bigger picture view of it. Where do you want to be 5,10,15 yrs from now?

 

[Frank46]

The more jobs you work within the company,the more valuable/promotable you become. These words or someting like them were used by a company vice president as our company was in downsizing. I was the last supervisor at a place where I had spent 25 years. We went from 5 supervisors and one general forman to 1 supervisor me. Then they told me that they were elimanating my position and no slots in the station for me.So basically had to find another poisition within the company. Luckily the LNG plant needed another supervisor so would be a lateral move for me.Spent three years there. The working conditions were good but cooperation between the various supervisors stunk. One superindendent was very condsending and liked talking down to his immediate supervisors. The manager would do the same and treat his supervisors bad. One week there was a lot of miscomminication between them and stuff that was supposed to be written down never made it on paper. So we went from 8 hour shifts to 12 hour shifts. After three years of this I was burned out and since I had the time took an early out.Sold our home in NY and moved to our new home in Louisiana and that was one move I never regretted. The plant manager got transferred as I was the third supervisor to leave in 3 years. They wanted me to stay but with no place to stay I retired in late 1995. in 1996 january to be precise flew into new orleans and drove to my new home. So that was my career in both electric generation and at the LNG plant. Frank

 

[s&wchad]

I took a position thats OK, but I don't really love it.

My position now is much more prestigious and valuable than the position Im interested in.

Note the part of your post that I emphasized in bold.

You've only been in your current position for about 11 months and lateral moves aren't really good for a career.

Stay put for now, learn as much as you can and get any additional training/education that will help you move up the ladder.

 

[Moo Moo]

"Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards".

 

[Bekeart]

Warning - Cynical rephrasing

"Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards".

In most cases you can not leave the garage in DRIVE!

 

[meaneyedcatz]

You need to do what is good for you and your family. That's the priority.
Your company is not.
In today's society the workplace is not loyal at all. They will sack you in an instant for whatever reason if they wanted to.
Work hard , put out 100% but they are not the most important thing.

 

[Golddollar]

You need to do what is good for you and your family. That's the priority.
Your company is not.
In today's society the workplace is not loyal at all. They will sack you in an instant for whatever reason if they wanted to.
Work hard , put out 100% but they are not the most important thing.

I agree. Nobody is going to look after you like you will.

There was a company that I worked for back in the 1980s that I decided to leave no matter what it took because the parent company chiseled me on a raise. When I gave my notice that I was quitting, they had a replacement hired the same day. My immediate boss said if they were paying me what they were paying my future replacement I probably wouldn't be leaving. My thought was "they can pay a bigger salary to a stranger but they couldn't pay it to me." That was a real lesson that loyalty has to be a two way street.

When on my last job I received an unfavorable reassignment (about the only good thing was it was better than being fired), rather than just sitting back and stewing about it, I sat down at home, took pen and paper (yes, I'm a Luddite) and calculated what I really put in my pocket if I retired as opposed to continuing to work under the unfavorable reassignment. Because of the long commute, I figured that if I kept working I would have put the princely sum of $20 a month more in my pocket if I kept working as opposed to retiring. That was a no-brainer. I retired and it turned out my assumption of my Social Security check was low. That was 5 1/2 years ago and I never looked back.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

Do whats best for you......All others would do the same for themselves.

 

[crazyphil]

I take it that more valuable means more money. With that and the
prestige you should stay where your at. Fellow employees get paid
for what they do, so that should not be a concern.

 

[billwill]

You need to do what is best for you and your family's future. An old way to do it but put it on paper or a white board and look at each point sie by side, + and -. Do a little prayer and some sole searching, the answer will come to you.

 

[Doug627]

I read this on the internet so I can't say it is true. The wisdom is still true.

John Lennon told this story. When he was young, his mother told him the most important thing in life was to be happy. You want to enjoy your life. Early in school, a teacher gave his class an assignment: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" John wrote that he wanted to be happy. When the teacher read his response to the question, she told him he didn't understand the question. He supposedly responded: "You don't understand life."

Do what will make you happy. If you are in a job you do not like, even if it has prestige and great pay, you will not be happy. Your time will not be rewarding.

 

[two-bit cowboy]

... where I semi-what recently took a new position

I have no clue what that means.

Anyway...

Have you read the book, The Peter Principle?

If not, at least look up the dictionary definition.

Doug627's story about Lennon teaches a great life lesson. If I were a professor in the classroom, I'd kick the podium about now -- this is going to be on the test. Life's test.

I read the other folks' thoughts on doing what's best for you and your family. I guess I'm of the mind if you don't do what's best for you, you'll never be the best you can be for your family.

Taking care of ol' #1 is the only way to ensure ol' #1 can take care of everyone else.

 

[Ray1970]

I was in a similar situation.

I worked in one position for twelve years and was burned out so put in for an opening in a different department. They pulled some strings to bring me onboard. Turns out that job wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

About eleven months later another position came open that I was very interested in. Knowing that my current supervisor had gone out of his way get me into my current job I would have felt bad for jumping ship so soon and opted not to apply for the position that I wanted.

As luck would have it, that same position once again became open about a year later. I told my current supervisor that I appreciated the opportunity to work for him but that this opening was something that I was really interested in and that I would be applying. Needless to say I got the position and am much happier now.

I guess sometimes if you do what feels right then eventually everything works out in the end.

 

[Doug M.]

If your position is valuable enough to the employer, there is a certain safety in occupying it. Doing a good job in it means that you are a lot more protected from BS of all types. Part of my duties in my job involve a difficult and unpleasant task that non one else wants. I do sometimes hate it, but it gets me left alone.

I am also old and have just seen lots of things, so I am a useful resource, kind of like the Farmer's Insurance commercials. I use that to help others with less experience.

Net effect: I'm largely untouchable. Some of that is also due to my boss and what we do ... but the combination is pretty good.

If you can get to that point, it has value.

 

[Kanewpadle]

Whichever position offers the least stress and makes you indispensable is where you need to be.

 

[Eupher]

Note the part of your post that I emphasized in bold.

You've only been in your current position for about 11 months and lateral moves aren't really good for a career.

Stay put for now, learn as much as you can and get any additional training/education that will help you move up the ladder.

Agree wholeheartedly, and if there parts of the gig that are just meh, consider expanding the scope of your present gig. IOW, do more than your present gig requires -- that is, if that kind of thing is allowed.

Forgiveness is ALWAYS better to get than permission. If they don't like it, they'll tell you, but they can't fault you for your initiative and willingness to work as a team player. (Gawd, I hate that term, but it's vogue in today's corporate world, along with "leverage." Grrrrrr. But I digress.)

Do more than you're expected and doors will open downstream, guaranteed.

 

[Gman686]

I take it that more valuable means more money. With that and the
prestige you should stay where your at. Fellow employees get paid
for what they do, so that should not be a concern.

I have a lot to read over and reply to. Thank you everyone! I specifically quoted this quote because I wanted to clear something up, the pay isn't really any different. But the job is more valuable. If I wanted to pick up and move, with this skill set I can probably work at any gas utility, or even companies on the pipe line or that supply the products that we use.

With the position Im interested in, It really isn't too glamorous and will not open many doors as id pretty much be a warehouse worker (to simplify things)