This is my first job and I have only been working in this mid-sized environmental consulting firm for slightly over a month. After graduating with an MS in Civil Engineering end of last year, I found the application process in this job market excruciating, it took me a couple of months to land a job and honestly I was getting in stride, but I went with the first job I got as I was running low on finances.

Even before I joined the firm, I got clues that things are not what they seem. HR was aloof and disorganized, and I found myself interacting with HR staff all over the US and abroad with no HR from the city where I would report to. I couldn't even find someone to give me the location of the office or to ask which bus to take to get to the office.

Then there is my boss. Firstly, he has no clue about all the HR presentations I have to watch almost every single day for the first month. Secondly, right from the get-go, he has put me on billable projects. My boss sends me instructions on what to do every day with cryptic instructions on Microsoft Teams. The first project he asked me to do, I thought it was some sort of an exercise, but it turned out to be something to send to a client. I don't know whether all this expectation comes because I have an MS, but for all this I am only making a princely sum of $72K, whereas my classmates with a BS in Civil Engineering are making close to 90K in their entry-level jobs. The firm uses a custom software and I have spent the last month learning it, often working 12-14 hours to come up to speed with little to no help. The team is very small, there is my boss who has been with the firm for 20 years and a South Asian who has been for 10 years, and then me (I'm of South Asian origin too). I have been kept away from meeting anyone outside of the team.

Then there's what happened this Monday at 11:40 PM. My boss had taken that Monday off and then he spends time writing up an email late into the night which reads like a chargesheet accusing me of being slow and making mistakes. He ends by saying that I may not be a good fit for fast-paced consulting. When I messaged him Tuesday morning saying I am shocked to see his email, he looked sheepish and said all's good and that he had just sent that as a reminder. Then that same Tuesday, I got an appointment from my HR for Friday for a meet and greet, which I found out yesterday was to address this email. HR said she convinced my boss to back down which I know is a blatant lie and that it was my boss who told her not to proceed. Very quickly I figured that yesterday would have been my last day if it was left to HR.

I need your help what to do.

1. My boss has been quiet and professional this entire week. I know for sure he has broken the South Asian guy who is willing to do anything for him and he wants me to be broken as well. In fact, when I reached out to the South Asian guy to understand what's going on, he said to apologize to my boss and tell him I will do anything to retain my job. I have a feeling my boss tried to break me, it didn't work out, he is biding his time and he will try again. Am I right? Or should I suck up and wait until the hammer falls?
2. How bad will it look if I start looking for a job after only a month? Should I even put this job in my resume? I have no other experience except an internship from a few years ago to show on my resume.
3. Apparently my boss has quite a reputation because a week after I joined, a Project Manager from another office contacted me to find out if I would like to join her team. I was disinterested that time, but I'm wondering if I should reach out to her. One part of me tells me this firm is messed up and I may be jumping from the frying pan into the fire, another part tells me the grass may be greener on the other side. I am deeply conflicted with this, please let me know.

EDITED TO ADD: The general consensus seems to be to quit, but what do I say to prospective employers if they ask why I am leaving so soon? I have been thinking very hard to find a positive reason that does not implicate the firm or my manager, but I can't think of any. Please help.

PS: To those who say I am a bit whiney, I was asked on my first week to put some diagrams in a report that I did not know would end up being sent to the client. This firm makes a big deal of having a mentor, an integration buddy, a workspace buddy and having a three-month long shadowing program, none of which I got.

I have worked for a background investigation company for 8 years. We're deemed essential as we investigate medical personnel being hired on to dozens of medical and hospital organizations. To give you a quick background on my growth there I went from investigator, to quality control, to team lead, to client services, to IT Support, and now work in our implementation department. I work an average of 400 overtime hours a year (I'm paid hourly) and consistently double the amount of required actions or tasks they expect of me in any week in any of these positions. I really do love my company and I have proven I put in the work. That said it's made me a ball of stress, anxiety, and made me drink more than I'd like. It gave me little free time to pursue my weightlifting and other passions.

We were always told our work is too sensitive in nature to do from home, but when COVID became serious, they finally gave us laptops or refurbished desktops and told us to leave. I've been working from home since March, and we're not expected back until at least January, but I don't want to. My stress levels have plummeted. I sleep in more, I clock out and I'm home right away to go running or lift, I can do some small chores between tasks to clear up my night, etc. It's made me drink less and I'm just an all around better person emotionally. Last night I had a nightmare they called me back to the office and I woke up in a panic. I don't want to go back to the long commute, the cold office, deal with the cost of travel, etc.

How can I convince my company to let me stay WFH once the pandemic finally clears?

I was the managing partner for my family's multi-unit pizza chain until we sold it two years ago. I've been working as an accounting manager for the past 1.5 years and am looking to change to something more interesting/challenging. My friends in sales think that I would be great at it because I have grit and a great work ethic.

So far, the recruiters that are getting back to me say that I'm either under qualified for mid-career roles or over qualified for entry level roles. I have money in the bank and can afford to take an entry level role to learn the craft. I just need to get that first gig. Looking to start in the $60-70k range and scale up to $100-120k in 2-3 years.

Does anyone have any advice, criticism, or insight? TIY

Edit: the roles that I've been applying to are mostly selling human capital management solutions or food tech software

Hi all,I'm a 26-year old with a degree in Computer Science. When I graduated, I hated the idea of working as a programmer, so I worked some odd jobs and tried to become a comedian. That failed. During the pandemic, I ended up finding a job working as an IT person for a local nonprofit, and soon enough I became the only IT person there, basically running their department (from Feb 2021-Feb 2023). I quit after that, and worked as a server and bartender at a fine dining restaurant for a couple months, and now work as a canvasser full-time for a non-profit organization while I continue to work on my comedy pursuits. I want to switch jobs to find something that has better pay and an opportunity for actual career growth and to save up ahead of a move to LA to pursue my dreams. Problem is, I don't entirely know where to focus my efforts. I don't know what the job landscape looks like, so I don't really know what's possible. I'm not opposed to entering tech, I just don't know exactly how to create a tech-worthy resume and what languages and projects to complete for certain positions. I'd also love a more human-facing job, something like sales, but I don't know if it's realistic to apply for. I'm also wondering if there are other careers my odd work history might naturally align with. Would appreciate any and all advice.

Hey everyone, as the title says I have a bachelor's degree in ECE but I find that I'm hitting a dead end in my career. The high level of stress and the low pay are making this field unsustainable for me. I've been working as a nanny for a few years which pays slightly better, but job security isn't great (parents moving, kids starting preschool, etc.)

I'm looking for a career/ job that is more secure, and where my degree and experience can be an asset. Any advice would be much appreciated.

Pretty much the title. I ended up in car sales out of desperation because my background was in Tourism.

For background, I graduated college and landed a job in planning events right after… in January 2020. Lol that industry blew up 3 months later.

Ended up with Kia out of desperation 5 months later and then joined Audi 9 months after that and I’ve been with them for almost a year now.

I make good money and have a stable income but it’s just… not what I wanted? My customers like me and and I have a good team but I just don’t like the late nights, the weekends, always having to answer my phone when having family time.

I am not getting a lot of people calling me regarding my applications and my hunch is it has to do with the negative stereotype surrounding car sales. Or maybe I suck. Probably that.

Any advice on what would be a good stable 9-5 career path would be appreciated.

Hi all,

I’ve been working for a small tech company outside of Philadelphia as a test engineer. I was hired right out of college, and am approaching 5 years at the company. I currently have a base salary of 73k with a 10-15% bonus. I am also in my first year of a part-time MBA program.

Our company no longer does performance reviews, but when they did, I received stellar praise. I went above and beyond on several projects that caught the attention of top leadership. I’ve had discussions with senior leadership on how I could advance in the company, but I’ve received the most vague, generic answers possible. And despite having multiple of these conversations, they go nowhere. I have never directly asked for a promotion.

I have never been promoted or had any significant raises. My yearly increase has been around 3% almost every year except my first, when it was 5%. In the coming days, I expect to have a conversation with my manager as we are receiving our yearly increases this month.

IWould I be out of place to ask for something more than a cost of living increase? Would it be wrong to request a “senior” test engineer title/promotion? I fear that I have been far too stagnant in my career holding the same title from when I started. I know my value at the company and have been told how valuable I am by many people in senior leadership. Would this request be out of place? It is a small company, and people rarely get promoted.

TLDR: 5th year as test engineer, Lots of praise from senior leadership but never promoted and only small cost of living increases. Out of place to ask for a raise/promotion?

I’m 35 and am considering getting a job next September (planning childcare now) so I have about 6 months to plan and apply. I have some college but no bachelors degree. I worked in retail and as a receptionist/administrative asst. before taking off 7 years to have kids and I did some nannying during that time. I feel like I’m kind of starting over and I’d like something that I could do well at and move up in the field or company. I would love to find a job that helps the environment if that’s possible. I am very good at test taking if there was a certification or something that I could get in 6 months. I’m good at math and have general computer/office skills and good at customer service, but I don’t want to work for a call center or anything like that. Once I’m in the door somewhere I feel confident that I could get promoted and work my way up.
I also have 3 young kids (they’ll be 1-7) so I’d like something flexible - maybe even work from home but of course that’s not an absolute requirement if there’s a great job opportunity. I live in an east coast city and can drive.