The Job Hunt Thread

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Then this is on them. Really nothing you can do until they loosen up the strings

That is what i feel like.

I haven't said this to anyone but I will now, I got warned by someone in another department not to work here.  She used to hold my position several years ago.  She said this is the type of problems I would face and the reason she transferred to another lab.

It wasn't like I had a ton of job offers an we d were having problems with unemployment so I couldn't afford to turn this offer down.  I also didn't know how much weight I should put into a random encounter in the elevator on my way back from the interview.

I am starting to see that she was right in some regards.   I am doing my best to work thru it all but I am not happy.   DH keeps saying I was too spoiled at UNMC.  In some ways I agree but there ARE problems with this job and it's nice to have someone validate they are seeing similar issues that I am.

I am not going to quit or anything we need the benefits and it is better than me not working. 

 BUT I am still looking. 

ETA: Talked to them about the animal room.  It's been a timing issue with everything going on.   Eventually we'll get to the point where I can fetch the animals myself.

That will help IMMENSELY with my time management/work load and frustration levels.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

drama, I hope you get access to the animal room soon. That sounds like it could improve your situation immensely. I know you're saving all of your venting for here, and I thank that's a good idea. You do sound incredibly unhappy though. I'm glad you're still looking for other work; I was going to suggest that if you hadn't already mentioned it. Is there anything positive about this job, other than the fact that you have it?


On a personal note, I was told quite randomly that my health insurance will lapse for the month of September. The payroll clerk in my new district office told me that. She knows because she used to do the payroll for my old district. She is shocked that I've not been sent COBRA paperwork yet. I had no idea that it would be lapsing. My kids are also insured on DH's policy, so it's just me who won't have health insurance. I think I'll just try to make through the month. 

[muttleynfelix]

Aug 28, 2015 14:50:31 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

drama, I hope you get access to the animal room soon. That sounds like it could improve your situation immensely. I know you're saving all of your venting for here, and I thank that's a good idea. You do sound incredibly unhappy though. I'm glad you're still looking for other work; I was going to suggest that if you hadn't already mentioned it. Is there anything positive about this job, other than the fact that you have it?


On a personal note, I was told quite randomly that my health insurance will lapse for the month of September. The payroll clerk in my new district office told me that. She knows because she used to do the payroll for my old district. She is shocked that I've not been sent COBRA paperwork yet. I had no idea that it would be lapsing. My kids are also insured on DH's policy, so it's just me who won't have health insurance. I think I'll just try to make through the month. 

You can do COBRA up to 45 days retroactively. So, wait and then if something happens and you don't have coverage you can sign up and have it retroactive and have your issue cover.

[mojothehelpermonkey]

Drama, that elevator conversation is interesting. It does sound like your PIs are at the very least not very good at easing the transition for new technicians. I went through the same feelings of isolation during my postdoc because I was working mostly by myself and my PI was very difficult to work for. It wasn't until I started helping the other postdoc with an animal project (which involved us being in the animal room away from the PI) that I found out that he was just as frustrated about the same things I was. It still didn't fix things, but it felt better to know someone else was on the same page. When our PI brought in a potential new postdoc for an interview, we both discretely tried to warn her about the working conditions. In the end, I just sucked it up until I found a better job, which did happen eventually. My first industry job felt like a breeze after working in that lab.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Drama, that elevator conversation is interesting. It does sound like your PIs are at the very least not very good at easing the transition for new technicians

Yeah I agree.  To be fair to them they didn't expect their other technician to leave so soon.  They were originally given a different timeline which would have overlapped with my coming into the lab by several weeks.  Instead she stopped working the week before I started.

I do like working with the inner ear again.  Course my mind might change on that once I have to start dissecting, I wasn't very good at it to begin with.

Having access to the animal room will give me back some control over my  schedule.   Right now it's whenever they can bring me the mice so I am dependent on their schedule which as PIs is packed/chaotic.  So I'll be sitting here. ..alone. .. with nothing to do. .. and watching the clock tick.

Having that control back would go a long way towards making me happier.

[mojothehelpermonkey]

It could just be an annoying glitch where they need to jump through all the hoops before you can get access, but they just haven't had the time. I hope they can get it sorted out soon.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Aug 28, 2015 15:05:36 GMT -5 muttleynfelix said:

Aug 28, 2015 14:50:31 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

drama, I hope you get access to the animal room soon. That sounds like it could improve your situation immensely. I know you're saving all of your venting for here, and I thank that's a good idea. You do sound incredibly unhappy though. I'm glad you're still looking for other work; I was going to suggest that if you hadn't already mentioned it. Is there anything positive about this job, other than the fact that you have it?


On a personal note, I was told quite randomly that my health insurance will lapse for the month of September. The payroll clerk in my new district office told me that. She knows because she used to do the payroll for my old district. She is shocked that I've not been sent COBRA paperwork yet. I had no idea that it would be lapsing. My kids are also insured on DH's policy, so it's just me who won't have health insurance. I think I'll just try to make through the month. 

You can do COBRA up to 45 days retroactively. So, wait and then if something happens and you don't have coverage you can sign up and have it retroactive and have your issue cover.

Oh, that's a relief. I was caught off guard by this. I had to go to the DO to set up my new insurance, and there's an HSA that I needed explained a bit. That's how it came up. I was trying to make it through the whole time I was there without talking about my layoff. So, not only did the layoff come up, but then the insurance, or lack there of, came up!

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Aug 28, 2015 15:15:54 GMT -5 @southernsusana said:

Aug 28, 2015 14:50:31 GMT -5 Knee Deep in Water Chloe said:

On a personal note, I was told quite randomly that my health insurance will lapse for the month of September. The payroll clerk in my new district office told me that. She knows because she used to do the payroll for my old district. She is shocked that I've not been sent COBRA paperwork yet. I had no idea that it would be lapsing. My kids are also insured on DH's policy, so it's just me who won't have health insurance. I think I'll just try to make through the month. 

When does school actually start, Chloe?  I was on Cobra from my divorce when I got hired for public school. Since I started in August, I was allowed to pay August's premium myself (no paycheck until Sept. 30) and go on PEEHIP (Public Education Employees Health Insurance Program). 

Our benefits are more unified than yours seem to be. The state handles our retirement, our health insurance, and our sick leave. So there would be no lapse in health insurance.  There is also a minimum state salary matrix, but most of the good districts pay more.  There are very few local benefits. All I can think of is single dental, LTD, a life insurance policy equal to 1.5X your salary, and half-price membership in the city's recreational center. That's actually a really nice perk since I live out-of-district and wouldn't be eligible otherwise.

I report on August 31. School starts on September 8. Insurance will go into effect on October 1.

The monthly premium is over $800, so I don' think that will be more cost effective than COBRA. If COBRA is retro-active, then I will just get through the month without going to the chiropractor. I will postpone the dermatology appointment I have scheduled for September 21. Fortunately, I'm healthy. It's just another emotional hit.  

Our state likes to pretend there's local control. And there is with salaries, and unless a district self-insures, the state sets subcontracts with MODA for health, dental, and vision insurance for public employees. 

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

She said she just hasn't had the time to get me in there and go thru the room with me so I know where everything is and all the policies involved in running around their ARF.

Part of what is killing me here is the isolation.   DH doesn't get it b/c I was alone in the lab at UNMC.   It was different somehow.  I think it's b/c I knew the job by then and had an established social network outside of the lab in the form of people I saw every day but didn't actually work with.

Here I am the new guy, which already puts you in an awkward spot socially (double so if you're shy like me).   Working alone compounds it.

Maybe that will go away as time goes by, IDK.   This doesn't seem to have the same inclusiveness that the COP did or the biomed department at Creighton had.  It's a lot more like working in Surgery Research where despite being next door to each other everyone appears to be their own island.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

But she has the time to be a mouse shuttle?  

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

But she has the time to be a mouse shuttle?

   I just work there.  I don't get the logic either, hence my frustration..

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Aug 28, 2015 20:06:40 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

But she has the time to be a mouse shuttle?

   I just work there.  I don't get the logic either, hence my frustration..

This is just such a waste of time for everyone involved.  It's not the best use of time for a PI, nor for you to be sitting around to retrieve animals on her time schedule.  Personally, this would drive me nuts, so I understand your frustration.  Working in the lab, there is inevitably some down time where you are twiddling your thumbs.  But to have more?  ARGH!

I would seriously consider scheduling a meeting where she schools you on what's going on in LAR so you can retrieve your own animals.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

would seriously consider scheduling a meeting where she schools you on what's going on in LAR so you can retrieve your own animals.

I'm trying. I really pushed my case for it on Friday b/c I am right.  It was extremely inefficient use of my time for me to be sitting around after I botched the first experiment of the day. I could have been done with a second mouse and onto a third by the time she delivered the next batch of animals.

All I get is that I will be trained up "soon".   So that could mean anything from today to right before I walk out the door in two years.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Aug 28, 2015 10:17:22 GMT -5 emma1420 said:

Aug 25, 2015 7:40:20 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

It's one thing when you're a grad student and there's an end in sight, but it sounds like you're working more than 8 hours a day as a tech without getting paid for the overtime.

Yep, this position is salaried.   DH wasn't thrilled when I told him that.   He has a point that I've never been well compensated but at least I would get overtime if I had to stay late.  Now I don't get that so they can get several more hours of work out of me for "free" on top of the piss poor compensation academia already offers.

FWIW my bosses commiserate with me on that but their hands are tied when it comes to salary.   We talked about paying me $35k in the interview but that is the top of the salary range set for this position so the company said no.

I suppose I should be grateful they didn't try to pay me $27k.  That's the bottom of the salary range for this position.  

if the new overtime salary guidelines go into place in 2016, then you will have to be paid overtime.  Here is the report from the Department of Labor:


www.dol.gov/whd/overtime/NPRM2015/factsheet.htm

Right now, I think anyone who is salary but paid over 24-25K doesn't have to be paid overtime.  Starting sometime in 2016, that salary requirement will $47,892.  So if you make less than that (which you do), then they will have to pay you overtime.  It will be interesting to see how they handle that.  I think if that rule goes into effect a lot of organizations are going to be scrambling (including my own).

I mentioned this this to DH.  I think his company is going to be scrambling too, at least for some of their employees.  They've been very leary of giving raises the last couple of years.  Instead, it's a bonus paid out per paycheck. 

DH was looking at job apps, including the one for his former coworker at his company.  There's a couple he looked at (and we think he's qualified for) that listed a range of 60K-80K and 70K-80K.  His base pay is roughly 50K.  He's getting about 5K a year in those bonuses paid out via paycheck.  I told him those don't count - that base pay is base pay and bonuses are on top of that, no matter what metric they use to give them.  1,200 of DH's "bonus" pay is for not taking their health insurance and the other 3,800 was giving in place of raises lat time he did the song and dance with them.  Do you agree with me on the base pay or my DH, who considers them part of his salaried pay? 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Aug 28, 2015 11:46:28 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

, things all go to shit and you wind up coming in early and bailing on your plans because things HAVE turned to shit

That was a common occurence with the HPLC machine.  I dreaded having to replace things and would dwaddle as long as possible b/c I knew once I broke whatever seal needed to be replaced I'd spend the rest of the day trying to get it to stop leaking. 

Is there a particular reason why you do not have access? Have you asked your boss?

I have not been given one and can't think of a reason.  I've been thru all the training (it's the same stuff I've watched dozens of times) and they hired me specifically b/c I have worked with rodents off/on since 2006.

One of the advantages of working in research is that (for the most part) you have the ability to shift your hours around, so making arrangements to come in early to work so you can leave early is not uncommon

That's totally flown out the window for me.   I have zero flexibility.  I am here starting at 7:30 am and I do not get home till close to 6:00 pm.  Period. If one of the kids gets sick we're screwed b/c my hands are  tied.

I did my best yesterday to get as much work done as humanly possible.  If I had stayed last night till I was supposed to I could have gotten her done. If I'd made a mistake I could start over this morning.

Instead I postponed her till today so I could leave an hour early.   Then I managed to fuck up the morning and put myself behind.  Waiting for my PI to get around to give me more animals.

This is the choice THEY are making.  IT is NOT you Drama.  They are opting to go to meetings and make things harder. 

[Wisconsin Beth]

Aug 28, 2015 17:32:49 GMT -5 The Walk of the Penguin Mich said:

But she has the time to be a mouse shuttle?  

Clearly she doesn't. 

I see this as an organization/control thing.  As I'm currently dealing; badly and unhappily; with a micromanaging boss who's not around when I need her, I get the frustration. 

Drama, do you have access to your boss's calendar via email?  Can you eyeball it and pick out a time/date when she's free and set up a meeting to go over the stuff she needs to you get so you can do your own mouse pickup?  And/or set up a weekly/daily/whatever meeting to go over whatever issues you're having? 

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I'd love to have weekly lab meetings but IDK if that is going to happen.   Plus there isn't a whole lot they can about some of the sources of my frustration (like my giant ass workload).   Being allowed in the ARF would go a LONG way, but that doesn't solve everything.

If this is how they want to run things there isn't much I can really do about it.   I pushed my case pretty hard on Friday so we'll see.

In the meantime I'll keep my head down and keep looking elsewhere.   I need my paycheck/benefits more than I need to be happy at my job.  I can try to work harder at not being as miserable about it as I have been.

Or at least not bring it home with me like I have been lately.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Beth is right, it is a control issue and it sounds like they are trying to micromanage you. Is this a new PI?

I can understand a bit of micromanaging early in the job, but they are paying YOU to be the tech.  Being a good PI includes allowing a tech to work independently AND contribute to the process.  A good example is your mouse anesthesia.  Killing 50% of your subject animals is a lousy study, optimally you want less than 29%.  Rather than squash your suggestion at looking at the anesthesia, a good PI should let you run with this, because it can only get worse.

One suggestion I do have about this is diluting the anesthesia.  It is easier to deliver a more accurate volume if it is larger.  I realize that these are tiny mice, but they should be able to handle up to 0.5ml.....which is waaaay easier to accurately deliver than 0.14ml!

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

No they aren't new PIs.  They have files going back to 1995 so they've been doing this for quite awhile.

I don't have anyone to talk to besides teh former tech I ran into in the elevator when I interviewed.  So far what she told me has born out.  It isn't quite as bad as she claimed but then I've only been here a couple of months.  She didn't say how long she worked here before she transfered.

[mojothehelpermonkey]

This is starting to sound a lot like the lab where I did my postdoc. I hope they don't start criticizing you for not being productive enough.
I would suggest that you be polite but firm with them. Keep pushing them to get you animal access, and don't work unpaid overtime. If they have a problem with your productivity, then calmly remind them of the reasons why you aren't getting as much done as you could.

[alabamagal]

Good job news.  DD24 got a job offer!  It is not in the field she studied (biology) but after hearing all Drama's issues maybe that is a good thing.  The new job is pa ing almost 3x what she has been making (underemployed for sure)

Also she will be moving from Austin TX to Jacksonville FL.  Her cost of living will go down.  She wll be closer to us (12 hour drive to 7 hour drive), closer to my parents (5 hour drive vs 30+ hour drive) and closer to my extended family who are mostly in FL.

That will make 2 out of the 3 kids on their own with good jobs.  Youngest has 2 more years of college.

[debthaven]

Congrats to your DD Alabama! My DD got her real first job offer yesterday too! She starts on Sat. For us it will be 3/4 working/launched. (The youngest is a senior in HS) :-)

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

Le Sigh.

Research drive is full so I can't transfer data so I can analyze it.   Reminded them yesterday of this and there is still not enough space availble.  I can still determine thresholds but nothing is being written to the drive at this time. I'll have to go back and do that later.

It's stuff like this and the animals that are driving me up a wall.   How am I supposed to be constantly productive if there are roadblocks that keep me from being constantly productive?

[Wisconsin Beth]

Woohoo on the kids launching!

And Drama, you can't be productive.  All you can do is document what you've done, what you've attempted to do and notify your immediate supervisor (or whatever you have) of the facts in a timely manner.

[debthaven]

Drama, before you got this job, you were looking into programs to retrain. 

You probably abandoned that once you got this job, but could that still be a possibility? 

I'm so sorry that you are having a hard time. 

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

You probably abandoned that once you got this job, but could that still be a possibility

Not while working full time.  All the programs require that you not work during classes/rounds.   Methodist offers the CNA classes at night but I need to check into if they have rounds available during the evening.

If they do come July 2017 I am going to try to get Boys Town to pay for it.


In the meantime I've chosen to try focusing on things outside of work that make me happy.  Like Monday I focused on picking up Gwen from her first day of kindergarten.  Yesterday I focused on a compliment she gave me and so forth.

It seems to be working. I am still not thrilled with the job but at least I am not so down about it.

I also think some of my bad attitude has to do with hormonal shifts and may possibly have been due to the anti-biotics I was taking.  Depression is listed as a side effect and it's been a week since I took the last one.  May just be a correlation, but I am not eager to test it out to see if I am right.  I make sure to pee regularly now.

[Pants]

Sept 2, 2015 10:03:21 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

You probably abandoned that once you got this job, but could that still be a possibility

Not while working full time.  All the programs require that you not work during classes/rounds.   Methodist offers the CNA classes at night but I need to check into if they have rounds available during the evening.

If they do come July 2017 I am going to try to get Boys Town to pay for it.


In the meantime I've chosen to try focusing on things outside of work that make me happy.  Like Monday I focused on picking up Gwen from her first day of kindergarten.  Yesterday I focused on a compliment she gave me and so forth.

It seems to be working. I am still not thrilled with the job but at least I am not so down about it.

I also think some of my bad attitude has to do with hormonal shifts and may possibly have been due to the anti-biotics I was taking.  Depression is listed as a side effect and it's been a week since I took the last one.  May just be a correlation, but I am not eager to test it out to see if I am right.  I make sure to pee regularly now.

BTW, hormones are probably a huge component. I started having panic attacks when I weaned B. They only lasted a few months but I ended up in the ER with the first one because I thought I was dying. I've talked to several women since who have had the same thing - but it's not widely talked about anywhere I've seen. Hang in there and keep pushing to do what you need to in order to make this work better for you! 

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I've had panic attacks off and on starting back in May.  I wouldn't have been able ot tell you if it was hormones at hte time since I was so stressed out about losing my job.

But I've had them twice since so there is a pattern emerging.

Stupid hormones.  I want to get checked out but cant' get into my dang gyno until the end of October.  Yeah I know I could pick another doctor but I prefer to go with one that knows my history and I trust. 

I am pushing "harder".  I am not being an asshole but I am doing what I am entitled to do like taking my lunch break and I leave at 5:00 which is when I am contracted to leave.

I'll stay if I HAVE to but I am not going to make it a habit, I don't want them assuming that is going to be my normal.

I need to do what my friend said and make sure I set boundaries. She had similar problems with her old PI.  I've been lucky and had a good PI for the past 5 years that I didn't have to work hard to set boundaries with.   I think I need to work a little harder here, at least for now while I am still new.

[mojothehelpermonkey]

Sept 2, 2015 10:03:21 GMT -5 NomoreDramaQ1015 said:

You probably abandoned that once you got this job, but could that still be a possibility

Not while working full time.  All the programs require that you not work during classes/rounds.   Methodist offers the CNA classes at night but I need to check into if they have rounds available during the evening.

If they do come July 2017 I am going to try to get Boys Town to pay for it.


In the meantime I've chosen to try focusing on things outside of work that make me happy.  Like Monday I focused on picking up Gwen from her first day of kindergarten.  Yesterday I focused on a compliment she gave me and so forth.

It seems to be working. I am still not thrilled with the job but at least I am not so down about it.

I also think some of my bad attitude has to do with hormonal shifts and may possibly have been due to the anti-biotics I was taking.  Depression is listed as a side effect and it's been a week since I took the last one.  May just be a correlation, but I am not eager to test it out to see if I am right.  I make sure to pee regularly now.

I feel like my career has been dying a slow death since 2008, and this is what I have been focusing on. Other than my lack of a job, everything is pretty good right now. I still get stressed out when I think about when I think about the future of my career and annoyed when I think about the effort I put in just to have all the academic funding and industry jobs dry up, but I still wouldn't trade my life or the experiences I have had for someone else's.

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I wish mine was dying a slow death.  Mine hit the wall in 2014 and hasn't seemed to peel itself off yet.

I remind myself that if I hadn't made the choices I did I wouldn't have DH, Gwen or Abby.  I wouldn't trade them for anything.

That doesn't mean I don't get stressed or frustrated about it all. Especially every time I pay my student loan bill.  I don't regret the decisons I made at the time, I did them with the knowledge I had on hand I didn't have a YM crystal ball yet.

BUT it still sucks.  Hindsight is a bitch.

I hope to take that hindsight and use it to the kids' benefit so they hopefully don't run into the same problems I have.

Had another mouse die today, same strain.   Splitting up data collection has worked so far but not for this guy.   IDK what else to do since they aren't interested in listening to me about anathesia so onwards we go.

DH raised a good point today, I am too invested in a job that may boot me out the door in 2 years.   I need to learn to let go, if they don't want my feedback then it's not my problem.   My duty is to keep the lab afloat until July 2017.  So that's what I am going to do from now on.  Doesn't mean I won't do my job well but I shouldn't be as stressed out about it as I am.

Got bit today by the mouse that died.  That was Karma calling.