Feeling Stuck in My Job: Should I Stay or Seek New Opportunities Amidst Challenges?

Hi All,

I want to introduce myself to all of you. I am a new member of this site.

I'm having some professional problems. I have been working with a consulting company for 7 months as a Senior Technical Recruiter in Delhi. This is a startup company. When I joined, I was very impressed by the employees and the employer. My performance was highly appreciated by my boss. At that moment, they had a few requirements, but I thought the company would improve over time. Every business needs some time to establish itself.

However, nowadays, we have ample requirements from a major brand name client, and my whole team has submitted a good number of profiles. Sometimes they provide feedback, and sometimes they don't. For the past 2 months, we have been working without receiving proper feedback from the client side. The company management is focusing more on working under pressure. I am not satisfied with my work because I am working hard and smart, delivering quality profiles, but not seeing the desired output. I receive my monthly salary on time, but there are no closures. Sometimes, our senior personnel treat us poorly because they are unable to meet their targets.

When I joined, I brought good business to the company. I am looking for a salary increase, but my company is not in a position to provide one, and I don't think I should discuss this with my boss. I am trying to find another job, but due to the recession, I am not receiving good offers.

Can anyone please advise me on whether I should continue with my current job or look for a change?

For mutlaquabraham:

I have 1.5 years of experience in recruitment, and I am working hard and smart. However, I am not achieving the desired level of success that is essential for every recruiter. What should I do? Should I leave this company and explore opportunities elsewhere?

Namita,

Every establishment will have a target, and in order to meet the target, all employees work together as a team. There may be cases like yours where someone can bring in more business due to their personal contacts or ability to convince clients. However, when efforts are pooled together, the contributions of such a performer may not be highlighted. It has only been a short period of 7 months. Don't worry; as the company grows, your work will be appreciated. Do not think that others are not performing well; you are still treated equally. Consider that your help benefits the establishment and others. When the company starts making profits, the system will recognize and reward you accordingly.

I cannot say that you should find a better job, nor can I compel you to stay in your current position. The decision is yours to make. For me, a service of only 7 months in a company is a very limited period to judge the future.

Regards,
Madhu.T.K

What I understand is either you want "closer" or wanna leave this country....? I mean company to try another If I'm not wrong....

1.5 years is not experience, my friend. You have to work for at least 3 years in one company. According to specialist HR, we judge people, it takes one year to gain practical exposure to learn and excel during their first year in jobs. Secondly, with some trial and error, they start taking initiatives to practice what the real job is all about, and they perform in the third year.

So, the experience below three years in one company is not counted as experience while reading a resume if we are looking for someone straight from the jacket who can fit into the job profile of some experienced position.

You have to wait; unfortunately, life demands a lot of desires to fulfill in the shortest time, but circumstances around did not respond favorably to everyone. Do not run faster than your ability; dreams are okay, but your time is yet to come, and this is just the beginning for you. Have patience.

Abraham

For mutlaquabraham:

Thank you for your suggestion. I know my ability, that's why I am with my company. Yes, I am searching, but not desperately because I don't want to lose an opportunity. I also want to continue my job in one organization for at least two years. Sometimes, I get disappointed because I have to show that I am busy to my seniors when I am not. They do not understand that if I have submitted seven profiles for a particular requirement and I do not have any other requirements, they still ask for more and more quality submissions. Sometimes, I feel like I am building the database of my client because they do not respond to the profiles that have been shortlisted.

You know, I have submitted over 100 profiles for one client, and I have not received any output.

You were just doing recruitment; nowadays, full-fledged HR Generalists are without jobs. Recruitment doesn't have any scope. So, just search some other field, leave this HR field, and do some other job.

Hi Namita,

Welcome to this forum!

From your mail, we can make out that you must be trying hard to give your best. When you join any new company, there are two times you experience honeymoon time:
1. when you join – initial phase till the time you settle down
2. when you leave the company – notice period.
So definitely, you have enjoyed the first one.

You have only 1.5 years of experience, and I suppose out of that, 7 months is with the existing company. I personally suggest sticking to this company because of the following reasons:
- You are not happy, so you will make compromises and take up any job that comes your way.
- The market is down, so you may not get a job and you will feel frustrated, thinking that you are not good enough. This will affect your confidence.
- If you shift, that will show job hopping, which is not good.

Everybody is going through the same phase. You cannot expect praise every time. When the market was good, you did well. The challenge is when conditions are against you, and still you try your level best. The person who stands in crisis is the best... show your performance and then leave. The rest of the things depend on the situation.

All the best.

Aparna

Thank you, Arpana, for your support and suggestions. I believe you are correct; I should continue and strive to do my best for my company. Some of my colleagues are quitting, but I should choose to stay.

Dear Madam,

The experience of less than 3 years does not sound even reasonably significant in anybody's profile in the chosen area. There is something called patience in anybody's career progress. You are in the learning stage until you gain confidence to see the issues in different dimensions, which one will eventually get out of hands-on experience practice. Money is the driving engine for many people once they feel that they are qualified in a job. But this is only one aspect of your job and job satisfaction.

You need to wait for the opportunity, and the opportunities are disguised in the form of problems. Problems and real-life situations will definitely mold you if you have the attitude to observe and learn. If you are focusing on money as the center of the issue, no one knows except you and your company the value attached and the return one gets from both the employer and employee sides.

These days, youngsters want everything in shortcuts and routes, despite the perils. Be careful in this regard. Remember, a career is a journey towards one direction, and all of us have to cross milestones, sometimes easy and sometimes difficult. You need to keep moving forward, not get stuck with one.

All the best.

Rangarajan.

Hi,

I hope you understand the market. It is not only your consultancy, but the whole recruitment market is slow and feeling the heat. As a responsible employee, you can go ahead and spend more time understanding the requirements. If possible, meet your clients and understand their needs better to submit the resumes.

Furthermore, you should have a healthy personal rapport with your clients in order to understand and successfully close deals. This is how the recruitment industry works. Anyone can change jobs, but the survival of the fittest is the question. There is no guarantee that your next job will provide all the comforts. So, go the extra mile and prove yourself.

All the best.

Regards,
Srinivas

Hi Mr. Ravi,

What do you mean by a full-fledged HR Generalist? I have seen them in my consulting assignments with different companies, and they appear to be just overpaid clerks. They do not seem to handle anything related to HR, neither the "H" nor the "R".

Recruiters, on the other hand, are far more capable and productive for a company. Just for your information, nowadays companies have positions like Recruitment Director.

Recruitment is one of the HR functions, rightly said Ravi. This will not generate enough revenue as a full-fledged, comprehensive gamut of HR activities can justify the fat salaries because the relative worth of the jobs depends on their revenue-generating process.

Gone are the days where people survive with merely one function as a full-time job. We don't call that a job because it's already an outsourced function and not a job. If you are interested in a job, then you have to take responsibilities for a full-time, comprehensive gamut of HR activities and have enough experience to perform those activities.

Merely recruitment is not a job; it's an outsourced function which is further fragmented into pieces with several break-ups of one recruitment process within one business unit. One job is one job, and recruitment is not one job; it's outsourced activities. You cannot earn more because its yield is very low.

Badlu

Dear Pandeyji,

Let me explain how 3-6-9 months of experience makes a difference to the organization.

First of all, not all MBA graduates have enough expertise and command over the subjects because they themselves have not ascertained where they stand and what's right or wrong in their perception until experienced individuals or experts comment on their work to determine its correctness.

In my last 20 years, I have had many disciples, most of whom needed practical guidance because not every situation is described in books, theories, or labor laws. Dealing with unions, recruiting CEOs and CFOs, issuing termination letters to workers and managers require a lot of experience to handle, along with many other unlimited issues. Without experience, finding the right person becomes challenging. For example, what would an HR executive with 3 to 9 months of experience do if faced with an arrest warrant for a Director due to misappropriation of PF?

We build on our past experiences, gradually climbing the ladder of success. It took me 12 years to become a truly HR Manager. However, nowadays, I see advertisements where people with just 2 years of experience become HR Managers. Only God knows what they manage. If they are managing a restaurant, a PAN shop, or a hospital, then it's acceptable, but that's not enough to become an HR Manager as the term can be misleading.

When we advocate for 3-6-9 months of experience, we must also understand the credibility of our assumptions. 3-6-9 months of experience does not equate to substantial experience.

Fresh MBAs typically spend their first year in the industry orienting themselves with the job to understand their boss, peers, subordinates, industry business, and their role in the organization. In the second year, they begin to think and take some initiatives under the watchful eyes of experienced Heads of Departments. By the third year, they start assuming responsibilities and are held accountable for their actions, marking the beginning of actual performance, which constitutes their real experience.

Individuals who do not stay in one organization for at least three years tend to flee when asked to perform in their second year. Many resumes reflect such escapism from responsibilities, showcasing individuals who neither learned nor gained experience but only added superficial numbers of 1 to 2 years of experience. Such experiences cannot be counted as valuable because they never truly performed; instead, they kept changing jobs when faced with performance challenges, indicating a lack of seriousness towards their work.

Regards,
[User's Name]

Hi Namita,

I am also working in a Consulting Firm in Delhi but I am not looking for Recruitment of Technical. I am looking for an HR Generalist profile for the last 6 years.

As you know, this period is a RECESSION, and at this time, I will not suggest leaving your present job because whatever you have worked in this company, say 07 months, you worked with a cool-minded boss and colleagues who all know that the current times are tough and there will be a lot of pressure at work.

If you change to a new job at this time, you may not be satisfied with it, for whatever reason, and to build confidence in a new job will be difficult for you. What I suggest is to give your good, not best, because you have already mentioned that you are working very hard there.

If you slow down your output during this time, it will be better and will not harm your job.

1. Every boss expects from their colleague to give their best in their work to make their assignment easier. No boss can intentionally pressure you because they are also facing pressure from the management.

2. At this time, you can search many resumes from the database, but not all companies are in a good position to hire at a good salary. It's a good idea to build a strong database from job portals; this will make you stronger when you search for candidates.

For any suggestions, feel free to reply, and I will definitely help you based on my experience.

Regards,
Rajnish Sapra

Due to this recession, a lot of people have lost their jobs, and there is no guarantee that they will get a new one very soon. You are indeed lucky to have one; please respect your job and stay there. Seven months of experience is considered negligible.

The situation you mentioned is a general scenario in consultancy. The HRs that reply to your emails have ample time to do so; hence, they are. But the rest of the HRs are just scapegoats for their bosses who are always in meetings for no reason and would never reply to you.

Closure largely depends on luck. Smart, hardworking recruiters are not able to close positions, but people with bad communication skills close more than three positions a month. So, don't get carried away.

Dear Namita,

Some inputs from my side:

a. The situation is going to be similar, even if you change the company. This is not only about your smartness or efficiency; the market is in recession, which means even your customers are taking more time to respond. It may not be the quality of the CVs that you send, but it may also be that they may have internal candidates or their business is on hold.

b. This is also the time to think differently. Along with individual success, celebrate team successes and come up with various options to increase business with your management team.

c. Lastly, the most important learning that you are getting from this scenario is how to build business even in recession time, what not to do, where we can save costs/time/energy. Since you have already established yourself, your organization will also give you a creative hand to try out new ways of sourcing CVs, shortlisting, etc. Learn from this and do not let this opportunity slip away.

Hope this helps and all the best.

I am sure that your job profile may not be the linchpin to the company that creates an impression that without your presence, the company could not function. Am I right, madam? Then why did you keep abnormal and unjust expectations from the company to reward you for meager 1.5 years of experience? The company should reward you. This is disproportionate to your experience and job weightage in the market. Think carefully.

Rashid

Dear Namita,

Wait for some time; don't make a hasty decision. The whole world is reeling under a recession. Something is better than nothing; look for a better opportunity. If you have one, leave this job; otherwise, it will be foolish to leave and sit in uncertainty.

Regards

Thank you for your advice. I think I should dedicate more time to my organization and strive to acquire new learnings. Given the ongoing recession, it's crucial to safeguard what we already have.

Ask my friends.... here is one of them, Mr. Arvind Singh, HR Officer at GAIL. You will find him in this group.

Hi Ms. Namitha,

First, I appreciate your dedication in your job. You are performing your role well. That's enough. One day, you will surely achieve fruitful results for it. Don't worry.

See, the market condition is challenging. The best we can do is select a good work strategy to survive in this situation. You mentioned sending more than 100 profiles to a client; avoid that mistake in the future. Send profiles in batches of 8 or 10 for senior-level openings. Wait for their reaction to those profiles and then send another batch.

The reality is that HR job openings are scarce in the current market. If you encounter the same problem in your new organization, don't immediately switch to another company. Remember, as an HR professional, your main responsibility is to handle problems at various levels. Prepare yourself to manage different situations.

Keep in mind, you can do it. You can do it. You are capable of handling it.

All the best.

Regards,
Vignesh

Dear Namita,

Don't get panicked. I have faced such a situation when I started my career as a recruiter. In fact, for the first 9 months, I couldn't generate a penny for my consultancy, but I was definitely giving my 100%, and the company was able to see it. Of course, sometimes my seniors were losing their temper, but we should realize that they are answerable to their superiors. After 9 months, I was able to reach my annual target in the next 3 months.

Today when I look back, I realize that everyone goes through a tough period in their career at different stages. Hang on and give your best. Everything will set right.

Wishing you all the best.

Regards,
Madhu.

Dear Namita,

Due to the recession, maybe your clients are not responding to you. They must have requirements, but they are purposely delaying their procedures. Don't think about quitting your job just yet, especially since you have only been working for 7 months. Have patience. They will reach out once they start recruiting again. Since you mentioned they are your major clients, their turnover may be high, but currently, even big companies are experiencing challenges. In such situations, how will they recruit new people? They might be sending you job requirements just to maintain their reputation.

So, please wait for some time. Meanwhile, try to focus on other things that will benefit both you and your company. Apart from recruitment, there are other ways to develop your skills.

All the best.

Hi, I think most of the consultancies are facing the same problem. Don't think of changing the job right now. If you stick to the companies in this period, they will really consider you. In the market, you may get opportunities but won't get security. When it comes to feedback, you have to be very particular about sending CVs. Sending 1000 CVs will not work. Talk to the company HR, get the job description in detail, and ensure a 100% match. There is no need to provide options; if they find an exact match, they will not look for more CVs. Keep regular follow-up. If you don't receive feedback on the CVs sent previously, don't send new CVs. Ask HR what's happening there? You have to build a very good rapport with the HR now. That's what we are doing and now achieving the targets, at least 80% to 90%.

Namita,

Ravi is right; you are just involved in a part of HR. It's better if you can find a general profile of HR. It will offer lots of learning for you, be challenging, and I am even satisfied with our senior that 7 months' time is not much. Wait for some time; your work will be appreciated. If it crosses the limit, then it's better to go for a change, but my suggestion is to have a general profile of HR.

Regards,
Sunil

Namita,

We are professionals and we need to act like one. Please note down the following:

1) Your seniors are also under pressure to perform.

2) Due to the recession, a large percentage of companies have put recruitment on hold. The recruitment decisions are being reviewed frequently.

3) As a professional, you need to be patient. In this recession period, it would not be advisable to hop jobs.

4) Still, if you feel you have a decent job offer, you can consider it.

5) This is a testing time, and the strength of your character at this time will reap benefits later.

Hope this will help you.

Thanks,

Regards,

Avinash Bhambra

Before sympathizing with her dear members, please first, you must check whether she is really experienced enough and competent to claim herself as an HR professional.

Most of the people who work as recruiters are not even graduates and they do not have an HR background. For this lady, she does not have enough exposure to the gamut of HR activities. First, she must be interviewed to assess her capabilities to determine if she is fit for this job or not.

Partho

Hi Namitha,

My advice is to stay calm and continue in this job as the market situation is not that good. Try applying new methodologies to your work. I agree with one of the suggestions to send 1 to 10 profiles at a time, allowing sufficient time for review.

Wishing you all the best.

T. Chandramathi

Hi Namita - This is not the right time to look for a change. This is a very critical time. Stay in the company; in the future, you will see things happening, but you will face the same issues wherever you go.

Mr. Partha,

It is very unfortunate to have such words from a SENIOR professional like you. One of the PRIME responsibilities of HR is Employee Development. Instead of criticizing, one needs to develop the employee, in this case, Namitha.

You must have come across many MBA (HR) individuals who know little about HR. So, I hope to receive a more rational post from experienced individuals like you, instead of emotional ones. In today's industry, it is PAY FOR PERFORMANCE and not based on seniority.

I apologize if my words are objectionable to you.

Thanks,
Regards,
Avinash Bhambra

Namita, as a recruiter, you do realize that 7 months in a job is not conducive to future employment! Therefore, I suggest you gain the experience and the years of employment with a company rather than be what we call a 'grasshopper'. However, it is your decision and your future.

Namrata, actually, you want to leave the current organization by considering the current factors. If you want an opinion from forum seniors, it is better you continue there by putting in some extra efforts (which can be viewed by the management). If you add value in your day-to-day job, the management will definitely recognize it. You continue with hope.

Pramod

Dear Avinash Bhambra Ji,

I agree with you that in today's industry, it is "Pay for Performance," but I disagree with the notion that the industry does not pay for seniority. Perhaps it's a matter of differing definitions. I hope that very soon, you will become the best performer through your outstanding performance. My best wishes to you.

In the case of Namrata, you have stated that "One of the PRIME responsibilities of HR is Employee Development." Instead of criticizing, one should focus on developing the employee. When it comes to Namitha, as a HR professional, you should be aware that Employee Development is not the sole responsibility of HR; there are many aspects to HR that need consideration. Before making any comments, it's essential to consider all aspects thoroughly. My best wishes to you in becoming a top performer while disregarding the emphasis on seniority. Good luck!

Pramod

Namita Aunty,

I think you must resign from this frustrating job. This post has received numerous responses solely because of your feminine character. People are not tired of responding, and I can hardly find anything interesting to respond to other than suggesting that if you are not satisfied, you should resign and search for another job. However, people do not respond to some valuable knowledge-sharing issues that have been posted, and those posts go to waste. Your constant reappearance at the top raises questions about what is happening to CiteHR members. It seems like people have gone mad after you. :-D

Rashid