Career Q & A
By Alan Kearns
My fantastic job has changed to the job from hell in the last three months. I
have a six-month probation period that was up last month. My upcoming
evaluation, I expect, will not be good, but I am unable to know what is
expected from me. I have approached HR and our Executive Director for a
written job description, but was refused. Several other staff who were
hired since this Executive Director began are also unable to get job
descriptions. How important is it to have a written job description?
The primary benefit of having a written job description is that it can be
used to measure success, determine boundaries, and set out expectations
- both of the management and the employee. As the employee, having a written
job description helps you to create boundaries and set your priorities in
terms of the work to be done. As well, it shows why your position is important
and valuable to the team and your workplace.
The other main advantage of having a written job description is that both
management and employees can use it as a benchmarking tool when it comes
to evaluations etc. If there are issues, they can be pointed out and together
a career management plan can be created to overcome them. If there seems
to be an insurmountable problem, the job description can be used as a way
to determine the proper course of action, such as termination.
Unfortunately, in your situation, it appears as though expectations for the
position have changed, and you have no such protection to use during your
evaluation. For your upcoming evaluation, you should reference the job
description as you understood it - whether in writing or not - when you were
hired/appointed/promoted into the position. This will most likely be your
best "protection".
In terms of the changes to the job, taking it from fantastic to unbearable,
there are several things you should look at:
- Have you taken on more responsibilities/duties?
- Are there duties that you are not doing or which no longer need to be done? (i.e.
is your original job description out of date?)
- Has there been a change among your peers? Management? Management style?
- Have changes been made to the routine in your workplace?
- Has the environment changed?
Going into your evaluation, it would be best for you to address any changes
that have taken place in the past three months that could be causing you to be
unhappy. You should be prepared and go into your evaluation with answers to
the above questions and any tangible evidence that you have (e-mails, etc.).
Ideally, you should be going into your evaluation with ideas for any changes
that could be made now to take your negative situation and change
it to either a neutral or positive one...especially since you really enjoyed
the job at the beginning.
However, you also need to be ready for the worst-case scenario: that you may
not be able to come to any agreement in regards to your current situation.
You have to consider whether you have any cause to suggest a transfer, or change
of duties, or if you should leave entirely.
Best of luck to you.
Alan Kearns is the Head Coach and the Brand Champion! of CareerJoy.
He is one of Canada's foremost experts on all things career. With more than
14 years of experience coaching people through successful career changes,
he brings an intimate knowledge of the entire transition process to all of
his clients. To contact Alan about paid professional services, e-mail alan@careerjoy.com
or visit his web site www.careerjoy.com.
To submit a question for a future column, please e-mail it to careercoach@charityvillage.com. No identifying information will appear in this column.
