Cerina Posted October 8, 2019 Share Posted October 8, 2019 You know how we're pretty much all introverts who would rather eat dirt than talk so someone? And we're all pretty socially awkward IRL, especially when put on the spot? And how we're pretty much all plagued with impostor syndrome? Yeah, so, my not-really-my-supervisor is leaving the company. Her last day is the 21st. I've been working part-time in this department since May 2018, but most of that has been field work. The last maybe 5ish months I've been doing a lot of admin time at the office. It started with me just coming in to help catch-up some filing, then I was asked to reorganize (read - make functional) our resource desk, then it slowly evolved into me being given more and more admin tasks that keep our department running. And actually this summer, my not-really-my-supervisor asked me to help her redo our department's employee manual/guidebook to account for all the new changes to the scouting programs and to streamline the information and processes in it. Eventually, she handed the ENTIRE project over to me (with the full knowledge and blessing of our director/department head), and I wound up changing a lot more than I really think they'd originally planned on, but they really liked the changes I'd made. So anyway, now I'm practically a part-time office worker here, and after a few other resignations and one death, I'm the most experienced person in our department aside from the director. And I think I want my not-really-my-supervisor's job when she leaves. BUT...I'm not entirely convinced they're even going to try to fill it. I'm not sure what their plan is. They never really were able to define her role and her place in the hierarchy (not-really-my-supervisor), but she basically runs the field operations for this department and coordinates everything and everybody knows that. She probably actually does the job of like 3 people. Losing her is a pretty big loss. She tried to resign at the beginning of the summer over some BS, but they begged her to stay. Now she's leaving for a new opportunity, so they haven't begged this time. I can very well see them deciding to eliminate her position and give all of her responsibilities to our director, which would be a disaster. I can also see them splitting her job into several smaller ones (with lower pay, I'm sure). But who the hell knows at this point! And honestly, it's a privately funded department at a non-profit, so money is always scrutinized extensively. If I'm being 100% honest with myself, I could take over 70% of her job tomorrow without any extra instructions or training. But, of course, when I start to consider it, I'm also convinced that there's no way I could do it all. And I'm more than positive I could not convince someone else that I could do it (except my husband who completely believes I could) because of all the aforementioned awkwardness, introversion, and impostor syndrome. So somebody please give me a script of what the hell I should say to my director this week to convince him to give me her position. Something that will convince him that he needs to keep the department running mostly as-is and that I'm the most experienced and logical choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 9, 2019 Share Posted October 9, 2019 The first thing is, you have to decide for yourself if you can do it. Not if you feel you can do it, but if you can do it. Sketch out what you think/know the job duties are and consider each thing and decide if you can do it. If it’s primarily administration, you know you have the skill set to do it, and probably do it better. You may not be the best admin in the world (or you may - I don’t know!) but you’re good and dedicated. Dedication can carry you a lot farther than natural talent. When I first started in insurance, there was a guy who had previously been an agent who started at the same job at the same time. He was super arrogant, and thought he was going to be the best. From the second we were out of training, I beat him in every metric, which surprised everyone. He knew a lot going in, but I read everything I could. I could quote every resource the company had for my job, knew the systems better than the IT guy who managed the system, and just trounced the guy. He was super angry about it, too. He had more knowledge, but I had more dedication and drive, and that got me several promotions while he stayed in the same area. As for selling yourself, I’m really good at doing that, so here’s my suggestion: take all that fear, all that awkwardness, and instead of letting it beat you, let it drive you. Spend time going over the job and listing your strengths and successes, and be honest about your weaknesses too. Get it all down on paper, or on a screen, or whatever works for you. Then, when you go talk to the director, don’t ask if they’re filling the position, but instead go in with the assumption that they are, and tell him what you’ve done already and how you think that you would be a natural fit for the job. It sounds like you already know most of it, so you could reasonably slide in with little to no disruption, except for the improvements you will make. It wouldn’t hurt to have a couple of suggestions on that front, if you have any. Doesn’t have to be anything major, and probably shouldn’t be anything big, but if you have a couple of ideas, you could bring them up. Basically, act like you’re ready to step into the role and make them say no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Krawlie Posted October 9, 2019 Share Posted October 9, 2019 I was gonna say offer oral, but that sounds pretty all right too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 9, 2019 Share Posted October 9, 2019 I was gonna say offer oral, but that sounds pretty all right too.She’s looking for a different kind of job. Although both can pay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captainbleh Posted October 9, 2019 Share Posted October 9, 2019 Wish I could say something more constructive (trying to let the crude jokes pass, but there's often a between friends context here that I'm not party to), but what you've already written would be a good basis for a script. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 Yeah, it can be a little weird when you're interacting with people who have known each other for years, and a lot of us have been posting regularly from when we were Young and stupid, so it's easy to fall back into that and go for the vulgar jokes. How did it go, Cerina? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceheart Posted October 10, 2019 Share Posted October 10, 2019 Theres also the fact that we had a private conversation about this before Reese brought it to the boards, so Jacob gave his serious advice there, and Reese knows it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerina Posted October 10, 2019 Author Share Posted October 10, 2019 True. And he made the oral joke there as well. So he's really just recycling comments on Nightly. But also, after 15+ years of friendship, we've evolved to besties who share even the craziest details of our lives while also maintaining a never-ending stream of inappropriate jokes and comments. Even our spouses roll their eyes at us at this point. It went well, I think. The conversation actually came about much more naturally than I could have hoped. I actually had to talk to him about my field assignments, and it segued into us discussing how we were going to handle Michelle's (my not-really-my-supervisor) duties after her last day. He'd already been counting on me taking over some of them, even if temporarily, because he was confident I already knew them. Then he mentioned starting interviews for her position and I said that I'd like to be considered. That led to a quick discussion about how that would play into my life as it is now (homeschooling, Trevor's company, etc.). So I explained that every 5-6ish years or so, Trevor and I switch breadwinner/stay-at-home roles, especially when something seems to fall into our laps. Then I made some really lame joke about him just giving me the job because I'm the obvious choice and obviously the best and obviously the most experienced. We laughed, and he acknowledged that now I definitely am the most experienced...and definitely one of the best in our department. Then he made an offhand comment about how he too needs to think about taking my approach and accepting something when it falls into his lap and makes the most sense, but he'll have to do something thinking about it. All-in-all, lame joke aside, I think he does recognize that I'm the obvious choice to take on the role, but I know he'll have to talk to his higher-ups about it first. And honestly, the job specifics will probably change as well. They never really did define that role well, so I'm sure they're going to make some changes so the job has an actual set of specific duties and responsibilities. But I'm still the most obvious choice. And I did give him a few ideas for recruiting (for my current job because we need more of us like yesterday), and he was grateful because it was stuff he hadn't even thought about. And then yesterday on one of my regular assignments, I completely rocked it, recruiting 18 out of the 19 people who came. And now he's even given us the go-ahead for me to start training in her position before she leaves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 7, 2019 Share Posted November 7, 2019 Any further news? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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