I knew it was going to happen at some point. I was hired as a temp a year and a half ago, doing web-related design, maintenace, and the occasional project management task.
The job was going to last until they built an official position in the department and hired for it.
Well, I heard today through one of my coworkers that we’ve done just that.
It’s kind of funny to me that I was actually completely unaware of the process, and that even though we’ve got an employee for the position I still haven’t been told by any higher-ups.
Ah well. It’s not like I’m that worked up about it. I’ve been doing a fair amount of freelance work, as well as quite a bit of music-related projects, so I’m not worried about rent or anything in the near future. It just might have been nice to know a little more ahead of time. I guess at this point I’m going to start looking for something new so I don’t get caught out of work.
In ways it’s kind of a blessing; in recent months my job has been little more than rote maintenance and updating, and I’ve only been working 1/2 to 3/4 time because there is nothing for me to do. I was feeling guilty for sitting at the desk goofing off (case in point!), so I’d head home early when I had nothing to do. It’s pretty mind-numbing.
However, I’ve also been here on and off since 2001, and I think this will be the official end of my employment here, so it’ll be a little sad to say goodbye to some of my coworkers.
I’m just going to look at it as opportunity knocking, though.
Originally (a few months after they hired me) they had mentioned it, but there are two reasons why:
[ul][li]I have definitely verbalised that I wasn’t interested in a career path here. Because the commute is so long (50miles/50 minutes each way), I often work a bit less than 40 hours in order to do some of the other things I love. This is fine, and they’ve been fine with it; a mutually satisfying relationship, but I think for the long haul they want 40 hrs a week out of someone. I just can’t spend 10 hours a week in my car for work.[/li][li]I think my perceived performance level suffers here because of lack of work. For example, three weeks ago I e-mailed my immediate superior, basically saying, “hey, I’ve got a basically empty plate, I’d love to work on some stuff.” Well, he sent me a “project” that took no more than 45 minutes of hard, focused work. Then I sat around for the rest of the day, waiting for updates to post to our site.[/li]
They seemed to love me when they passed off most of the responsibility of migrating and designing our corporate intranet site, with two other temps working under me. But, when I’m not given much to do, I lose value. And, I only can nag my bosses about giving me stuff to do so often.
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Honestly, I think the person filling the full time position will only manage to be very busy because she isn’t as good at what I’m doing as I am (not that I’m amazing or anything like that, and not to knock her; she’s a very capable, smart person, but with a background and experience unrelated to web work).
Please look into the laws regarding FMLA before you decide to leave your current job.
FMLA allowed me to stay home for 3 months when my daughter was born, otherwise, I would have been limited to whatever sick days I had accumulated. It is tied to your employment.
Sorry for the hijack. It is something to think about for someone that is currently gestating.
