Ask a Manager

Thanks to all who are answering the call for updates, to let us know how their situation turned out. If you haven’t written in yet, we want to hear from you!

Here’s the first one.

Remember the new HR assistant who was frustrated because no more experienced HR staffer was around to give him guidance? Here’s his update:

My dilemma was that I accepted a position as an HR Assistant for a small local company and only came to find out after the first week that the position was not just HR Assistant. My position is pretty much the whole HR department. I have no HR manager to report to except the owner. I have to pretty much learn as I go and do everything by trial and error. I wrote to you then asking if I should leave and you and others answered that it’s a golden opportunity and that I should stay.

Well, ready for the update? (drum roll…) I am still at the company. When I wrote to you, I was just at the company for 2 months. Also, I was still going to school to complete my MBA in Human Resource Management. In other words, I was feeling pretty nervous knowing that I have no HR manager to receive input from. Now it has been a year, I have completed my MBA and I am still at the company.

I’m glad that I took the advice. Since my post to you, I have switched my perspective and view this as an opportunity like you and others have suggested. I have learned a lot about HR. Although the road was not always smooth, I’ve learned how to handle it on my own. I feel more confident about the work that I do now.

But unfortunately, while this is a great opportunity, I have never been more sure that this company is not where I want to be. The more I’m involved with the company’s operation, the more I realize that our values do not align. So in short, the update on my status is that yes I’m still at the company but no I won’t be here for long.