Ever finally leave a job for which you were overqualified?

[breathing_easier]

I took a special early retirement package which was too good to pass up this past February from a company and job which I loved after 28.5 years. In May I accepted a position with a much, much smaller but well-respected company in this area. Even though I loved my job at my former company, I had a very large caseload and at times it could be stressful. I thought that working for a smaller company with a smaller caseload and finally working only 40-45 hours a week would be a nice change. My interviewers and ultimate management saw my resume which clearly spelled out my level of education, my experience and my level of responsibility for the past 25+ years. Unfortunately the position turned out to be not at all as described and I found myself doing work that I was doing more than 25 years ago when I was still "green." The people are great, the atmosphere is upbeat most of the time, and there are some fun perks to working for this company. However, I find myself dreading going to the office each day as the work itself is so unfulfilling. I'm too young to really retire and I need to be challenged and fulfilled in the work that I do. I waited until the six-month mark to talk to them about my unhappiness in order to give myself a chance to show them what I am really able to do for them. Their response was that they couldn't foresee my job responsibilities changing significantly. So....exit stage left. I gave my notice on Jan. 2. I decided to work through December due to my co-worker's being out of the office for her husband's major surgery and many people being out for the holidays.

I'm relieved about having given notice as I was becoming increasingly unhappy, but I'm also a bit sad that it turned out to be such a bad fit. I'm also frustrated with management that they would think I would be happy doing a job for which I was obviously overqualified.I will be working at least another 10 years and want to keep moving forward and being challenged, not slipping back 25 years. Would love to hear your stories of jobs which you left behind due to their being a terribly bad fit in one way or another. If they happen to be funny all the better as I could use a good laugh.</p>

[willingtocope]

Well, I've kinda got the opposite story, I think.

The job I'm doing now is pretty close to what I was doing back in the 70's, and I'm loving it. The pay is enough for me and DW to live on.

I'm way, way overqualified, but, I'm under NO stress. I put in my 8 hours a day, talk to maybe 2, 3 people during that time, sit at my desk and work on my computer. The programs I'm writing are challenging enough and I get to learn new stuff as it becomes useful. I don't have any "feel good" meetings to go to, and, the person that reads my status reports isn't qualified to judge if they mean anything.

I, too, have at least another 10 years before I can retire, and I'll be delighted to spend them where I'm at.

[breathing_easier]

I'm happy for you, willing, as you've had to deal with way more stress these past few years than you deserved. The key is that you enjoy what you're doing even though you know you're overqualified. It sounds as if you also feel challenged and are learning, which is something I definitely do not. I did the work that I'm doing now when as I was working my way through college and it was definitely only a means to an end. I will miss so many of the people, though, as in only eight months I already count them as friends.

[YoUrFrIeNdMiKe]

some smaller companies have trouble staying in business trying to keep up with the big ones. the big companies don't seem to care about qualifications. they have the wheel completely invented and though they say they welcome input, they are interested only in high levels of productivity, work off the clock if you have to. teamwork is not necessary. it's every man for himself.

[DHK]

Been there, doing that and the T-shirt has been ordered!

I just left my CU after 3 years on the job. 1.5 years ago, I was offered a partnership position with a senior advisor and I had to take it.

The first few months was great. Learned much, applied much of what I learned and I thought I'd spend quite a bit of my life there. I was content.

Then I began to actually PRODUCE and SELL! (Hey, that was what the job entailed - and I was getting good at it!)

Being in a sales position, one would think that I'd be compensated accordingly.

For example, if my partner and I do 100% of the revenue, and I contribute 35%, you would think I'd get a 30-35% split of our production the next year.

Nope.

20%. And they didn't even ask me about it to review my progress with me.

I produce more than 150% of what I get paid on, and I get that little bump in my compensation WHILE my base salary would be taken away??? I DON'T THINK SO!!! (And they were wondering why I wasn't motivated? Could it also be that my contribution meant very little to me in my own pocket, that I simply began to not care enough?)

I left them almost a month ago and now I'm with Mass Mutual - a large mutual insurance company.

It's nice to know that my income is now solely dependent upon my skills and my abilities.

I've already got 3 years in the financial services industry, so it's not that new to me. I've earned the RFC and ChFC industry designations, so I'm well versed in planning techniques and strategies.

All I've got to do now is... SELL outside of the "protected CU environment" and I should be fine!

[merkurfan]

Not exactly the same deal. But, I'll share my little story anyways. I went to school to be a mechanic. I turned wrenches from 1991 to 1996, I was paid a 60/40 spilt (I got 40) of parts and labor, my gross per week was tipically 1000-1400.

For a while, from 1996 to 2001 I owned a computer store. Ironicly, having no computer back ground other than I am good with them I made money, lots of it. So much so that my partner made off with a quarter mill in 4 years and i did not go broke! Something told me to sell the place and I did. The deal was completed 9-10-01.. Call it intuition, or a sign from god. I got out before 9-11 hit and really hit the tech sector hard. The new owner lasted 6 months.

Anyways, I went back to wrenching but things where no longer 60/40 splits. It was more like 80/20.. I did this for a while, but got tired of it quickly, I love cars, and fixing them, but living paycheck to paycheck.. well, it's no ones cup of tea. Now i was making 800-1000 a week.

Then in 2004 I got the urge to do the one other thing I could do day in and day out with out getting tired of it. And it paid well. I was a over the road driver, and I hauled expedited freight. It was GREAT money. And no living expenses. I was home 3-4 days a month, so I got rid of the apartment and moved in to a relitives mail box in South Dakota (no income tax there) I loved it, I drove the wheels off the truck (litterally) and when it was finely time to retire the truck (oddly, I still have it!) I got to thinking, hey, I am 32 I want a family. Now, I know there are truckers out there with families at home and I don't fault them. Ya gotta pay the bills. But it was something I just could not do to a family of mine. I could not stand to be away 28 days a month. I was clearing 2000-2500 a week in that truck.

So I went back to wreching and man did I take one in the wallet. Best pay I could find because my experiance was rusty was 15 bucks a flat rate hour (the book puts a time to everything. time paid for not working on something? 0.00) but I had very little overhead, so I stuck it out. I fought my way up the ladder again but quickly realized, in automotive field, most shops will hire any guy with a set of tools from Sears. And they pay accordingly.

I am by no means old, only 34 but I have watched auto technicians go from highly skilled and trained people that are trained in computers, electical, hvac, enginiering, and more. To parts hangers. It's easy for me to find a job. It's impossiable to get paid what I am worth. My last go around looking I had offers from 11.00 up to 19.00 per flat rate hour with NO base pay, if the shop was dead all week, I did not get a paycheck. These where offers of LESS money than I was making 10 years before with out adjusting for infation. It was the same old story, why pay you that much when the guys working for 11.00 can fix 90% of whats out there?? My reply was, what do you do with the other 10%? If you pay someone to fix your car, trust me, you don't want to know what managers of these places told me. I'll sum it up with this, it costs you alot.

I finely found a place that pays me close to what I feel I am worth per flat rate hour. However, because I get paid fairly well, and shop overhead has gone way up, our labor rate is actually higher than the dealers. People bring their cars to us because they know, we fix um right, and we don't practice swaptronics (the art of throwing parts at the car till it runs right) however, when money gets tight, they tend to go elsewhere and hope they get a good deal.

It's getting VERY hard to get a honest pay for skilled labor in some fields these days. It's been determined by the powers that be that if they can service 80-90% of the cars on the road with employees that are 2 to 3 times cheaper than a employee that can fix anything (and I can, 99% of the time on the first try) and lose the 10% to other shops or just toss parts at it till it runs and let the customer pay for the unskilled workers bad guesses and show higher profits than that is the way they do business.

So just a heads up the next time your brakes make noise, or your service engine soon light is on. The guy they give your car to at the repair shop could be any body with a 200 dollar socket set from sears and no formal training, certifacations, or experiance. I know i would not want that type of person working on my brakes.. And I hope they did not work on the car behind me in traffic either.

I have however started to capitialize on something. There are several chain stores that hire the cheap guys that can't fix everything (here is a hint, most times you can tell how good a mechanic is by the size of his tool box. The bigger the better) and I have started to contract with those shops to come in and handle the big jobs. So I bill them just under their posted labor rates to diagnose the car and leave the part replacement to the 11.00 an hour guy. I still get calls after they replace parts saying my diag was wrong. Only to return to find out the person they had do the repair botched it. But thats alright. I just bill um again. I have amassed almost 80,000 bucks worth of diagnostic equipment that helps me do this, and do it right. Most times however, it's something obvious. at least to me.

The whole point to my credit repair is not a house (well. its on the list) but a shop of my own. It'll just be me, and the wife up front. But I know, it won't take long, and I'll have a waiting list. Because I will be one of the few that can say "yup, I can fix it" and mean it. Although, the contract work is paying ok and might become a full time job. I have been watching e-bay for a van. My Malibu is dragging it's bumper with all the stuff in the trunk.

[whocares]

I left my last job in Florida, I made 166,000.00 a year plus benefits...but I could not stand the companies business ethics...or lack of.

I felt since I was head of my department and I did things I did not like, people under me had to do the same things...I took a stand and left.

Now I have my own shop and run things like I want to and don't have to cheat anyone...

So things worked out for me

Good Luck hatever you do!!