Employer lied. Anybody been here?

[Sue]

I just started a new job, after a long search. They lied about a major part of the job, and sort of tossed it in my face the 2nd day. Has anybody had an experience where they switched jobs and realized they'd been tricked or lied to? Can you help me figure out how to get out? Looking for a new job when you've only been there two days is hard.

[Dawn]

Your situation sounds terrible. I hope you can regroup quickly and move on.

Mine was about travel -- the search committee claimed there was "only" eight trips per year, when it turned out to be as many as 2-3 trips a month. And, they neglected to tell me that previous people in my position (which were far too many at that level) had been forced to leave the organization due to the problems the travel created in their marriages! Where am I now?  Currently I am separated from my husband, and unemployed (my choice) after a short year at this organization.

[AJ Robidoux]

Yes. Everyone knew but me why I was hired. The job title said one thing, as the did the letter of employment, with grant-proposal writing supposedly a smaller percentage of the job. After 60 days on the job, I realized the organization wanted a grant writer. I stayed for almost two years. Learned a lot about writing grant proposals, plus came from behind on the job title responsibilities. It was a dysfunctional organization and the turnover was very high.

Would I do it again? No. In retrospect, I would have resigned before I was into the job too far, with good reason.

[Nan]

I was hired to be customer service rep with vendors and  retail customers for a logistics company for a very large  computer company, (the computer casings are black).  I was put to work in the warehouse -- the job i was hired for didn't exist yet. I quit after 40 hours and lost my unemployment rights. I am 58 years old and not physically able to lift and pull.

[Shirley Levitt]

Hi Sue,

I had the same experience and stuck it out for almost three years. After I resigned from a similar position in an internationally recognized youth-services organization, I was given a whispered list of "expectations" that were never mentioned in the second interview, even though I asked for examples of a typical week in the organization.  Multiple standing meetings, expected evenings out until 10 p.m., all while reporting in at 7:30 a.m. for work -- promises of "flex time" that were rescinded because as an exempt employee . . . as my high school-educated supervisor told me, I worked until the job was done. Non-professional atmosphere, misanthropic CEO, a real horror story. Employee turnover at monstrous proportions. Any surprise? There were so many horror stories, I can't even share them all. Duplicitious from beginning to end!

[Anonymous]

I sure have! I resigned from a terrific consulting job that demanded lots of travel to work for an organization with a great mission that served my community. When I started my new job I discovered that the executive director who had been there 20 years (and was beloved by the community) had been secretly ousted just before I was hired . . . not the sort of situation any development director ought to walk into. I stuck it out for a year but my career has never been what it once was.

[Anonymous]

The job interview for the development director and executive director positions were held in a barroom. I asked to look at the books before my wife and I agreed to work with this reknowned nonprofit organization involved in business education for kids. It turned out that the board of directors was non-existent (a paper board for the sake of USAID funding). After the funds ran out, so did the executive director and assistant executive director. No fund aising beyond grant-proposal writing existed, and we had enough money to last three months. This lasted a year before we told the board that things were not working and that they had a choice of either continuing as-is (in which case they would have been held responsible for all financial obligations or shortcomings of the organization), or closing down all together.

We stretched it out for quite a while and streamlined the organization, but it was a matter of too little, too late.  Because I was a volunteer development director, it did not matter for me, but my wife was the executive director, who now can not find work because she is over-qualified for taking on this organization that was set up for failure.  

Do I regret it?  No. I learned a lot, gained some practical skills, and am now not nearly as bashful when it comes to my due dilligence in feeling out prospective employers.  Would I do it again?  Hell no! We were used for the sake of making someone look better. It happens, yes. But at least now I think I will be better equipped to sniff out such a situation beforehand.

[millercash]

Your situation sounds terrible. I hope you can regroup quickly and move to next job! Hope that you learn something!
Cheers,
Eva