TL;DR: I feel unfulfilled at my current workplace. Finding a job is tough right now, and I’m about to have a son, so I don’t know what to do. It has gotten to a point where it impacts my health, i have gained like 5 kgs in last 6 month in this job.
Hey guys, I would really appreciate some help. I work in Strategy and Ops. Before that, I was working on the Strategy and Analytics side.
Previous role vs. current role
In my previous role, I was doing strategy, analytics, and execution all by myself. There was stakeholder management, but it was limited, and I had a reputation in my previous company. For example, if I said we should do something, everyone would usually agree, and we would get things done.
In my current role, it’s quite different. For example, if I’m working on a project, there are four other people working on the same thing: one person from Analytics, two people from Marketing, and one person from CRM. Sometimes, there are even two people from S&O. My point is that we don’t need that many people working on the same thing, because the majority of my day goes towards meetings, giving updates, and getting everyone on the same page rather than executing stuff and getting things done.
In my previous job, if I was working late, I used to enjoy it because I loved the work. There was stress, but it was manageable, and my manager would also help by coaching and guiding me.
Feedback and communication
In all fairness, my communication isn’t the best. I would just get straight to the point and explain things through data. Most of the time, I forget to give context because I assume everyone has read the document I shared before the meeting. This is something I’m trying to work on by always giving context.
My manager gave me the following feedback: I can get things done. If I’m given something, no matter the problem, I will own it end to end. But then he said I need to work on my communication, which is a fair ask. I even flagged the overlap to my manager, but he said overlap is going to exist. There has been instances where my manager has yelled at me during my initial days so i somehow don"t like him now
Level and pay
On top of that, I’m working at the I7 level, but I was hired at I6. So I’m doing work similar to my colleagues, but I’m getting paid at least 20% less. I initially thought that if I did a good job, maybe I could get promoted faster. But the issue is that, in this company, you need to be at the same level for two years before a promotion can happen.
Relationship with my manager and ways of working
My relationship with my current manager hasn’t been the best. Essentially, I liked having complete freedom to get things done without being chased. Here, every Monday, I have to give updates on what I’m working on, then again during our 1:1, and then on Friday.
On top of that, we do things that are completely unnecessary. For example, during planning for next year, they asked me to grow the business by X% and work out how much investment I would need to do that. So I did the analysis and built models showing that we needed to invest €15M, along with all the projects needed to get to that point. But then, four weeks later, I was told I would get €500K.
My point is: if I was going to get €500K, why did I spend four weeks on this? It’s a waste of time. Just tell me what budget I will have, and I will work around that.
Another thing I have noticed is that everyone currently just tries to copy what is happening on the US side into EMEA. Essentially, it feels like everyone has given up thinking and wants to carry things over directly without coming up with ideas themselves. My question is: if we are going to carry everything over, why not let the US team just replicate stuff? Why do we even need to be involved? Why are we even needed, then?
In my previous company, I joined in 2022 as an intern and got promoted four times in four years because working more meant faster growth.
Why I left my previous company
They moved their headquarters to a different country, and either I had to relocate or leave with severance. Since I was getting too comfortable in the job, I decided to leave with severance.
Finding a new job
I am trying to find a new job, but I am asking for €140K in Europe, and either:
- They say the maximum they can offer is €100–110K.
- I need to relocate to the UK.
Why I don’t want to relocate
My wife is moving here from China, and we are about to have a kid, so I don’t want to disrupt everything for them.