Finally got a job but 5 weeks in and it’s draining me. I want to resign but…
…but am I just being a snowflake who can’t handle such things?
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Hello internet parents. I am in dire need of job/life advice.
After finishing my degree, from the point I started actively applying for jobs, I was jobless for about 5 months. I eventually secured my first full time job as a lecturer and accepted it even though it wasn’t anywhere near the top of my preferred choices.
It is just coming up to 5 weeks since I started the job but I’m already burnt out, I’ve had physical side effects, and I’ve been crying every other day. I dread going in to work. I’ve been working ~12 hours each day during the weekdays to prep for lectures, assessments, etc. Apparently, this is normal practice for the university I work at especially since my faculty is severely understaffed.
Working hard and a lot is not foreign to me. I’ve endured sleep deprived states during my degrees so it’s not about that.
Main reasons I dread my job and going in to work (just a select few of the MANY reasons…):
- Several of the subjects I am asked to teach are not my interest and they’re out of my depths (I’ve never done them before but they need lecturers to cover those subjects). I don’t find joy in the subjects I teach.
- The turnover for tasks are super quick. E.g. I am given about 3 weeks to churn out 7 sets of exam papers for the subjects I teach; all student assessments must be marked within two weeks. All these while still preparing and giving lectures.
- Some practices are concerning i.e. senior lecturers just asked me to use AI; I’ve seen lecture slides from previous semesters/ terms whereby the slides for each week’s lecture were completely AI-generated. And I am asked to use those slides as a guide to prep for my own lectures…
- Data privacy and confidentiality issues which were also raised by colleagues.
- Senior colleagues raised the issue of burnout due to understaffing. This tells me something of the long term workload/ culture. I’ve known a lecturer from the same faculty who left after a few months because of this issue (but at least she had secured another job).
I’ve expressed my workload struggles to my line manager, but she just said “that’s normal for new lecturers”.
In a nutshell, I just don’t think the university and the job itself are good matches for me personally.
Of course, my dad just tells me to stay with the job. I wonder if I’m just a snowflake and simply can’t handle the adult world. I feel awful for feeling this way about my job when many people are looking for jobs…
I’ve already been applying for other jobs but nothing yet. My current major financial commitment is just my rent. I could maybe sustain myself in the early months but it won’t look pretty if I don’t manage to secure another job soon-ish.
I’m so tempted to hand in my one-month notice at my current job right this moment. Would I be a complete fool to do so when I don’t have anything lined up yet? How long is one supposed to stick it out before deciding “enough is enough”?
Apologies for the long post but this is just eating me up inside 😭🫠 I’d appreciate advice from anyone.