marylsommers: Dear Jeremy work advice: have your say

Monday, November 21, 2011

Dear Jeremy work advice: have your say

? Should I quit following a demoralising appraisal?
? A succession of short-term roles are coming back to haunt me

At the start of each week, we publish the problems that will feature in this Saturday's Dear Jeremy advice column in the Guardian Work supplement, so readers can offer their own advice and suggestions. We then print the best of your comments alongside Jeremy's own insights. Here are this week's dilemmas ? what are your thoughts?

Problem one: Should I quit following a demoralising appraisal?

I work for a small company in a management role. When I first took the job in April 2010 I did very well, earning a promotion at the end of my six-month probation period. However, at my most recent appraisal I was told that senior management have no confidence in me and I am not good at my job. I felt this was extremely unfair and attempted to argue the point, but without seeming to change my direct manager's opinion.

The company is currently going through somewhat hard times, with little new work on the books for either this quarter or next year. It recently completed a very large contract, so there are now extra staff members with little to do (including my direct manager). It strikes me that I may be being softened up for redundancy, as I would be an easy target: in post less than two years, other staff available to perform my role, and a relatively high salary to be saved.

Do you think it is worth raising this with my manager, and negotiating an easier (for everyone) exit? Or, if I'm being paranoid, would this make me look like a drama queen and actually put the idea in their heads? A year ago I would have been heartbroken to leave, but following my appraisal I am angry and demotivated.

Problem two: A succession of short-term roles are coming back to haunt me

I am a 31-year-old who graduated as a mature student with an English degree in 2009. Over the past two years I have been working in Italy as a Tefl teacher but decided to return to the UK as I didn't really enjoy living abroad and wanted to start a career in a different area.

During my teens and twenties I displayed a slacker attitude towards work: I tended to have a job for a year or so and, by working in low-level positions in retail, call centres and temporary administration, I never developed any of the skills which would stand me in good stead for the future and allow me to sound impressive on my CV. Hence, I decided to go to university later in life in the belief that a degree would pave the future for me and lead to the possibility of starting a career (hopefully in publishing). However, I now believe I was totally wrong.

I feel my past life is starting to catch up with me as I have a CV full of gaps, and jobs that show no clear skills progression. I also feel I am now too old to get on to a graduate programme or be taken on by an employer in an entry role in order to develop those skills that I should have developed years ago. Hence, I don't really know what my next step should be in order to get my career on the right track.

What are your thoughts?

? For Jeremy's and readers' advice on a work issue, send a brief email to dear.jeremy@guardian.co.uk. Please note that he is unable to answer questions of a legal nature or reply personally.