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I started a new job three weeks ago.

On my second day, a manager came in and briefed me on a project, and told me I was still a candidate. She gave me all details.

My boss, the one who coordinates with managers, told me "be ready for next week". On the next week, it felt like the client didn't accept me or something.

Then I was told to contact some colleague about some topics, but he never replied, although I included my boss in emails. I gave him a call and he told he was preparing material before briefing me.

On the third week, I spoke to my boss and he told me to send a reminder, then another manager contacted me and spoke to me about an imminent opportunity at another job, this week. It was very likely that I would be given details at the end of this week, but I didn't receive any response yet.

An hour and half before the end of the week, my boss came to me and told me "the guy who is responsible about that topic didn't respond?" I said "no".

He said, "alright, work on this static website - measure the number of changes, complexity and estimations for the work to be done, I need your feedback on Monday".

This task seem to be very shallow for my level of experience.

Also, I was urgently hired, and now I have spent three weeks doing nothing.

I am a bit worried because I was let go from my previous job (terminated before probation period ended) two days before I received the offer from my now current employer.

I am afraid this incident could have impacted the clients decisions (as everybody knows everybody).

Should I be more proactive and ask?

Should I look for a safer job?

Am too paranoid?

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  • Hey Leonidas, what do you mean by "I was let go from my previous job"? Were you fired? Quit? Laid off? – DarkCygnus♦ Jul 27 '18 at 18:03
  • @DarkCygnus, my previous boss was a problematic person who systematically has problems with her subordinates. I don't know why she decided she didn't want me and actively wanted to get rid of me during probation. I believe she hired me for personal benefits, and when she understood she can't reach those benefits, she started her plot against me and put me in such a delicate situation. – Leonidas Jul 27 '18 at 18:05
  • You didn't answer my questions :/ so, did she terminated you still during probation then? – DarkCygnus♦ Jul 27 '18 at 18:09
  • Yes @DarkCygnus. – Leonidas Jul 27 '18 at 18:09
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    "I am afraid this incident could have impacted the clients decisions" -- what incident, and how would the client know about it? – mcknz Jul 27 '18 at 18:11
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First, the decision to hire you was made before you were terminated, so it has nothing to do with you.

Secondly, plans and schedules change. Maybe the customer didn't decline you, but the whole project. Maybe the project was delayed for weeks or even months. Things like that happen all the time.

I myself started 7 weeks ago at a new job and "my" project was delayed for several months at my first day there. Did they fire me? No. Did they create a new project for me? No. I help another team out and found something meaningfull to do for them on my own.

And that is exactly my advice for you: ask other teamleads or project managers who needs a helping hand. Find small tasks you can do and the team members are happy to delegate to someone else. Teams approaching some deadline are almost always happy to have an additional helping hand. That starts an almost natural process of integrating you into one existing team.

If your manager cannot find meaningfull work for you, do it yourself. That also demonstrates your value and commitment to the company.

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  • I am bit concerned because I asked the architect with whom I had the interview and told him if he has news about project he outlined, and he said he doesn't really understand himself why I am given such a light project that is supposed to be assigned to a web designer. I am worried because I've been having serial disappointments. – Leonidas Aug 1 '18 at 20:00
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    @Leonidas Well, my advice stays the same: be more active in searching for tasks. But don't refuse the task you've been assigned to! Maybe it's a kind of test, maybe someone was realy confused, we don't know – Elmy Aug 1 '18 at 20:15
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In this sort of situation, I would certainly be proactive. Speak to your boss; explain that you are not fully-loaded and can pick up more work and see if they can give you something more substantial to work on. If nothing materializes, then spend the time learning more about the company, their products, or doing some proactive learning to improve your skills/knowledge.

If you get the impression that the lack of work may be because they have lost a big client contract (or something similar), then it might be prudent to dust off the resume again and start looking at what other opportunities are around. If heads need to go, then someone who has only been there 3 weeks is going to be high up on the list.

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