Welcome back to another episode of the corporate Cowboys podcast my name is Alex today’s proof of life it’s Thursday February 9 2023 and if you didn’t know yet the corporate Cowboys podcast is all about arming professionals with knowledge or something similar granted that you you were already
In corporate we’re in a corporate War we’re necessarily born into it if you can hear me now if you can hear my voice it’s being transmitted over a device of any kind that was manufactured right that had that has value something with inputs raw materials went into it and made it something
Consumeristic made it something material under some kind of capitalist process you’re in a corporate War wake the [ __ ] up Alex um these uh these episodes this podcast really it’s about professional development right it’s for those individuals who are breaking in to corporate and also breaking out if you think about
It because what you want to do is move like a corporate Cowboy move with the sense of dignity a sense of Liberty a sense of freedom and that comes with realizing your potential right realizing what you are actually worth what you could be worth and making moves towards making it making moves
Towards actualizing it how about that right now uh today’s uh today’s 30 minute console these 30 minute consoles are free right but they’re very limited in scope I say this every episode this advice is not legal it’s not legal don’t rely on it if it fits your exact situation and it won’t
Maybe in some broad sense if I give some general advice but it’s not legal it’s not directed it’s not direct advice to you at least so your mileage will vary it will vary unless you reach out to us directly and you have us work for you and again
Our rates are reasonable we want to catch up with us we’re on Instagram that’s at corporate Cowboys with the Z on patreon the corporate Cowboys podcast you can shoot us some snail mail right to us P.O box 3372 Rancho Cordova California 95741 r slash career guidance gives us this question here it says
The employer offered a change in responsibilities when I got an offer what would you do in the same situation employer offered a change in responsibilities but not a change in pay or or what why would an employer offer you a change of responsibilities when you get an offer are we talking
About an offer from outside like an outside offer and now the employer is gonna what make your job easier somehow it’s gonna it’s gonna take responsibilities away from you by making your job easier or is going to give you more responsibilities to like train you for a promotion
Says what would you do in the same situation there’s questions to ask again you’ve got to ask the right questions what how are your responsibilities going to change and how is this change of responsibilities going to affect your professional development so it starts here and it’s asking for advice
I started a new job about six months ago the roles and responsibilities are maybe 10 percent what I was told okay all right so they’re gonna they’re gonna change your change responsibilities to to what you negotiated I don’t know they’re gonna up that number to [ __ ]
20 of what you were told the rest of the job it says here the rest of the job I hate and I specifically avoided applying to jobs with these responsibilities all right this person sounds miserable I brought this up to my manager a couple of times and so did other employees I
Planned to wait out one year and leave a buddy of mine let me know this department this his Department a buddy of mine let me know his Department is hiring for the position that I actually wanted when I got the offer my boss let me know he’s open to changing my responsibilities to
Be more in line with what was discussed in my interview what [ __ ] dude if you interviewed for a position and the interview was about this position and the and the specific responsibilities the qualifications needed for this position so you’re already going in with the mindset of having informed Yourself by an
Interview of what your job will consist of the duties that you will be responsible for and you get there and it’s not even 11 of what you negotiate of what you negotiate what you interviewed for I mean dog I would be making moves why would you wait a year in that [ __ ]
In that environment why would you I mean all right all right this says all right I’m going to finish the body before I go off on a rant because it’s what I feel like doing but I want to be better informed before I go off on you know a tirade of some kind
Telling this person to uh look out for their own interest right obviously the manager is going to put you in a position that they want to and typically most all employment agreements have some provision in them that state they can change your responsibilities and change your duties within reason within reason right
So if they’re shunting your professional development into the 10 percent of [ __ ] grunt work that nobody wants to do and not helping your professional development what incentive do you have to stick around for even a year all right it says and and also your buddy says that their Department is
Hiring it’s it’s a different department in the same firm in the same organization or is it a department at his organization says like it’s his Department maybe he it’s a department in his organization a different organization or just a different department you know makes me wonder it makes me wonder that’s all
So it says my boss let me know he’s open to changing my responsibilities to be more in line with what was discussed in my interview how nice how nice of your boss he’s he sounds [ __ ] this was this was independent of my offer I don’t get that I don’t understand that
So this was independent are you are you saying that you got an offer from your buddy and just coincidentally your manager now wants to change up your responsibilities to be more in line with what you interviewed for or are you saying you got the offer and because of this offer
Your manager now wants to change responsibilities is is open to negotiating this change of responsibilities to be more in line with what you interview for right because that makes a difference if your manager is just saying like whoa you know just out of the blue says you know we could
Change the responsibilities that you do uh to be more in line with what you interviewed with I’d be like I might respond with what the [ __ ] took so long I interviewed for a specific job you’re just yanking you’re just jerking me around This is highly unprofessional right because you’ve got to put your
Professionalism first you sign on to a job you sign the dotted line you sign up for the corporate War you become a mercenary a soldier you have a job to carry out and and if it’s not the job you signed up for what the [ __ ] are you doing there
So it says this was independent of my offer again I just want to be clear on on whether or not this person knows what what that term independent implies what the implication or the significance of that term means right because if it was dependent then it would be that the offer to
Change the responsibilities was conditioned on the fact that they got an offer from outside they don’t want to lose them and now they’re thinking well if I change the responsibilities to be more in line with what they interviewed for maybe those stick around so it says continuing the total
Compensation is about the same in total commute and flexibility is about the same you see now this makes me think it’s an outside offer right it’s not at the same firm because if we’re talking commute what you have different departments Strone over different parts of town says I’m having trouble deciding to Stay
Or Leave the job security is about the same what you mean entry level forever it’s entry level forever babe you don’t [ __ ] forget it job security is an illusion it says I personally don’t know if I can trust my boss but I don’t know the department at the other employer
Okay so it is another employer it’s a totally different department or a department that does something similar but at a totally different firm at another company okay okay I’m trying to decide if it’s worth jumping it says I think I might jump no I damn I misread that I added words
Where there weren’t any it says I think if I jump I’ll stay at the new company for five years or more I’m not very worried about a six-month stint on my resume okay so you’ve you’re already made your mind you’ve already literally made your you’re not worried about six months just
Showing up on your resume I don’t think you should even put down this six month stint on your resume tell them that you were sharpening your skills maybe in this one area that you [ __ ] hate right if they pay you more if if that type of
Work is the type of grunt work maybe not grunt work is the type of meticulous tedious work nobody wants to do but it’s it’s highly sought after folks are killing to have somebody do it maybe you could charge more maybe the compensation doesn’t have to be about the same it
Could be more right you’ve got to analyze the situation in its entirety right these are questions that I would ask you as the client and again with every client it depends its case by case now because we don’t know all these circumstances again I’m just giving this opinion based off of the face
Of this request of this question of this fact pattern if you will so it says uh oh it includes a t tldr at the end too long ago to read it I wanted a specific job I applied and got the job when I started the job it was a completely different job
Six months later I get an offer for the job I wanted elsewhere but my current employer said they’re open to changing my responsibilities what would you do dog I would leave I think this is open to shut I’d [ __ ] leave unless because you’ve already secured an employment agreement and writing and it
Looks like you aren’t doing [ __ ] about it you weren’t moving to have it enforced you weren’t uh I mean it goes back to your employment agreement you want to read your employment agreement and if your employer just at their discretion could have you change up your can change up your job responsibilities
And if they don’t have to reflect what you were hired for congratulations you are a grunt and they could do whatever the [ __ ] they want in terms of your job responsibilities they could have you be they could have you cleaning toilets bathrooms tomorrow until you choose to leave right
So unless you secure something in writing as far as your job responsibilities go I wouldn’t put too much faith on you sticking around or you sticking up for yourself I mean that in the least offensive way possible I still mean to offend just the least offensive way possible think of me
Think of me as a free con as your free consultant a counselor of sorts I’m Yours but I’m free ah you like that you like that huh you don’t want me to be free get a [ __ ] contract and I’m gonna charge my worth same thing in your situation get that [ __ ] in writing
And charge your worth when you think about it when you think about it it’s about as easy as you’re gonna get it and that’s putting it down on writing and having it signed otherwise you could just expect to show up to work the next day doing something completely different than what you’ve
Been doing that could become really arbitrary if they can change it unilaterally like that without respecting you as a professional shitloaders walk all over you they shouldn’t give a [ __ ] in that case it’s in their best interest to keep you as a floater just wherever
It is they feel like having you from one day to the next you protect yourself by remaining professional taking care of business so that business takes care of you otherwise what if you got a written agreement that’s not being performed on that’s not being enforced yeah I’m not gonna walk you down
How to enforce your own agreement not just yet right because you don’t have me on retainer and I’m not your legal counselor and everything I’m saying right now you shouldn’t take his legal advice you shouldn’t uh base your career off of just what I’m telling you because
Obviously I need more information I give use something better informed as far as action items and a strategy some type of plan or approach you know before you get started committing all sorts of uh professional misdeeds you’ve got to ask the right questions you’ve got to know what direction your professional
Development is headed and where it is you want to take it I mean there comes a point there comes a point more I I guess if you’re younger this ought to make more sense I mean if you’re older I do get that uh you’ve built up a certain image a
Certain presence maybe you’ve gotten tied down with bills with a family you’ve got mouths to feed and so you can’t move as Reckless as you used to but if you’re young and you’re not standing up for yourself that’s a mistake and more than likely I’d chalk it up to public education
Not teaching you something worthwhile just teaching you to take orders and Obey commands but that’s public education it’s a public disservice it’s an equal opportunity public to service probably one of the only institutions that are equal outcome at this point more and more becoming equal outcome
And after the better not for the better not at all no no it’s uniform across the board uniform [ __ ] across the board but but there are people outside the education system who know how to negotiate for themselves right and that comes with experience that comes with exposure
You could go through what 16 17 years 20 years of of Education and still come out the other end just a processed organism a processed drone taking Motors why because it’s what it’s it’s what you believe you’ve been it’s it’s what you’ve been programmed to believe I’m letting this episode get away from
Me frankly I’m just filming time I’m I’m wanting not to read the comments because more than likely I’m right but I’ll go ahead and do so the first comment the first comment here says uh other quotes they’re quotes from the actual body and they say when I get the
Offer so it’s a quote quote when I get the offer my boss let me know or when I got the offer my boss let me know he’s open to changing my responsibilities end quote another quote I personally don’t know if I can trust my boss end quote
And they continue says no no you cannot The Other Place may be just as bad but you know your current place is bad I would definitely leave yeah I mean this is what the highest voted yeah this is the highest voted in I wasn’t wrong to say it first
What the [ __ ] are you doing there you’re gonna wait a year at a place that you know doesn’t respect you that you know doesn’t respect you as a professional given what you interviewed for given what was discussed in in your interview they’re gonna put you to do something completely
Different not even 11 of what you interviewed for I mean are they paying you more than in your interview are they paying you 10 more than what they interviewed you in than what they interviewed you for given that they’re going to change the obligations on you if that’s the case
They probably could have and you just didn’t negotiate it or you didn’t renegotiate yeah no I would leave obviously continue applying take an interview with your buddies firm your buddy’s uh company and do it moving [ __ ] get out the next comment here says I was in a situation similar to you I
Trusted my supervisor and slash didn’t have a very compelling alternative and the promise that my responsibilities would change turned out to be Hollow my job actually got worse as other teams realized my job description was flexible and my supervisor was too unfocused to refuse their demands for me to do work for them
My bad they had this person like a [ __ ] prostitute like a hooker just going from Department to Department doing all the Dirty Work so if they hired him on for you know some technical service they were the ones who who pulled them aside and had to clean everybody’s toilets yeah
I don’t know what’s worse I don’t know what’s worse the bait and switch or not standing up for yourself and again that should start at a young age but the caveat there is having a the moral compass sufficient to be able to do that not just a loud mouth and obnoxious
You have to stand for professionalism not just quote inclusivity yeah I don’t know people got their priorities misplaced and this quote continues this comment continues it says in workplaces where responsibilities are clear and fairly apportioned it’s exceptionally easy to assign work in a fair reasonable and transparent way easy to spot deviations
Easy to repair them easy to respond to employee feedback things go wrong along these lines it’s because the company doesn’t feel accountable to its staff leave unless there are red flags at the new opportunity yeah even more questions to consider that’s why I said check in with your buddy
Find out exactly what their department does before you jump ship I mean still be applying to other spots taking interviews and consider whether or not given what you know at your current job and given what you know about your buddies company whether or not you can negotiate
Something for yourself and get that [ __ ] in writing but you want to identify those obligations those responsibilities at your buddy’s firm and find out if if they’re just piled on to someone else piled on to one person powered onto the Newbie because if you get hired on as the new person you will
Effectively be the Newbie and you’ll be assigned to this grunt work unless unless you see there’s there’s another angle unless at your place right now at your company that you’re in right now you’ve been there not even six months not even a year and it could just be the fact that you
Are a newbie and you’re learning the hardest part of the Java but what it sounds like again we don’t have all of the details it’s a particular part of the job that you dislike then you specifically avoided applying to jobs with those responsibilities so it’s
Apparent that you know how to do it you may or may not be good at it and you’re looking to broaden your skill sets if not completely avoid that part of the job okay I respect that the fact uh the fact that you negotiated into an employment agreement and then
They reneged on it and you yourself didn’t renege on it you just followed through like okay I guess I’m gonna do what they say you know you’re you’re not tied to them at the hip they’ll replace you easily easily it’s not like you guys share a [ __ ] liver
Right you are entry level forever everybody in that [ __ ] we all are entry level forever don’t [ __ ] forget it that being said I would just leave I would leave I’ve been in a similar situation before and if things change up things change up then you start a conversation a discussion of
How those how those responsibilities could maybe inform a promotion some type of additional training a pay raise of some kind typically more so if those responsibilities become managerial right I mean if it’s just one part of your job like say you’re working at uh I don’t know a fast food restaurant right and
Your entry level and it’s an hourly job you’re making minimum wage if only a dollar more or something like that and they train you or you know how to do most everything in the place what flip burgers or work the grill work the cash register work fries and work food prep in the
Back and work the dish area right but they only have you do fries only the fries only the fries only fries right and it’s something you hate and you were interviewed for doing everything else everything else right now if your employment agreement says that they can put you to work fries
You know within reason if they have nobody else or if you’re new or if they need somebody who who they just hired to work fries for six months minimum or they do rotating shifts for six months minimum right we don’t know any of that information because they didn’t prep they didn’t
Provide it for us they didn’t tell us exactly what the Dynamics of the team are whether or not they rotate tasks and responsibilities because they want you adept at this one key area before they move you on to something else we don’t know that again just more questions more questions
To consider I’m I’m giving you a potential blueprint into your professional development of questions that you could ask approaches that you could take the strategies you could potentially implement with the disclaimer with the disclaimer that I don’t owe you [ __ ] this is not legal advice don’t rely on it
If you do want to help us though if you believe you have some disposable income we’ll take a dollar we’ll take a million there’s some cash links floating around somewhere there’s a venmo a cash app and a PayPal if not you can send us I don’t know valuables bullying joking or not contraband
To the P.O box it’s checked intermittently so we’ll be sure to get it have yourselves a good night I’m gonna call it right here or should I wait it out we got 10 seconds until 30 minutes have a good one
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