What to do When You Think You’ve Joined The Wrong Company

You’ve made the jump to leave your current position for a new ‘opportunity’. However, it is not 100% what you expected. The company culture seems ‘off’, and you feel like you’ve had a grave error of judgement. What do you do next?

Don't give up straight away

Reflect on why this may have happened

Stay in touch with your network

Communicate with your new boss or HR

What are you going to do differently next time?

Trust Yourself

Quitting the role should be your last resort

Don't give up straight away

Any new position takes time to adjust to.  “Generally speaking, it takes three months to get used to a new environment, so don’t rush to conclude that you should quit right away,” says Hallie Crawford, the founder of HallieCrawford.com Career Coaching.

Sometimes it is easy to confuse the feelings of discomfort with hating your new job. Get to know the people and the company culture before making any decisions about whether you’ve made the wrong decision. Push through the first quarter or your probation period and then reassess how you feel again. Be open-minded and get past the uncomfortable barrier of that ‘new job’ feeling.

Reflect on why this may have happened

If you’re having feelings of doubt about your new company, ask yourself why. Reflect on whether the feelings you have are simply discomfort or whether you have genuinely made the wrong decision in moving to the company.

If you decide you have made the wrong decision, ask yourself why this has happened. Did you not qualify the company properly? Did you ask the right questions? Were you mis-sold on the position and the culture of the company? Did you make a decision based on money or package?

Whatever the reason, establishing the why will help you understand how this happened and will help you decide on what you are going to do next.

Stay in touch with your network

Although you should always stay in touch with your professional network, staying in regular contact when you’ve made the wrong career move could be a safety blanket. Someone in your professional network will have knowledge of a great open position or have excellent recruiter contacts who may be able to help you land a different role.

Another essential contact to have is your old employer. If you’ve left a good company that you would consider returning to, then you could contact your old boss and explore the possibility of a return.

“There's no shame in becoming a boomerang employee as long as you are happy to go back to any negative aspects of your previous employer. Plenty of people return to their old jobs or go back to companies that they’ve worked for previously,” says Roy Cohen, career counsellor, executive coach and author of The Wall Street Professional’s Survival Guide. “They left because they felt the grass was greener, but it turned out it wasn’t.”

Communicate with your new boss or HR

Communication is always key in any situation. If you’ve had concerns about your new job or new company for a few weeks, express these to your new boss or HR. Expressing your concerns may lead to answers about why you feel the way you are. Perhaps there has been a recent structural change, which explains the temporary change in company culture, or perhaps your boss’s focus is on growing their team which is why their focus is being split between your onboarding and their other tasks.

When your boss and HR know your concerns, they can work on addressing them and improving your experience.

What are you going to do differently next time?

We often talk about qualifying a role and a company, just as a company qualifies individuals for their open roles. This is the one key element to keep in mind when embarking on a career move. It is easy to rush into joining a company based on a salary/package; however, there is much more to consider. The next time you interview with a company, take the time to get to know them, their culture, mission and beliefs. Also, take a look at their employee reviews on Glassdoor and their customer reviews on an independent site such as TrustPilot. Getting a 360 overview of the company is essential in really getting to know who they are, what they stand for and how they treat their employees and clients.

Trust yourself

Whether you decide to stick it out for a while, look for a new opportunity or quit right away, trusting yourself is important. Your ‘gut feeling’ is also important moving forward too. Addressing instinctual concerns in an interview will give employers the chance to explain more surrounding the subject and show employers you are open, honest and passionate about making the right career move. Getting all the information is essential to making the right decision in any aspect of life.

Quitting the role should be your last resort

If you’ve given the role a try for 6-12 months and it isn’t for you, you might consider quitting, However, explaining gaps in your CV can be tricky, and employers don’t want to know that you’ve given up, so easily. Quitting without another role to leave for should be your last resort, however, putting yourself and your mental health first should be your priority.

Once you’ve quit, put your efforts into finding the right role by reaching out to your network and recruiters in your industry and being honest about why you’re trying to look for a new role.