I need practical advice. Desperately need to move on from the work coach role
For context:
I graduated from university two years ago and this is the only office job I’ve done (for 1 year and 6 months now). The only other work experience I have is working at a student nightclub. I got A* and As at A-levels and GCSEs and did a History degree at UCL. I failed to make it onto the fast stream (I scored average on the numerical test).
In terms of work:
- I have a micro-manager who doesn’t know the difference between your and you’re and has clear biases in the team. He blocked my EOI transfer on the ground of ‘business needs’.
- Other teams monitor and report us if it looks like we’re ‘relaxing at our desks’. Some of the nastiest people I’ve ever met in my life have been my older colleagues who seem to have massive chips on their shoulders.
- The people in general in the Jobcentre seem to have no ambition and constantly gossip and chat shit about each other.
- I get verbally abused by customers when I tell them they need to look for work to claim UC. I’ve had death threats made to me. Mentally I’ve never been so drained and uninspired.
I would love to change roles and move to another department but the experience and skills from this job doesn’t seem to impress in applications. I’ve applied for EOIs as well but they were blocked by my manager on business grounds.
Has anyone who’s been in my situation managed to get out? And if so to which role and how? I’m already a lead and have tried going beyond just the work coach role but the managers gatekeep opportunities so it’s hard. I made the fatal error of challenging my manager when he blocked my EOI and since then he’s sidelined me for any development opportunities.
I can’t help but lowkey feel like a failure as well. I have friends from my university who got onto the fast stream who are working on major government projects. At this point, I just want to move on from this job and be happy.