How to eliminate vicious cycle and general relationship with company

Question

I am a junior employee working at a large research/consultancy firm. I have been working here for two years.

Ever since I arrived here I have been having an extremely hard time being part of a team or group. There are certainly language/cultural barriers, and also technical barriers such as the fact that my academic background does not 100% fit with what most people here do (let's say most are mechanical engineers while I am a hydraulic engineer).

I have also noticed a pattern that there is usually little for me to do. For example, this year, I have spent the entire months of January, February and March with virtually no projects. Productivity and billable hours are poorly enforced, since generally speaking the managers cannot force seniors to involve juniors. So discussion with my manager is often not sufficiently fruitful.

When I accumulate several weeks or months with no projects I develop an attitude and resistance to new work/projects. I may also give the impression that I am not too keen on it, especially if it comes from a supervisor who had neglected to give me work, since I associate them with the frustration of having no work, it erodes the trust I gave them when we first started working.

I have noticed the following vicious cycle:

• Start work with new group or colleague
• Everything goes well, I frequently surpass expectations and they are pleased with my work
• They slack off on supervising/mentoring. This is usually accompanied by a reduction in the amount of work that they give me, and the presence of a more experienced (but not senior) employee who gets all the work.
• I begin developing resentful feelings/lose trust in the supervisor and start diverting my attention towards a new group/new work
• I also come up with mental gymnastics to justify the transition I am making such as "they don't give me enough work" or "they give me uninteresting work" or "there is no professional growth there"
• Start work with new group or colleague

How can I start a positive trend and eliminate this cycle? Is my personality simply not compatible with this firm? Am I having normal reactions to what I consider to be an abnormal situation (getting paid without doing work)?

Answer 1

Based on your description, it seems there is a communication gap after this point:

They slack off on supervising/mentoring. This is usually accompanied by a reduction in the amount of work that they give me, and the presence of a more experienced (but not senior) employee who gets all the work.

and before this point:

I begin developing resentful feelings/lose trust in the supervisor and start diverting my attention towards a new group/new work

Do you have discussions with your manager, or with anyone else, when a new person is brought into the project?

Instead of being silently resentful, you might take that opportunity to collaborate -- offer to work closely with the new person on the work.

This way you will gradually build better relationships with the people you work with, learn from other people, and gain more experience on different projects.

Even if the new person is more experienced, you can use the opportunity to gain from their knowledge. It's certainly better than having no work, and as you work alongside the new person, you may find that the new person can testify to your abilities as new work comes up.

If you've already tried this and made no progress, perhaps it's time to find a new place where your work is better valued.

Sometimes when one starts on a junior level, you're forever seen as junior no matter how much experience you gain. In those cases it's often best to look for work elsewhere.