Embarrassed,Confused and Scared

[shelikesmorningglories]

On 4/3, I started a new sales job in a small start-up.Four people in the office.I was given my goals for the year;I am supposed to close one deal by end of May.Ok.Fine.

I felt that I had been doing well.I have been building rapport with customers and averaging 35 calls a day.I have sent out proposals.I am doing my job well,imho,for someone with sales experience but none in my new field.I arrive and leave on time.No one has said anything until today

We sit down at 4pm for a sales meeting.Me,my supervisor and the owner(Yes,it's small)And the owner starts things off with this:"It has come to my attention that you have been sending and receiving too many personal emails.It is unacceptable and needs to stop.We hired you because we thought could do this job and activity needs to improve.But we've decided to give you a second chance".He just came out with this.I nodded,apologized and said "Well,Michelle(my supervisor) and I spoke about expected number of dials this morning and it was 40 for today(I looked at her) and then 50-60 moving forward.Is this acceptable?"He said yes.

Now I will admit I am an email junkie.I came from larger company where we could email all day long.I should have paid more attention to what I was doing and cooled it a bit.My mistake.

What puts me off is that until today no one said anything to me about specific dials and the way he just lit into me without even acknowledging that I am good on the phone,receptive to feedback,professional(outside of the emails).Why couldn't my supervisor just pull me aside and tell me "Here are the expectations"?How many people go into a sales job with no knowledge of the industry and manage to engage clients and send them a proposal?I have only been with the company three weeks!

So I am getting a 30 day review on May 5th.News to me! I am embarrassed and scared and angry.What should I do?How should I proceed?

[elliput]

It doesn't sound like the company was really upfront with you about their expectations. In your first few days, were call numbers discussed? Did the company provide you with expectations regarding use of company computers for personal use?

Evaluate how you really feel about working for this company. Is the company mission and vision something YOU really believe in?

Employment is a two way street, and your upcoming review is just as much for you to express your concerns about your position and performance as it is for your manager.

[kozachka]

I always presume that someone is or could monitor my internet/e-mail usage at work, and that results of my work speak for itself. That said, if I were you I would put together a list of things you've done in the first month and prospects you've lined up. Do not come empty handed to the meeting.

[Melanie]

That would upset me as well, but I think that is just how some people communicate. I hope the job works out to be everything you'd like!

[Piglet]

Yes, I also would recommend coming into the meeting well prepared. I keep a binder of my best work in my office so that I can pull something together if needed - it also helps me have a single place to reference. I had a similar situation when I started working in a small office, but it was too many personal calls that I got called on. The worst of it was that I was *receiving* the calls, not placing them, so it was harder to limit those. I had previously been in a job that was very boring and I got my work done well and quickly, so I got into the habit of chatting on the phone with friends. I had to re-educate my friends... but we also switched to more emails, LOL.

The other thing I learned when I was at the company for a few more years, is that the reason I was called out for the calls was because I sat next to a girl that was catty, jealous and mean. She had been there the longest and was a bully. She reported me to the boss within a month or 2 of starting rather than coming to me directly. I was PO'ed!

The reason I am telling you this is that I only figured out years lated how poorly run my company was and how unprofessional my superiors were - they were managers that never learned how to manage, they had simply been there the longest. My advice is that is you take a good hard look at your company and make sure it is being run professionally and that you are being treated respectfully. If you are getting an inkling that something is off now, don't stick around for a few years and become miserable. That is what everyone in my old company became - picture the Office, but with less hilarious outcomes!

[hillview]

Ok so a few things.
One they should have made their email policies clear but live and learn. Assuming you want to stay, I would demonstrate to them that you are taking them very seriously. Couple of things
- eliminate all personal email (and web visits) for now
- come in earlier/leave later if at all possible
- document your work efforts with a call log/report
- check in with your supervisor often (daily/weekly) on progress and get feedback -- get the feedback in email when at all possible

Sounds like you may be on a plan or watch list (I am in sales management). I would imagine how you want this to turn out -- if it were me I'd think of something like this "we started off with me being a little unclear on policy at xyz company but as soon as we had common understanding I was a rock star"

GOOD LUCK!
/hillary

[shelikesmorningglories]

Well,after I posted this I went on monster to look for jobs and there was my current positionp posted on 4/14-a mere five days after I started the job and only nine days before our little chat.WTH is going on?

[DrSally]

I don't think it was good form to spring it on you at a group meeting. It would've been better to pull you aside and discuss expectations and the email policy, maybe separately. I guess it's safe to assume your emails are being monitored at work, but I think most larger companies don't have the time to monitor THAT closely (I may be wrong). I would try to be proactive about getting expectations clear with your manager, and letting him know you appreciate that level of communication.

[StantonHyde]

Live and learn--I have done the too many personal phone calls when I was younger. Got hit once, stopped that. So, NOOOOO email or web browsing. Sorry, go cold turkey.

Your job was still there because they had not taken it down yet. Happens alot.

Ditto on pulling together your work to present at the meeting. BUT the only thing that will demonstrate the dedication is no internet access on your part. And the come and leave 15 mins earlier/later is good.

I am sorry to say that companies do not communicate nor do most managers get taught diddly about managing--they just get promoted. I cannot tell you the number of times I have been taken to task or heard about something in an annual eval. I even said to a boss once, "well if you won't give me the work to see if I can do it, that's your problem". I still kept the job. So do not expect to be mentored by a boss. YOu have to seek it out. Step up the supervision meetings with Michelle.

Then pause for a moment. Managers can criticize your work. If/when they start criticizing you personally--that is the time to find a new job!!

good luck, the first 6 months anywhere is so hard.

[bubbaray]

If they have reposted your position, *I* would start looking for a new job. It sounds to me like they intend to show you the door and are "papering" their file. I could be wrong, but that's my take.

Even if they haven't reposted the job, is this job the right fit for you??? Only you can answer that.

Good luck!

[DrSally]

ITA that there isn't a lot of mgmt training per se, and a lot don't actually mentor. When you find one, it's really valuable. I don't mean to brag, but I know DH does a lot of mentoring for his employees and pushes his boses to let them have more responsibility/growth and even goes to bat for them over salary raises. However, it does sting when he puts in all that work/time and gets burned by an employee who leaves suddenly.

[KBecks]

Sometimes companies post positions because it takes a while to fill or they want to have candidates on hand. They may be protecting themselves in case you don't work out. Or do they need more people in the same role as you have?

Decide what you want and then go from there. You may want to have a backup plan as well.

[dhano923]

I thought I'd offer the company's point of view. I'm the Controller and Director of HR for our 50 employee company.

My first thought on reading your post was: you made yourself look bad. I know it's not what you want to hear but that how I see it from an employer's view. Chances are, they didn't notice your personal emails because they were monitoring your email usage, but probably because people saw you checking your mail throughout the day. If I had a new employee doing that, I wouldn't say anything right away, but instead would watch to see if he/she noticed that other employees were not doing the same thing. It's a "test" of sorts -- to see if the new employee is taking the initative to learn the company's ways or if they ask if it's ok. We also have it in our company handbook that personal use of the computer is not allowed during working hours, so it tells me if they read the handbook or not. I am actually having this problem with a new employee right now who came from a vary lax company and thinks no one sees her logging onto AOL or browsing Gap.com. Not only do I notice, but so do the other employees who tell me they see her on the web. In smaller companies, coworkers tend to tattletale to make themselves look better. Could be the case with you too.

As for the sales calls, they probably feel that if you're making 35 calls and still have time to do all the personal emails, then you could do 40-50 calls if you cut out the personal emails. They didn't tell you that they expected you to be doing more calls, but sounds like they said, going forward they'd like you to do more. I don't see anything wrong with setting goals for the future. To me, if you were doing 35 calls and they feel you could be doing 40-50 in the same timeframe says that they expected more than 35 calls a day from you and that you have free time you could be making those extra calls in.

As for the job posting -- when I post a job on Monster, I let it run the full course, which is 60 days, even if I've already filled the position. I never know when the person just doesn't work out and we let them go within a few weeks, or if they quit unexpectedly, or whatever. That way I have some newer resumes to look over for that position.

[HannaAddict]

I would do the best job you can in this position and immediately start looking for a new job, not at this job, just in case. If you have a 30 day meeting or performance plan, there is a strong possibility that they are dotting the "i's" and crossing the "t's" to let you go. I have rarely seen people put on performance plans actually improve enough to retain their job long term or who were ultimately happy at the job. Hate to sound negative, but protect yourself and family and start looking for a new job. The old adage that you can find a job easier while employed is true. You can explain this position as just not being a good fit for you, versus explaining being let go 30 days out.

Sorry!