Rant: Work stuff.

[freshprince1]

[vent]

I get an email last night from the VP Regional Sales North America, telling me to clear my schedule for the next 5 days. My new top priority for the rest of the quarter (June 30) is maintaining the regional forecasts. Also to continue on for the remainder of the year.

He calls in out of nowhere and pretty much changes half my job description. I'm a junior on the sales team usually responsible for doing a lot of the marketing and market awareness initiatives, as well as sales calls and follow ups. I like sales. That's why I took this job. Now I'm a spreadsheet monkey 50% of the time.

Its not all that bad, its good experience seeing how a billion dollar company forecasts and operates in this realm, its just really not my strong point and takes a lot of work to have things make sense.

Well, I guess I should just be happy to still have a job in this market....and if it doesn't kill me....

[/vent]


p.s. anyone want to start our company?

[picmerollin]

This is the climate to stay flexible and useful, then when things swing back up the senior employees/managers will remember how you were available when their needs for you changed.

That is my attitude around my work, I have always become the go to guy for many problem solving tasks both within my dept and others. This in turn has translated into more security for me when things get slow.

It sucks being a slave to the spreadsheets and forecasts but that can easily be spun into an asset for being a top producing sales guy since you will know what the company can do and when since you are familiar with the forecast (plan) and the variability of this forecast you will also have a better idea of what you may promise customers.

good luck, if you can deal with the changes in the short term it may really help the medium term.

[w_man]

+1 ^^

That's exactly how I look at it. This is opportunity for you to learn another side of the business .. which will only help you in the future.

I have the same attitude .. recession or no recession. Learning new things never hurts anyone and makes you a better candidate for bigger and better positions.

[FiveFreshFish]

Look at this as an opportunity to hone your spreadsheet skills. Hey, it's only five days.

[freshprince1]

Originally posted by FiveFreshFish
Look at this as an opportunity to hone your spreadsheet skills. Hey, it's only five days.

Five days staright! Then to continue for the forseeable future on a weekly basis.

Thanks for the support guys. I do realize it is an opportunity to build a skill set in an area where I am weak....it was just a real draining 2.5 hour conference call this morning. And it bugs me the way these VP's ride in out of nowhere on their chariots and change my world instantly. But I guess that's their prerogative (sp?).

[rage2]

I pull that shit on my minions on a daily basis. If you're flexible, you're gonna be rewarded. It's a great opportunity. If I see 2 people with the same level of performance, while one's flexible in doing different jobs that doesn't fit their job description, and another bitch and moan about doing anything else but what they got hired for, guess who's gonna get the next promotion that opens up?

Before I made management, I didn't even have a job title because I could do/learn to do so many things that I did everything. I think I've done everything but sales hehe.

[BlackArcher101]

Originally posted by picmerollin
This is the climate to stay flexible and useful, then when things swing back up the senior employees/managers will remember how you were available when their needs for you changed.

You hope! I used to have your attitude, until I had nothing to show for it other than the feeling of being used. Hoping for a promotion? Hope you don't hear the usual line of "You are too valuable where you are now".

[lint]

Originally posted by rage2
I pull that shit on my minions on a daily basis. If you're flexible, you're gonna be outsourced. It's a great opportunity.

[The_Rural_Juror]

^ explains the Bangalore trip.

[rage2]

hahaha touche!

[Super_Geo]

Don't underestimate the value of Excel skillz dude... it's one huge leg-up we youngsters have over the dinosaurs.

I was working on a project a year ago where there was an explosion and a $30 million insurance claim. One of the contractors who was doing repairs ended up invoicing us for twice what he originally quoted.

The people working on the project were all pretty senior due to the nature and high exposure of the situation... but none of them knew what to do with the hundreds of invoices to determine what was on their original quote, what was a legitimate adder, and what was them trying to gouge us. Why? Because they're dinosaurs! They don't really know how to use Excel.

I spent a day making a raw data spreadsheet (16+ pages long), a categorized summary sheet (6 pages), and an exec summary sheet (1 page), which let us decide exactly which charges we were going to dispute without having to dig through the 100+ invoices individually... which was clutch cause by this point the lawyers had been called out and the senior dinosaurs didn't want to spend weeks pouring over the details.

I shit you not, this was 1 day's worth of work for me out of a half year project and this is the only thing I did that got noticed by all the higher-ups. They didn't say one word to me about anything else I did on the project, but when it was all over they praised me for that fucking spreadsheet.

[freshprince1]

Originally posted by Super_Geo
Don't underestimate the value of Excel skillz dude... it's one huge leg-up we youngsters have over the dinosaurs.

I was working on a project a year ago where there was an explosion and a $30 million insurance claim. One of the contractors who was doing repairs ended up invoicing us for twice what he originally quoted.

The people working on the project were all pretty senior due to the nature and high exposure of the situation... but none of them knew what to do with the hundreds of invoices to determine what was on their original quote, what was a legitimate adder, and what was them trying to gouge us. Why? Because they're dinosaurs! They don't really know how to use Excel.

I spent a day making a raw data spreadsheet (16+ pages long), a categorized summary sheet (6 pages), and an exec summary sheet (1 page), which let us decide exactly which charges we were going to dispute without having to dig through the 100+ invoices individually... which was clutch cause by this point the lawyers had been called out and the senior dinosaurs didn't want to spend weeks pouring over the details.

I shit you not, this was 1 day's worth of work for me out of a half year project and this is the only thing I did that got noticed by all the higher-ups. They didn't say one word to me about anything else I did on the project, but when it was all over they praised me for that fucking spreadsheet.

Nice work.

Though I'm in big business, I don't have a business degree, so I'm a total hack when it comes to Excel, but getting better. Discovering the data filters was one of the best things I've ever found.

[radioactivesago]

Originally posted by freshprince1
[vent]

I get an email last night from the VP Regional Sales North America, telling me to clear my schedule for the next 5 days. My new top priority for the rest of the quarter (June 30) is maintaining the regional forecasts. Also to continue on for the remainder of the year.

He calls in out of nowhere and pretty much changes half my job description. I'm a junior on the sales team usually responsible for doing a lot of the marketing and market awareness initiatives, as well as sales calls and follow ups. I like sales. That's why I took this job. Now I'm a spreadsheet monkey 50% of the time.

Its not all that bad, its good experience seeing how a billion dollar company forecasts and operates in this realm, its just really not my strong point and takes a lot of work to have things make sense.

Well, I guess I should just be happy to still have a job in this market....and if it doesn't kill me....

[/vent]


p.s. anyone want to start our company?

Is your work anything like Dunder Mifflin?

[freshprince1]

Originally posted by radioactivesago


Is your work anything like Dunder Mifflin?

Show's how much TV I watch, I had to Google it to find out what company that was. I would say it bears some resemblence, but not too much.

[jonnycat]

My personal motto is gain what you can from a company, be it a skill set, higher wage, or title. When you think you are as far as you are going to go, pad the resume with your new found awesomeness and get a better job. With tight times you may need to stick it out longer.

Being the go getter can land you a lot of useless shit to do which you have a hard time getting rid of down the road. On the other hand if you're not, it makes it tougher to get ahead.

[megafandrew]

Originally posted by BlackArcher101


You hope! I used to have your attitude, until I had nothing to show for it other than the feeling of being used. Hoping for a promotion? Hope you don't hear the usual line of "You are too valuable where you are now".

Glad someone else mentioned this as well. Be careful what you think may be doing you wonders down the road may just add to the shit that will land on top of you when things turn down. Read around it happens more often then not, when a company can no longer afford you or has no work for you, it won't matter how many times you cleaned the toilet before lol. But also like other guys are saying its a good learning experience and hey it might just payoff, just dont expect it too!

[rage2]

Originally posted by BlackArcher101
You hope! I used to have your attitude, until I had nothing to show for it other than the feeling of being used. Hoping for a promotion? Hope you don't hear the usual line of "You are too valuable where you are now".

If you get the "you're too valuable", you're really not, unless they throw a retarded amount of money at you for a stupid job.

That's just common sense tho, if you fall for that trap, well, you're an idiot .

[freshprince1]

Originally posted by jonnycat
My personal motto is gain what you can from a company, be it a skill set, higher wage, or title. When you think you are as far as you are going to go, pad the resume with your new found awesomeness and get a better job. With tight times you may need to stick it out longer.

Being the go getter can land you a lot of useless shit to do which you have a hard time getting rid of down the road. On the other hand if you're not, it makes it tougher to get ahead.

That's a good point. I too look for ways for my job to benefit me other than just provide a pay check. I have jumped around a couple times since fininshing Uni a few years back, so I would like to be here for a while to strengthen the resume. Its good to learn how big business works, I think that's crucial to making it in the long term. But my long term goals include getting out on my own when the time is right.

That being said, does anyone know of a good resources that lists businesses etc for sale? I like to cruise those lists for ideas and potential leads.

Thanks.

[lint]

I think you're focusing on the wrong thing, excel. Focus on the insights that you have access to by performing the data analysis. Excel won't get you anywhere, understanding the data will.

[broken_legs]

Delegate.