No matter how careful you are when looking for your next role, in spite of all of the questions you ask and the conditions you negotiate with your future employer, you can never fully eliminate the risk of making the wrong choice.
So what do you do when your new job was a mistake?
Of course I don’t have an extensive experience in similar matters, but hopefully just one time is enough to come up with a good plan.
Give it some time. Make sure that what you are feeling is not just resistance to change. It is quite natural to feel a little out of place at the beginning, especially when you have different expectations as to how things are going to turn out. This is exactly why the institution of probationary periods was invented: it is just as much for the employee as for the employer to decide if it is the right fit.
Make a list of the reasons why the new job is not working out. And don’t just prepare that list in your head, write it down so you can access it later on. This will help you as you move on to start looking around again and will allow you to avoid making the same mistake in the future. Also, if at some point you are tired of job searching again, it will remind you why it is so important that you commit to moving on.
Be honest with your interviewers. Explain to them what your situation is and what the reasons are behind your decision to launch a job search so quickly after your last change. They need to understand that you are really determined to get things right this time around. If that means you are not considered for a role, so be it. It is probably not the right one for you anyway.
And most of all remember to keep your cool. It may be tough at times and you may be afraid to be labelled as a job hopper, but if someone is ready to reject your application just because you made a simple mistake, chances are they would turn out to be yet another one. Who you really want to talk to are employers that will schedule a short conversation to understand your situation better instead of relying on your CV to tell them the entire story.
