Hello--
I recently moved back to the US with my wife & infant daughter, and we are living on a small barrier island off the coast of FL. I took a job 3 months ago as a dispatcher at the police department on this island; they were willing to train me as I had no previous experience, and I figured it would be great having a 3-minute commute as well as relatively secure employment should the economy take another downturn.
It hasn't been an easy 3 months. Dispatching is extremely stressful--moreso in a 1 person call center like this one--and aside from learning all the 10-codes and signals needed to decipher what the officers are saying, the job requires being able to do insane multi-tasking (i.e., speaking with a complainant over the phone while simultaneously dispatching the call to a unit AND logging every development into the computer so it can be time-stamped...and have another call come in while this is happening).
I was put on notice a month ago that I was deemed to be progressing slower than I should with the multi-tasking, and that I was having too much difficulty understanding the radio traffic. Today will be the 4th of 4 observation days, whereby my supervisor is not assisting at all. I will then have tomorrow and most of Monday off, I will work Monday & Tuesday overnight with someone else, and then I will be called in to meet with the Chief on Wednesday. The Chief has told me that as the town has invested quite a bit of $$ in me, he will give me the opportunity to look him in the eye and tell him that I can accept the heavy responsibility and do the job, though he will respect me more if I tell him that I've tried my best and that it isn't for me...
Yesterday we were slammed due to the holiday, and i am expecting more of the same today. I did not do well. My supervisor told me that while she doesn't make the final decision, she will recommend I be let go, and when I wondered out loud if I should go to meet with the Chief on Monday morning, she immediately asked, "What will you say to him?" I deferred at that point and did not give her a straight answer.
As a side note I will be a bit relieved when this is over, as it has been affecting my sleep. Kudos to anyone who does this work, and I can clearly see why there are so many openings in this profession.
I've never been in this position before. Now that I've outlined the background, is it better to have them let me go as opposed to me making the decision to "quit"? The health insurance is great, and I'm not sure how long I can keep it (paying a larger portion, of course) after my employment ends. I'm hoping that an HR person or someone with experience in this area can offer advice as to how I should proceed.
Thanks, and have a great weekend.
If you are worried about your resume, don't be. Simply delete the job from your history. Easy enough to do. Worse to explain why you got canned.
Hope that helps. I feel for you, man.
I say that as someone who has been a dispatcher as well. Though they do it differently at your station. At ours, we have about a half dozen people working at once. There's only one police dispatcher and they don't take calls, other people do and they log it into the computer for the police dispatcher to give out on the police radio. I'm assuming your department is a small one if they have you doing both... but I certainly couldn't imagine doing both at once and wouldn't want to. It's dangerous for the officers if you have to split your attention like that and it just makes the job harder on you. For people who have done this for a long time, it might be easy. For someone like you who is new to it, that's a difficult task. Granted, I don't know all of the details about your station and your work setup and all that but still.
Unless you really love the job, and it doesn't seem like you do, I would probably say quitting is the better option. Consider putting in your "two weeks" or whatever it would be soon before they make a decision for you. That way you can leave on your own terms and you can possibly list the job on your resume. I think it's a good job/experience to have. You can make up your own reasoning to future employers about why you left. Whereas if you're basically fired for not performing well enough, that obviously doesn't look quite as good. But that's just me. Don't leave the job just because I said so, haha. It's something to really think about, just consider all of the pros and cons. But if they're already saying they want to let you go, the pros for staying don't seem too hot in my opinion. I guess there's always the chance that they're only saying that to see if you can handle it or as a way to see if it will up your performance a little more but I doubt that would be their reasoning.
Honestly, if you leave on your own terms, you might be able to find work at another city/county as a dispatcher sometime. But at a place where you only need to focus on one thing at a time - like solely dispatching or taking calls. It sounds like that would make the job easier and less stressful for you. Plus you already have this experience and you would know what to expect which would make training at the next place easier. At least that would be an option in the future if you wanted that.
But really, it's a very difficult job and it only becomes "easy" when you really memorize everything that you have to do. And be able to do it without even thinking about it. Three months isn't really enough time to learn all of that, in my opinion. But I can't speak for your employer. I guess whatever they do works for them and they have their own regulations. But maybe someone with HR experience or something like that would be able to help you out as far as decision goes. I can only speak about the job and what I've seen in it when I worked in it for a while. Best of luck to you.
If you're trying your best and isn't for you - then you have a decision to make.
It can be an extremely difficult and stressful job. It certainly is not for everyone. Good luck.
I believe if you quit you are not eligible
+1. - take the advice above
They are trying to manage you out. Don't quit.
I know that you are being hard on yourself, but have you been given all the tools necessary to be successful??
Best of luck GOTH.
I say that as someone who has been a dispatcher as well. Though they do it differently at your station. At ours, we have about a half dozen people working at once. There's only one police dispatcher and they don't take calls, other people do and they log it into the computer for the police dispatcher to give out on the police radio. I'm assuming your department is a small one if they have you doing both... but I certainly couldn't imagine doing both at once and wouldn't want to. It's dangerous for the officers if you have to split your attention like that and it just makes the job harder on you. For people who have done this for a long time, it might be easy. For someone like you who is new to it, that's a difficult task. Granted, I don't know all of the details about your station and your work setup and all that but still.
Unless you really love the job, and it doesn't seem like you do, I would probably say quitting is the better option. Consider putting in your "two weeks" or whatever it would be soon before they make a decision for you. That way you can leave on your own terms and you can possibly list the job on your resume. I think it's a good job/experience to have. You can make up your own reasoning to future employers about why you left. Whereas if you're basically fired for not performing well enough, that obviously doesn't look quite as good. But that's just me. Don't leave the job just because I said so, haha. It's something to really think about, just consider all of the pros and cons. But if they're already saying they want to let you go, the pros for staying don't seem too hot in my opinion. I guess there's always the chance that they're only saying that to see if you can handle it or as a way to see if it will up your performance a little more but I doubt that would be their reasoning.
Honestly, if you leave on your own terms, you might be able to find work at another city/county as a dispatcher sometime. But at a place where you only need to focus on one thing at a time - like solely dispatching or taking calls. It sounds like that would make the job easier and less stressful for you. Plus you already have this experience and you would know what to expect which would make training at the next place easier. At least that would be an option in the future if you wanted that.
But really, it's a very difficult job and it only becomes "easy" when you really memorize everything that you have to do. And be able to do it without even thinking about it. Three months isn't really enough time to learn all of that, in my opinion. But I can't speak for your employer. I guess whatever they do works for them and they have their own regulations. But maybe someone with HR experience or something like that would be able to help you out as far as decision goes. I can only speak about the job and what I've seen in it when I worked in it for a while. Best of luck to you.
Great post. Best of luck with whatever you decide.
I believe if you quit you are not eligible
I don't think you can collect unemployment if you are let go for poor performance, but I'm not positive about that.
You may want to ask if there is another job there with an opening that you can transfer to.
Eligibility can be tricky. Usually it's something like a minimum amount of compensation over 4 of 6 or 4 of 8 quarters. Not sure how they do it if you've been out of state (paying into UI somewhere) or overseas (not paying into an American UI pool). Also, not sure how it works for public employees. There may be a parallel system for them.
I would also check to see if there is any kind of contracted severance that you may be eligible for if fired.
IMO it is a big red flag that they re going to such lengths of intimidation to get you to quit rather than simply firing you.
I would sit down with the employer and express to them your willingness to continue, but that if they are dead set on you leaving, you will under the agreement they will not deny your claim. But make sure you've worked there long enough to file a claim and know the number you are getting.
It can be denied for some reasons but not for simply not having the ability to a job to their satisfaction. Things like insubordination, refusal to do what is expected for the position, etc can be reasons for challenging unemployment benefits and yes it is a hard drawn out process which many employers don't bother with even if they possibly had a valid reason.
Steve I realize that.
We are talking a low pressure job.
Also, dollars to donuts he's on some official probation period, which could also alter unemployment entitlement and/or any stigma over getting fired. E.g. rather than getting fired he may be able to say he did not get a permanent offer, or that after the training/trial period he realized it wasnt he job for him. Sounds like they're inviting him to quit so he doesnt have to tell people he was fired, with no downside since he prob cant get UI
HAH, HAH That is good stuff.
Even if he is union, he has a probation period. I would say for a government job it would be a year.