Hey, so I'm a new hire at IBM and I've been here for more than 3 months. I was poached away from my last position, a position I really loved but was told by IBM I would do the same job only for more money ($20k more) and more opportunity. So I jumped at the chance to join. I was very excited to come to IBM and was told I could work anywhere in the world and have opportunities not found elsewhere. It's been more than 3 months and I feel like I was given a huge bait and switch because so far nothing I've been told is true.
-Can't ever leave my location because I'm an expense and we are all hired to fill a government quota.
-No opportunity to move up or advance my career as I'm an expense and my centre is small.
-I won't be doing even close to the same job at all.
The worst of all is that once training was finalized I was told I would have a project in less than a month. Then it was you'll have one by two months. Now I'm being told you may not have a project for 8-9 moths to a year. All of the hires in my position before my don't have projects and haven't had projects for 8+ months. We're all on the bench. And more people who have IBM project experience are coming on to the bench in the next week.
So they will be picked first for future projects as their resumes indicate IBM exp.
I've asked for extra work, I've asked if there's any way to get off the bench and we're told no, because we are GTS and expenses we have to wait to get a position from a manager at another centre. The only person to get a project is this guy who started a sports team and a manager felt he had initiative so they gave him a GBS project.
He's a new grad 6G with NO experience and no relevant education. My coworkers have masters degrees and 5+ years experience in the industry his project is in but they weren't even asked. I don't understand at all how projects are given out. We're told there's nothing that can be done, unless you start a sports team I guess.
I've asked what is expected of me and I'm told nothing. We can sit on Facebook or Reddit all day and it wouldn't matter. We just have to show up for work and be present and quiet. That's it. People are feeling the centre like crazy and getting other positions. Apparently it's been difficult to keep people around for more than 6 months.
Most of us spend our time studying for a professional designation as there really isn't much else to do.
I feel like my career has completely stalled. I am doing nothing for months on end. It's depressing and affecting my health. I need structure and boundaries and expectations. I desperately want the experience so I can grow my career. I can't get my certification without more experience as well. So I'm stuck.
Since I've been here such a short time with no work I'm not sure jumping ship would even be wise. I'd get no references and wouldn't be able to talk about any relevant work experiences in an interview. What would I even say? The worst part is that my old job I loved was offended and super angry I was poached. They said I betrayed the "family". They will not give me a reference now because they've lost so many employees to IBM.
I feel so incredibly stuck, disheartened, and sad. I'm not sure how to improve this situation at all. Is this a common occurrence at IBM?