Should I quit my job?

[Gauss44]

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Just got hired at a psychiatric hospital as a mental health specialist. I love mental health and the hospital I work for. The unit is interesting too. However, my coworkers are always tossing each other under the bus and have already had a lot of nasty negative things to say about my performance which I honestly, and truthfully, didn't deserve. They just don't seem to see the positive in anything and negativity rules. Because of this, I am concerned that if and when medical schools contact this employer it won't be good.

(IMO, in a work environment like that EVERYONE loses. There are no winners. But it is paid clinical experience and I would like "paid clinical experience" on my record. I could also tolerate this environment so long as it won't decrease my chances of getting into medical school. As a short aside, IMO, the best environment is one where people can help one another succeed in life.)

In your experience, when I apply to medical schools in June 2016, will they be likely to contact my employer or ask for my employer's input?

 

[ConfusedChemist]

Sometimes, not every decision we make needs to be for medical applications.
Keep the job if you like it, don't stay for 'paid clinical experience' and don't leave for fear of AAMC contacting them. Neurosis isn't always so helpful

 

[Gauss44]

Thanks, but I am still interested in medical school advising regarding this job. This question IS about medical school.

 

[BeMD13]

Personally, if I felt like it was so bad they would give me a bad recommendation I'd start looking for something else.

 

[Petrichor1]

start looking for something else. You're supposed to enjoy your gap year. People get lucky and unlucky with first jobs, it's pretty common. Just make sure that you have an offer on hand before you quit your current one...otherwise, getting job lors will be tough. Personally, I've seen that no work for me is really that terrible...it's really the people around the environment that make it toxic.

 

[Gauss44]

While I am still open to additional responses to the OP, I am leaning toward quitting. A scribe job, or some job for an organization that is use to working with pre-meds is what I would prefer. That way the norm would probably be reviews and recommendations that are appropriate for a medical school applicant which would make me feel much better. I feel like my current employer's idea of "good" is a medical school's idea of "awful."

 

[flapjack3d]

in the end, it's not worth it if you'll be unhappy. but give it a few weeks at least!

 

[El-Rami]

If you have the slightest feeling that you would get a bad reference from this job, don't list it on your application. However, you might want to consider looking at other options for clinical experience if you go ahead and declare this a wash.

 

[Gauss44]

in the end, it's not worth it if you'll be unhappy. but give it a few weeks at least!

The only thing is that this is part of a larger network of hospitals. I am concerned that if I get something negative in my record that that might impact my ability to either get a quality LoR from my boss at another hospital in the network (such as the one I have volunteered at for over 2000 hours), or to get hired by another hospital in the network as a scribe or research assistant (typical pre-med jobs 🙂. Giving my notice sooner than later would protect against that. On the other hand, resigning too soon may or may not have the same impact. I wonder what good way would be to find out what the policy is, if there is a policy about this?

 

[mcatjelly]

I think you're overthinking this too much, honestly. 🙂

I'm also the equivalent of a mental health specialist at a psychiatric facility and it took many months to gain even just the tolerance of my coworkers. They had been working there for years and I was some newbie who dared to push back against outdated policies and nontherapeutic communications. It took me a long time and a great deal of effort on my part to understand why they acted the way they did, but I now have some semblance of mutual respect from them, haha.

That being said: if it's a toxic environment for you, stop working there. If you feel that this is a meaningful experience in spite of how you're being treated, keep working there. I can almost guarantee that if the place is truly as negative as you describe, any bad recommendation from them won't bear much weight within the hospital system.

 

[flapjack3d]

The only thing is that this is part of a larger network of hospitals. I am concerned that if I get something negative in my record that that might impact my ability to either get a quality LoR from my boss at another hospital in the network (such as the one I have volunteered at for over 2000 hours), or to get hired by another hospital in the network as a scribe or research assistant (typical pre-med jobs 🙂. Giving my notice sooner than later would protect against that. On the other hand, resigning too soon may or may not have the same impact. I wonder what good way would be to find out what the policy is, if there is a policy about this?

Don't worry about it. You're not gonna be blacklisted lol
If you really want to quit without any possibly repercussions then lie and say your mum's real sick or something so she needs your full-time attention
Actually idk if that's what you should do. it's what i'd do though

 

[Gauss44]

I think you're overthinking this too much, honestly. 🙂

I'm also the equivalent of a mental health specialist at a psychiatric facility and it took many months to gain even just the tolerance of my coworkers. They had been working there for years and I was some newbie who dared to push back against outdated policies and nontherapeutic communications. It took me a long time and a great deal of effort on my part to understand why they acted the way they did, but I now have some semblance of mutual respect from them, haha.

That being said: if it's a toxic environment for you, stop working there. If you feel that this is a meaningful experience in spite of how you're being treated, keep working there. I can almost guarantee that if the place is truly as negative as you describe, any bad recommendation from them won't bear much weight within the hospital system.

Actually, the bosses have spoken to me about feedback from my coworkers. Sadly, only one of multiple things that were expressed had any truth to it. I don't understand why people rarely say anything nice in that environment and why so many people make the boss their first stop after every little thing. This environment is just not conducive to ANYONE's success in terms of recommendations. No one has anything nice to say.

At my last place of work, prior to this, it was nearly the opposite. People rarely went to the boss. People even covered for each other. And if something nasty was said, it would either be said to your face, behind your back as gossip, but rarely to the boss unless it was a serious matter.

 

[Gauss44]

Don't worry about it. You're not gonna be blacklisted lol
If you really want to quit without any possibly repercussions then lie and say your mum's real sick or something so she needs your full-time attention
Actually idk if that's what you should do. it's what i'd do though

Getting fired from a job frequently results in being blacklisted. Now, just getting warnings, may or may not. IMO, this is a place where anyone could end up with official warnings in their file because it is just so negative and nothing seems to stay on the lowest level. People dwell on the worst and overlook anything positive.

 

[thatwouldbeanarchy]

It sounds like you're not happy so move on! 🙂 But don't stress too much possibly getting a bad reference from this job. I HIGHLY doubt that anyone (AMCAS or adcoms) is going to contact this reference. If you leave now, you've been there for such a short period of time that you may not even need to list it on your application. But the longer you stay, the sketchier it looks to not include it since schools may want some explanation of what you were doing during this time. If I were you, I'd start looking for new positions ASAP and politely give my notice. You don't really need to give an in-depth explanation of why you're leaving.

 

[futuremdforme]

I don't think schools would contact the employer but if it's truly miserable and you have sufficient clinical experience elsewhere, I wouldn't put up with it. This is if you are 100% sure it's them, not you.

 

[Goro]

Concur.

in the end, it's not worth it if you'll be unhappy. but give it a few weeks at least!