To quit or not to quit (volunteering/working)?

[GreenMed]

Apologies for the long post: Non-trad applicant here, taking a gap year before starting school in 2014. Back in February, I shook hands and accepted an informal job offer for what sounded like a good full-time gap year position in a field I found interesting. Just after moving to start the position, it nearly all fell apart. The university (Institution A) cut the funding for half of the position and then wouldn't hire me for the other half even though funding existed. Months of confusion resulted in my finally being hired by another institution (Institution B) for that 50% job, which I do entirely on-site at Institution A, where I am now a "volunteer." I also have been doing the defunded 50% of the job as a volunteer because it still needed to be done and because I'm apparently a softie.

But I think I have a fair amount of bad feeling as a result of how poorly this has worked out. The person doing this job *should* be employed at Institution A, simply because it requires access to systems there that a volunteer is not allowed to access. I am tired of just managing to do this through round-about channels. And although I agreed to do the other half of the job as a volunteer, that too *should* be a paid position supported by the university, and I'm tired of letting the university have my free labor instead of supporting its patients as it should.

I have been accepted to multiple wonderful schools for a start this next summer/fall. Still waiting to hear back from Institution A (where I do my work), but not sure how I feel about it after this inside look at its dysfunction. But my question is: do I really have to keep doing this job and this volunteering all the way to June? Or can I give notice early and stop at the end of March and take some months to travel and enjoy life before starting school? I'm barely making any money, and I don't need it for that. I don't need it for my CV. However, I do not see how the team will find anyone else to take over this position... since it's so cobbled together. I wouldn't be able to sell this set-up to a potential successor. I think the project on which I'm working might come to a complete halt without me, and the volunteering half would become quite disorganized. I said I'd stay 'til June... but it's November, and I'm already feeling so eager to move on.

Thoughts?

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[TLAD123]

It sounds like your heart really isn't there and that your time is best served elsewhere - why continue to waste your time on something you don't enjoy if you don't have to (financially anyway)? You can always find something else that you are actually interested in that will look good on a resume that you can actually talk about positively in an interview...

 

[GreenMed]

It sounds like your heart really isn't there and that your time is best served elsewhere - why continue to waste your time on something you don't enjoy if you don't have to (financially anyway)? You can always find something else that you are actually interested in that will look good on a resume that you can actually talk about positively in an interview...

Thanks for the response, TLAD123. I'm not sure what position I could find for just a couple of months, though I suppose I could find some regular volunteering. I think I'm done interviewing (until it's time for residency interviews), and I don't think that residency directors will care whether I quit this pre-medical position or not. As a non-trad, I have many other pre-medical experiences to discuss if they're interested in my career from before medicine.

 

[SN12357]

Apologies for the long post: Non-trad applicant here, taking a gap year before starting school in 2014. Back in February, I shook hands and accepted an informal job offer for what sounded like a good full-time gap year position in a field I found interesting. Just after moving to start the position, it nearly all fell apart. The university (Institution A) cut the funding for half of the position and then wouldn't hire me for the other half even though funding existed. Months of confusion resulted in my finally being hired by another institution (Institution B) for that 50% job, which I do entirely on-site at Institution A, where I am now a "volunteer." I also have been doing the defunded 50% of the job as a volunteer because it still needed to be done and because I'm apparently a softie.

But I think I have a fair amount of bad feeling as a result of how poorly this has worked out. The person doing this job *should* be employed at Institution A, simply because it requires access to systems there that a volunteer is not allowed to access. I am tired of just managing to do this through round-about channels. And although I agreed to do the other half of the job as a volunteer, that too *should* be a paid position supported by the university, and I'm tired of letting the university have my free labor instead of supporting its patients as it should.

I have been accepted to multiple wonderful schools for a start this next summer/fall. Still waiting to hear back from Institution A (where I do my work), but not sure how I feel about it after this inside look at its dysfunction. But my question is: do I really have to keep doing this job and this volunteering all the way to June? Or can I give notice early and stop at the end of March and take some months to travel and enjoy life before starting school? I'm barely making any money, and I don't need it for that. I don't need it for my CV. However, I do not see how the team will find anyone else to take over this position... since it's so cobbled together. I wouldn't be able to sell this set-up to a potential successor. I think the project on which I'm working might come to a complete halt without me, and the volunteering half would become quite disorganized. I said I'd stay 'til June... but it's November, and I'm already feeling so eager to move on.

Thoughts?

Leave! Have fun!

I've already given notice at my well-compensated job for an early spring end date. I'm taking several months before the start of school to travel, relax, do whatever the hell I want...no one finds it strange, not even my bosses, even though they'll miss me a lot and are already worried about finding a replacement.

It sounds like both institutions have treated you poorly, you owe them nothing. Maintain professionalism for your own sake, but don't torture yourself there for months. Give notice when you can afford it and get out of that situation.

 

[DrCharlemagne]

Your dedication to the project is admirable, but you're clearly being mis-managed. If the project is pivotal, the institution will have to work it out. Funding is tight for everyone, but that's no excuse for mistreating your workers. Give ample notice, train any replacement they procure as best you can and move on.

 

[cabinbuilder]

If you are already accepted to medical school, who cares then? I would get out and do what you want. Just walk away, it's not doing anything for you. Travel and have some down time before school starts.

 

[TLAD123]

Thanks for the response, TLAD123. I'm not sure what position I could find for just a couple of months, though I suppose I could find some regular volunteering. I think I'm done interviewing (until it's time for residency interviews), and I don't think that residency directors will care whether I quit this pre-medical position or not. As a non-trad, I have many other pre-medical experiences to discuss if they're interested in my career from before medicine.

No problem! Why not enjoy the time off and travel (as some other posters have said, too)? You'll have plenty of time/opportunity to do things you love and even some research during your next 3-4 years, and I'm sure that residency interviewers will like to see those more so than this position, especially if you aren't able to have positives to talk about this position. I commend your dedication, though. I'd probably feel the same way.

 

[QofQuimica]

Your dedication to the project is admirable, but you're clearly being mis-managed. If the project is pivotal, the institution will have to work it out. Funding is tight for everyone, but that's no excuse for mistreating your workers. Give ample notice, train any replacement they procure as best you can and move on.

This.

OP, I know you feel indispensable along with your admirable sense of loyalty and duty, but you're not. If you leave, they will find someone to replace you, just like they found you when they had to deal with the fact that they lost their funding. So give them adequate notice, offer to train your replacement, and move on.

 

[GreenMed]

Thank you all for your thoughts. It's hard to hear you laud my dedication when all I feel is disloyal when I consider leaving the position. It is true that no one should be indispensable, and somehow they would continue on without me.

Complicating things is that my current boss is really a big deal in the field in which I hope to work, so I don't want to burn any bridges too brightly.