Dealing with a 'bait and switch' job situation

By Daisy Carrington, amNewYork Deputy Features Editor | dcarrington@am-ny.com

June 25, 2007

My husband recently landed a new job after being unemployed for a year. However, the job he is doing (warehouse inventory) isn't the job he was hired to do. The company owner and the hiring manager both told him it is temporary, but he's so unhappy, I was wondering if there's anything more he could do. Should we contact a lawyer?
-- Worried Wife, Manhattan

While your husband's frustration is understandable, I'm not sure hiring a lawyer would be the best move.

If he is truly unhappy with his situation, he would probably accomplish more by looking for a new job on the side than he would by frightening his current employers with the possibility of a lawsuit (especially if he wants to leave his current position with some good references).

However, it is important to consider that your husband is a new hire, and if his supervisors assure him his work in the warehouse is temporary, it probably is. Annemarie Segaric, a Manhattan-based career change coach, suggests that your husband should set up a specific timeframe with his bosses.

"Come into the conversation with a non-confrontational point of view," she says, "don't approach him as if you assume he's out to get you or keep you from doing the job you want to do."

Once your husband and his supervisor establish how long he can expect to work in the warehouse, he should confirm the arrangement with an e-mail.

Your husband can also work out an arrangement with the boss so that while he does some work in the warehouse, he also gets to do some of the work he wants and was hired to do.

"As the new kid on the block, you want to show you're capable of being cooperative," says Segaric.