Potentially awkward annual review

LegacyUser

Hi,

I have my first annual review coming up soon and am a bit unsure as to how I will approach it.

Basically, I was away for quite a while after finishing college and returned to Ireland in the depths of the recession early last year. At that time, I was looking into various possibilities for a masters but wasn't really at all keen on continuing study in the same area as my undergrad. I began looking for a part time job to tide me over. One of the jobs I applied for turned out to be an "actual" job.

It was not at all related to my previous area of study and actually sounded quite exciting. I went for it based on the fact that I had to do a lot of interviews and the money they were offering was very good. During one of my interviews with the head of the department, I categorically stated that I had no intention of pursuing a career in the area of my undergrad. That was absolutely true at the time. I thought I was done with it forever and to be honest, I really needed the job.

Alas, a year down the line I've grown to hate the job. It's not really what I had expected. Among other things, I am gaining no professional qualifications whatsoever and what I have learned is incredibly specific to the job and none of it would translate well to anything else. It became obvious almost immediately that it's a total dead end.

The one thing of value I have learned is that a career in my previous area of study would be very attractive in comparison. Upon reflection, I think I was influenced by a very boring work experience I had (despite my best efforts, I was left to twiddle my thumbs for the whole summer) and the fact the department in college were really badly organised and made life unnecessarily difficult for everyone. I have just recently applied for a couple of master's courses starting in the next academic year and I fully intend to leave my current job.

I will need quite a bit of money if I were to do the course but I've been saving quite a lot. I'd really like to quit work asap but that may not be a realistic option for me given that I'll be bleeding money if I'm at home for the summer with no job.

So, my annual review is coming up and I will be asked how I'm feeling about work, where do I see myself etc. etc. Now, I can't really tell him I'm leaving because he'll obviously tell me to get lost so they can get a long term replacement. At the moment, I'm considering just playing along with it and acting positive about the whole situation but I'd rather not lie to his face. I think if I drop hints about leaving it will definitely set off alarm bells and things could get *very* awkward.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

jimoc

Firstrly, don't drop any hints about leaving.

When the discussion comes up in the review mention the fact that you are feeling underutilised and if there is any possibility of either an increase in responsibility or some other type of work being given to you to increase your contribution to the business.
this way, they are aware you are not feeling happy, but it also shows that you are happy to be working for them and simply want to get other experience.