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I don’t know how to approach this and need advice. I am currently working help desk, while learning about the whole IT departments duties, from security, to networking and scalability. I have my AAS in Computer Networking Technologies. I have been at my company now for almost eight months, during this length of time, I am still titled as “Intern”. This is very frustrating, due to the fact, when hired, I turned down other offers, because I was told I would be offered full-time status, with better pay and benefits after 3 months. Now, don’t let me make it all sound bad. My job is fun and they are willing to teach me, anything I ask about, and give me time to run with my own ideas, even if they don’t like them, so that I can either see them come to fruition or fail. I love it here. Because of these reasons, I talk about this freely with my manager(whom hired me). What I have been getting in response, is that the decision is coming from above him.

We have been asked to “prove” why I am needed. Here’s what we have so far.

1000+ end users and devices(39 of which are servers, both physical and virtual)

4 Remote locations

3 people(me included) in the IT dept(al located at the main HQ)

1 manager being pulled into more upper management roles, leaving very little “IT dept” time.

I am at a loss as to how these numbers alone, don’t prove enough for me needing to be more then just an temporary employee. Any ideas…?

134 Spice ups
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Hmmm Personally I don’t how well I’d react to being asked to prove my worth. That just wouldn’t sit well with me and I’m pretty sure I’d be dusting off the resume. That being said I think your numbers are a great start. I’d be talking to other colleagues and managers about it as well. They’ll have far more insight.

42 Spice ups
3

8 months is nothing in terms of longevity in order to prove yourself. You need at least a year before you should push for something else.

How much experience do you have, or is this your first IT job?

In my last job I was the sole support person for 500 employees, 1000 devices, spread across 5 US sites. The powers the be didn’t see the need for an additional support person which I had asked for, for 3 years. My Boss saw the need, but my cfo didn’t, no matter how many tickets I dealt with, how many hours I put in, nothing.

Do you have a ticket system that can justify your work load? If not why not?

these are all questions that need to be answered by you (not to us) in order to justify things.

41 Spice ups
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That’s an annual process here and many other places I have worked, so I would not take it personally.

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5

My focus would be on work you did that freed up time for others in the department, and projects and tasks you completed with note if they would have been delayed without you.

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6

Issue resolution time would be another meaningful metric. What objectively gets done because you are there that would not otherwise be done? And as a follow up: What is the dollar value of that? Do users experience 50% less downtime because you’re there? What is that worth in terms of prevented loss value?

Numbers alone aren’t enough, upper management will ask, why do we need 3 IT people to handle 1000 users? Do we need 3 IT people? Prove that you do. Log your work times, down time etc. How many tickets remain open that are causing problems? Make a business case that increased pay and hours to you would be a net gain for the company. If you can prove that, you’ve proven why they need you there full time.

If you can prove that, and they still won’t give you full time THE COMPANY DOES NOT VALUE YOU. End of story. Do not value them, even if you respect your immediate colleagues, leave and find something that will better suit your financial and career goals.

36 Spice ups
7

I think they are probably jacking you around, but come back in 16 months. What are your options? You need a couple years under your belt.

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Self-evaluation isn’t an uncommon practice in the workplace, but how it is presented and the overall culture of the environment is pretty important to note. Aside from what you have already, my suggestion would be to add specific examples of work you’ve done, especially situations that you helped resolve on your own. Take this opportunity to humble brag, if you will. Also, if you can ever prove that your work has been beneficial in saving the company money, that’s always something that earns a gold star. Best of luck to you!

12 Spice ups
9

“I was told…”

Did you get it in writing as part of your employment agreement? If not, then it didn’t happen. Who told you that? It could be that your immediate supervisor promised you that, but didn’t really have the authority to do so. In that case, he may be correct when he says the decision is “above him” - it always was.

If you and he are being asked to “justify” a full-time position, then there never was a position to be filled. It always was temporary.

Right now, they’re getting what they want out of you without having to put any more in than they currently are. What’s their motivation to change? None. But you’re not getting out of it what you want. You are the motivated one.

I’d say try and renegotiate your status. Keep a positive outlook and attitude. Meanwhile, get your applications out to those other places that will give you the full-time job you want.

89 Spice ups
10

Look at it this way: Do you have the skills, experience, and temperament to get the job you want elsewhere? If you do, you should probably explore that as this would indicate that your current employer doesn’t value you.

But, if you don’t have those skills and experience, why would your current employer promote you? They’re more familiar with you than a prospective employer would be.

Of course, there’s also the possibility that the company you work for is just awful. That definitely happens. In this job, as with every other job you ever have, you need to figure out how much your willing to give of yourself vs. what the employer is willing to give back.

4 Spice ups
11

I’ll be blunt; look elsewhere, and if an excellent opportunity presents itself, then take it.

4 Spice ups
12

Start looking for a new job now. See what options are out there for you, and if/when you do get an offer, consider brining it to your current employer and let them know they either need to put you on full-time and not as an intern, and beat that offer, or you’re gone.

Does your contract actually state that you should have been offered a promotion from intern after 3 months, or was it just told to you? Either way, ask if there’s something you’re actually doing wrong or if there’s something you can do differently to get the promotion.

To justify your position, keep very good records of how you spend your time. Show how many tickets you solve, your turn around time for those tickets, the amount of time you spend on various projects and support, etc. If your manager is spending less time on the IT dept, show which of his tasks you’re taking over. This happened to me, I felt like I’d been getting low-balled raises and was earning less than I should be, so I brought it up to the new dept head. I listed out the tasks of the entire IT department and then which ones I was in charge of or had a hand in. I kept track of my time spent on various types of projects and started keeping better track of trouble tickets. My raise pretty much justified itself at that point, and my boss started reducing my workload when he saw just how much I was doing.

4 Spice ups
13

Look for another job.

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14

Yeah, that’s your first mistake right there. Promises of future compensation are worthless if they’re not codified in writing. However, I’d stick it out for another 4 months if you’re able. Depending on your market, it may take you that long to find another gig anyway.

This is not your responsibility. At least, not in a healthy organization. It’s up to the department head to justify the need for additional staff. It’s perfectly within Leadership’s authority to ask for justification to hire a full-time employee, by the way. But it’s your boss who should be having the conversation, not you.

42 Spice ups
15

Time for a new job.

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I have a folder in my Exchange account called: Completed tasks.

All requests, projects, tickets, etc. that I resolve, repair or complete go in that folder.

'Tis quite large. Quick evidence of my necessity.

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Do you use a ticket system? That could have a lot of evidence you need to back up your case. Get stats of how many tickets have been filed during your time and show how many you have completed. Any specific work you’ve done that has been a big help to individual employees will also help.

As a few others recommended, polish up your resume and start looking just to be safe.

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18

Trust the Bryces, because I’ve more of the same advice. They’ve reneged on a promise to make you a “real” employee, and are trying to make you question your own worth. It’s time to start shopping yourself around for a new place.

4 Spice ups
19

It seems to me they are not asking to prove why you are needed so much as they are asking to you to prove why you need to be a full time employee.

To do that, you need to make notes of what ISN’T getting done that would get done if you were full time.

Are there tickets that are taking a week to complete that would take a day if you were there more?

Are there projects that get put aside because no one is there to do them?

Is money walking out he door because of an IT project that should be completed in 1 month is going to take 3 months at part time?

These are the things you need to highlight.

It doesn’t matter if you have a million tickets a day - if the important ones are being handled in a timely manner at your current part time position, then they don’t need you full-time.

However, in the future, get any promises in writing and also in writing have a clear understanding of what has to happen in the time period in question.

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Because you are dealing with paper pushers who have zero concept of what you do or why your job exist. Most upper management make decisions on dollars and cents not common sense. So right now if things are running well, why do they need you? They don’t get that IT is not “set it and forget it” things need updating, management and maintenance to keep everything rolling smooth. If they fire you tomorrow and there’s a DR situation or in the future when they do upgrades that’s when they will realize “hey where is Joey and why isn’t this fixed yet?”

2 Spice ups