You Can Survive a Bad Boss

Perhaps you're handling the workload of four people and someone else is taking credit for your successes.

Perhaps your boss lets his wife berate you over your job performance.

Perhaps your boss has had you followed to find out whether you've been sleeping with a co-worker.

No matter what the situation, career managers say you can learn to cope with it, and perhaps even improve it.

Unless you have the savings to live for three to five months, don't quit, says Henry Doomus, regional president of Bernard Haldane Associates in Oklahoma City, Okla.

"The best time to find a job is when you have a job. If you are in a situation where you feel trapped with a bad boss, work on lines of communication, separate yourself from the situation. Do not take it personally. There is a distinction between managing up and kissing up. Often people who are good mentors themselves do not allow the boss to be a good mentor to them," Doomus says.

Instead work on things you can control, such as understanding what your boss' needs are. Knowing how your supervisor best receives information helps open the communication lines. Employers may not see all that you've accomplished, so Doomus says it doesn't hurt to document those achievements.

It also doesn't hurt to kill your boss with kindness, while maintaining confidence in your work.

Doomus suggests respecting your boss' schedule and setting up a time to meet with him to discuss issues, and then offering solutions to problems, rather than just griping about what's wrong.

"Don't go over your boss' head. Tattletails usually get fired," he says. "Respect the title, even if you don't respect the person."

Of course, there are times when you need to leave a position.

"Sometimes there are personality conflicts. Sometimes there are bad bosses," Doomus says.

If you do plan to leave, remember you may need a reference.

"You never gain by burning bridges behind you," he says.

Prepare for an exit interview by documenting a your boss' excesses and by remaining calm. Doomus says your boss may not be aware of the problems and could in fact learn from what you've experienced.

Once you're to to the job interview stage, he says don't complain about how your boss manages because the company you're interviewing with won't know whether your boss was the problem or whether you were.

The same goes for once you get a new job. Don't talk about challenges you've had in the past.

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