‘But I deserved that promotion!’

Sadly I too have been passed over for a promotion that I earned. They brought someone in from outside because ‘…he had experience at a big company.’ Ok, yes…and where is the logic in that? I’m leaving before Mr. Big Company experience shows me the door. I cannot wait to watch this company tank from afar. And tank it will since it is run by arrogant know-it-alls. Clients are already starting to scatter. NOTE: If a company doesn’t treat its employees well, it probably doesn’t treat the clients all that great either. This is not good business and eventually will impact the bottom line. Vote with your feet and leave. And if they promise that the next promotion is yours, don’t be a fool and stay. Get it in writing or get out. Fooled me once shame on you, fooled me twice shame on me.

well i was passed up for a promotion and instead of my boss telling me i had to hear it through the grapevine and when i asked my boss why she said i have no doubt that you can do the job but i have to do whats best for the company then i said well please tell me why you did not choose me all she would say was i dont want to get into it with you then i said well there is room for improvement in everyones life what can i do or change so this doesnt happen again to which she replied i told you your an excellent employee and thats all she would say someone please tell me what this means

I was promised a promotion nearly two years ago. Instead, I have been working extremely hard doing work that has become more demeaning and about a step up from burger flipping. I have a BS and I am very well organized and smart. The “plan” seems to change every day, so while I try to stay positive about it all, it gets harder knowing I am wasting my life. Last year, I became depressed and I put any energy I had into maintaining the act. There was nothing left for any other part of my life. If this recession would go ahead and end, I could move on with my life!

re: M Austin Texas:
Instead of refusing your support to your former team, try a different approach. I was in a very similar situation and I put together a killer how-to manual for everything they kept asking me questions on. I told them “Here’s a survival guide for the common questions on this position. If you have any further questions just let me know’. It will help them be more independent and confident that they can do the work correctly, and it will free up your time if they only call when they have more in-depth questions. Hope this is helpful! Good luck!

After 8+ years of working for a company I had been turned down for a higher position by outside candidates over four times. Even though I have put my resume’ into applicant pools for competing companies, I have not been hired. I believe this may be my own fault, for I haven’t really been going after what I want because I have been focusing more on furthering my education than leaving the company I am with at this time.

I was promoted to a project management position within 4 months of working for the company. However my old colleges and my old boss, and the person who replaced me, they still expect me to help them with their day-to-day job.
My current boss encourages me to continue to support them, however I never liked my old job and it has been more than 2 months that I still continue with the support.
How do I refuse this without hurting any body.

I have been in the position three years and have been passed over twice for the top spot. So what! What really matters is that I love the work that I am doing and intend to stay and get as much out of this position as I possibly can —for as long as I want. I refuse to allow others to impact my decisions. I find the work that I am doing thoroughly rewarding and I am now learning every aspect of the business. It is the implementation of knowledge that is power. So, I need this time to build. Looking back, I am glad that I was not selected. I am free!

Posted by Pat, Dallas, Texas August 2, 2007

When a former employer hired an external candidate to be my manager instead of promoting me, who then needed me to train him in the most basic tasks, I found another job and left and cited this as one of my reasons for leaving. 8 months later they begged me to come back, and paid me accordingly. My husband was also begged to come back to an employer who had consistently looked him over and underpaid him. He told them where to go.

I have also been passed over for a promotion TWICE. I’ve been told that it is because I do not have a Masters Degree – only a BA. While I can understand this is a requirement within the agency, I believe they have discounted my years of extensive experience. They will hire a recent graduate from Social Worker school and start them with considerably more money than I earn and then expect me to be okay with that. Kind of kills any incentive to remain here – time to move on!!!

move on!
that is my advice
If you want to know your market value, get out there and test the market!

Quick question….I am up for a promotion that orignially no one else in my department wanted to apply for. Then yesterday a coworker of mine decided she did want to apply for it. The afore mentioned co worker would not be a good fit. She is great at her job resonsiblities, but has a really bad attitude and brings down the customers and the staff alike. I don’t want to say negative things about her but there is no way she can successfully handle this new position. I’m afraid that the team we’ve worked so hard to train and aquire will fall apart if she get this promotion. How do I say that without “saying” that? I don’t want to say anything negative, and the only thing in her favor is that sh’es been with the company longer than I, everything else is in my favor, but I’m concerned, not just that I won’t get the promotion, but that all of our teams hardwork up to this point may end up being for nothing because this person is unskilled at the most integral parts of this position. My concern is that I hear my company likes to promote on the basis of seniority more than anything else…any suggestions??

I can relate. I work for a large multi-national on a team creating new businesses. We were promised that if we created these new businesses, we would be creating our new roles. FOllowing much fanfare, I created a really substantial business. Thinking myself highly valued, I continued to deliver. Imagine my surprise when my boss told me after the fact that my two peers would be “promoted” to run the new business I had just created. Not only was I not even given consideration for these leadership roles, I didn’t even know they were staffing them. I am now to “run” the team in their absense while their roles are backfilled. According to my boss, “these things happen all the time in big companies.”

What do you all think I should do?

The company set an expectation that a job opening is to be posted, and interviews conducted (criteria for internal potential), whether or not managers already have a candidate in mind. Recently, two managers (less experienced and less time in the company than many) passed others up for a director position. The jobs were not posted. Those passed up do not understand the double standard, nor the criteria for promotions. We can only speculate.

Get out of that company. The company likely has too many disincentives to keep moving you up and increase your years of service. In fact if there is some sort of defined benefit pension plan you salary times years served is likely a large factor in your benefit calculation. You are already at 12 years…you are a liability and they have you already. Many companies I believe are looking no have people on staff more than 10 years.

Run from that place. The job maret is presenting many opportunities and if you have skills as I suspect you do, you may find greener pastures.

From a Senior Manager’s point of view . . .

Yes there is a lot of politics in promotions in large organizations – and the comments about pay grades and classifications relative to your boss are on target. And the fact that you made a bad impression on someone five years ago can matter.

But the most difficult personnel situations are those that deal with people who overestimate their own ability. And many internal promotion issues fall into exactly that category. Being good at your current job doesn’t mean much – you have to be good at your boss’s job, have been able to demonstrate that you are, and be lucky enough to work for a boss who doesn’t see it as a threat. For example, someone who is a topnotch engineer might be hopeless at dealing with the budget, people issues and financial justification of projects required of a manager. Too often, people evaluate a boss critically while not understanding the real nature of his/her job. When promoting someone internally, you have to see evidence that the person understands the nature of the job to which they aspire and are going to be able to break with their peers in the old job.

That being said, we are all free agents and when things don’t go well, it is time to move on. Several years ago, I was in a position of working for a boss who was relatively new to a company in which I had many years and was well networked. He blocked a promotion because he felt that I was too valuable where I was. So I spent the next year looking for a new job and trying to get him fired. I was successful in finding a new job before I achieved the other objective – but did seriously harm his position at the company.

Whenever I’ve gone outside for someone, I am implicitly making the decision that the internal candidate can leave. If you are in that situation, it cannot come as a surprise.

But first, look at yourself totally objectively – it the problem is you, it will go with you when you leave.

For a moment I thought I had written this email to Annie. I was with a well known company for 5 years. My evaluations were great, half of the company knew who I was, as I started way at the bottom and moved right up. However, when I started applying to other positions, I kept getting passed over. They hired another girl in my department, who before moving on to her new desk and department, asked me to help her use Excel. (!!!) If Excel was the major requirement, why did she get it? I applied for another position- and I wasn’t even given a ‘decent’ interview by HR. They simply told me that I didn’t have the degree they required. I applied to another position months later- and two HR people kept dropping the ball and never gave me a chance to interview and the spot was filled. I continued to get second opinions, as a lot of people saw my potential and could not understand how they kept passing me over. Half of them told me that probably my supervisor was not being honest and giving bad references behind my back. I stopped applying and I begin to hate my job. A friend of mine connected me to this other company- happend to be a Vendor for a company I was currently working for. I gave my current employer a chance, and applied to another position that I knew would not fail. I had all the qualifications and then some. I was interviewed three times. I thought I finally nailed it. Then the hired another girl in my same department- Her own co workers told me that they only hired her because she was cool with someone that worked there and because she was hot, and she wouldnt blamed me if I quit. Well, sure enough I gave my two weeks. And here I am working in another company. I’m less stressed, and more appreciated.

Simple fact – your employer doesn’t care one bit about you. You are there to generate enough revenue for the big whig at the top to make their million dollar a year salary, and helping you out is not on the agenda. If you stay with the same employer long enough to know how to do everything, you’re going to be expected to DO everything. Your loyalty to the machine of corporate is foolish. That loyalty is not reciprocal.

If you’re as good at your job as you think you are, you need to move around every 2-5 years. Not only does it keep you current, but when things tank at 4:30 on Friday, they don’t drop the problem in the new person’s lap.

The short end of it: I took a 6month paid “leave of absence” then resigned, started my OWN business and work PT temp jobs as insurance during my businesses development.

I’m 29 yrs old. Worked at my co for 9 yrs. When I was 27 I was was passed over for a promotion for an outside candidate, though I had been doing the job for the last 2.5 yrs, in addition to my own and parts of other positions the management neglected to use the appropriate resources to get done, seeing as how I was soo “efficient”.

The one thing they did get right was to fire the manager and demote the supervisor BUT they didn’t hire me for the management position. They must have thought I was silly enough to hang around and train the new manager on dept. business. NOT!

Move on sweetie. Best of success to you!

I (woman in my 50s) was recently passed over for an internal candidate, a young man with about half my experience and only a BA (I have an MS, recent, in my field). I would add that as satisfying as it is, it is probably best not to quit a job until you have another. I am losing weight (down two dress sizes, two more to go) and inventorying and polishing the skills I will need for my dream job. I have hired my potential replacement and am training her (they aren’t thrilled with this, as I had also made myself indispensible and this is how I plan to correct that). My target job hunt begins this fall. I will leave with stellar references and resume bullet points, and a vested pension. I work in government, so they can’t just lay me off. That process would take about a year if they were so inclined, and I am heading that possibility off with my timeline. I plan to go where I am new and valued as a prize.

All comments excellent. My flow chart:
1. Denied promotion #1.
2. Ask boss “What are the weaknesses that prevented me from getting it?”
3. IF useful-criticism
THEN put corrections into place (e.g., get more training, lead a team, stop interrupting in meetings, etc.)
ELSE if soft-soap EXIT
4. IF Receive 2nd promotion opportunity
THEN accept
ELSE
EXIT.
Example of useful criticism versus soft-soap:
I took a chess lesson with a master and asked him “Why did I lose this tournament game?” The answer was NOT “Well, better luck next time, keep up the good work.” The answer was “Your 37th move, f4, was very bad. It threatened your opponent’s bishop, true, but that threat merely drove the bishop to a better square. The move also weakened a diagonal leading to your castled king. Notice how your opponent’s 44th and 47th moves exploited that weakness. Replay game # 577 in Informant #66 and observe the results of a similar mistake and its exploitation in a master game. At our next lesson, come prepared with your analysis of that game.” A good manager will have an answer like that to “why didn’t I get that promotion?”

I too was passed over . I had 25 years in an industry & 5 years with the one firm . It was a technical position in which I had certifications and personal referrals from the field techs . The running consisted of myself , another tech of slightly less experience , a field tech with 15 years , and a co-worker with less than 2 years experience. It went to the guy with 2 years experience. He went out to lunch & socialized with a couple of the folks in that dept. Upon my leaving , one of the senior techs made the comment , “great , now who’s going to do all the work? ” My response was , “they should have thought of that before giving my job to your lunch pal”. In the year & a half since I left there they have closed 1/2 the regional offices and laid off 2/3’s of the techs that were there… including the lunch buddy.
I’m doing tech for another firm with better benefits , etc.. By all means don’t let them take advantage of you–move on

The position I am about to start was created by me, I was given a excellent evaluation, but was not satisfied by the small raise in pay. I wrote out all the responsibilities and accomplishments I had made in the 2 years I have been with my employer. I asked for an audience and received a formal meeting with my director and our chairman. My presentation was blowing my own horn needless to say, but I did get my point across…They agreed and have created a new position. I begin in my new position and pay on Monday.

Best advice is to keep it simple and trust your gut about your employer, if you feel like you are getting screwed over…you probably are, if you feel your company is selfish and not concerned about your well being…they probably are and finally if you are not feeling fulfilled or challenged….MOVE ON! Always keep your resume updated, your pulse on the job market and become the touted “external” candidate at another organization. Life is too short to tolerate employers who treat your career like a copy machine.

I’ve only seen one comment regarding federal service, so I’ll echo that setiment. In federal employment, its very much the “good old boy” system. I have 24 years service and 17 years of education and cannot advance on the military installation where I have worked all this time. I started puttin in applications in other states and I’ve had 4 interview offers in six weeks to interview for jobs 2,3 and 4 grades higher than I am now. It IS a conscious decision on someones part when you repeatedly get passed over. Discrimination in America is alive and well.

First time I got passed over I vowed to myself to do a better job. Second time I cleaned out my desk within five minutes of being told I wasn’t getting the promotion. As I walked past my bosses office, I stuck my head in the door, said “I quit” and never looked back. It was touch and go for a while until I was able to find a better job, but not for an instant have I ever regretted what I did.

I am truly convinced if you are getting passed over for several promotions where you work it is time to find a company that value your worth.. I know it does not matter how qualified you are. I have been with my company ten years and in my current position for 6. Since I have been in my current position it seems that I cannot get any other promotions I truly believe my boss is trying to keep me here. I am a good worker I do not call in and realizable unfortunately that good quality’s can sometimes hinder you.

Nothing is more humiliating than having to train and orient the new hire. Pack your bags!!!!

I have been passed over for a promotion several times. I hated that my employer never gave me the job. But each time I was passed on I said to myself, whatever happens, it happens for a reason.I tried again and I landed a much better position. Maybe this was meant for me, and thats why I did not get the other jobs.

Your situation may be a blessing in disguise. I was once passed over for a promotion that was awarded to an external candidate. I was then motivated to find new employment and relocate, as well as earn a masters degree. Not knowing your specific situation re: mobility, you may want to focus on improving yourself in any way you can. Only you can decide how best to accomplish this goal, whether it means more education, or otherwise. This will undoubtedly improve your candidacy to the new employer of your choice.

I was at a job for 4 years, did everything in my department and was defintely the most qualified. I was overlooked three different times for the manager position. The last time was it, I calmly told the CEO/Owner that if I was passed up for the job he would have my two weeks notice the same day. They informed me they were hiring someone from outside and I put in my two weeks. It took me about 4 months to find the right job but I’m at it now doing what I love, I get the respect I deserve and the pay is about 3 times better with less responsibilty. I am so happy I did what I did.

Heather from CA is correct. All of her comments are true and worth noting. You are facing an up hill battle if you are seeking job advancement within your present company. I worked as an information technology and reporting specialist in an HR department which we jokingly referred to as the “Hotel California”. No one in the history of the company was ever successful transferring out of that department. On top of the reasons stated previously, there was a fear that you would share the knowledge you had of the “darker side” of the administration. All of us within that department left the company to seek job advancement.

I have been passed over twice in my career. The first time I was young and made the mistake of assuming that I would be chosen for a position since I had been promised the job should it become available. That experience taught me a valuable lesson, things don’t happen unless you make them happen.

The second time was years later at another company when they hired an outside engineer for a senior position I was shooting for. He was chosen for his superior education, but he turned out to be incompetent. I ended up doing his job anyways, and made sure that management knew who was delivering without intentionally trying to make the guy look bad. About a year later I was promoted and the guy they hired had his responsibilities reduced and was eventually let go.

Botom line is never expect something to happen if you don’t take an aggressive approach to making it happen. If you have the skills and the track record that is not enough, you have to step up and grab an opportunity or it will pass you by.

From someone who sits on the other side of the fence, my experience is that internal candidates often expect positions to be handed to them because they’re internal. While there is often strong preference for institutional knowledge, I’ve often seen employees not try as hard during the interview process. Case in point – one employee right now who won’t take time to update a resume submitted for a job, even when asked to by me. All I got was “don’t have time and I assume they already know me”. Why would you assume that everyone knows the contributions and strengths & weaknesses you offer as an employee or that you have the skills to do the next level up? And what message are you sending to HR – that you’re too busy to do this properly? So often it doesn’t come down to pure skills and experience, but motivation, drive, initiative and other softer skills. Many internal candidates don’t get that they need to re-sell themselves on these values as well.

The same situation happened to me as well. I applied two times for a promotion and was passed over for someone from “the outside”. I new, at that point, that I had to leave. So I went back to school, finished my degree and found another job. They were surprised that I left. I’m much happier!!

I couldn’t say it any better than Heather from California. If Heather isn’t running a company, she should start today. Well said.

The over riding theme here is, if you’re not upward track at your current company, you need to look elsewhere. In my view, once you start down that road, I would not use it as leverage at your current company. It just carries more risk than one should take.

Allow me to offer the hiring manager’s perspective. I am regularly amazed by how poorly prepared internal candidates are when I interview them for openings in our department. (Note: I am NOT in HR.) Many of them show up with nothing but a cup of coffee, instead of a notepad, resume, copies of performance reviews, etc. They take the *process* for granted, and act as though past performance speaks for itself, forgetting that everyone has baggage after a year. You want to be taken seriously as an internal candidate? Then act as though you’re interviewing externally: dress appropriately, do your homework, be prepared.

Dont overlook the positive side of being passed over: Watching from your new job as your replacement fails and your former boss takes the heat for letting you go.

I’ve never been promoted from within the companies I’ve worked at. All my promotions came from finding new jobs.

I was passed when I applied for a management position. My reviews were outstanding and my skills far surpassed those of the person hired, who spoke 2 languages less than I do, one of them being a language we served our customers into (besides English of course).
I was given excuses, basically I was lied to my face. I moved on, far better pay, much more rewarding work, great experience. If you are qualified and in demand, don’t waste your time with a company who does not appreciate having you there.

Excellent comments by Heather from Pleasanton, CA.

One more to add:

8)Your ceiling is how high your manager is! If your company has levels (different from titles) and your manager is just one level above you the writing is on the wall. You are not getting to the same level as your manager. You could get a raise however, but again you will reach the max pay scale for your level soon.

Only options, find a manager much higher in level than you and make sure he/she can be your advocate, or leave the company.

Years ago, when I was at the beginning of my career, I was made to train someone hired at a much higher level and salary. When I asked for a comparable raise, I was refused. I left and less than a year later, the Director of the company called me back to be a supervisor for the office at twice the salary. Moving on can be your best bet and then someone at the new company can complain about them hiring you.

Whenever I was competing for a promotion, I was asked for and provided a recent resume. In those cases, I got the promotion. When I was a manager, I did the same for employees asking for a significant raise. Management does not always know what you have been doing to improve yourself outside of work. You need to tell them.

To obtain the desired position in an organization, you have to meet, or more likely than not, exceed the qualifications. Next you have to voice your endeavor to the correct person(s)within the organization. If you are passed, especially more than once, you should move on if you are not happy with your current position. Although you may feel you are perfect for the open position, others may feel differently.

I’m agreeing with several commenters and adding my own bits.

1) Outside candidates are often seen only in terms of their strengths. Any inside candidate, no matter how strong, has known weaknesses. Hiring managers are often unduly positive about outsiders and unduly negative about insiders. Familiarity breeds contempt.

2) Bringing in a (perceived) strong outside candidate is usually seen as a coup by the hiring manager. It gets them points with the higher-ups because they brought fresh talent into the company. Promoting an insider is often perceived as poaching into other managers’ teams, or as rearranging the same old deck chairs when you could have bought a brand new piece of furniture.

3) Promoting an insider means somebody have to backfill their current job. Either this makes more work for the hiring manager (if it’s their employee), or it costs the hiring manager political capital because s/he created work and caused a problem for another manager. Either way, the hiring manager takes a hit for “stealing” an existing employee.

4) Many companies require the two managers to negotiate the transition if an employee is promoted into a new role. This can be a hassle and can take months, and it costs the hiring manager political capital. Meanwhile, outside candidates can be guaranteed to start clean within 4 weeks at most.

5) Promoting an insider often causes dissatisfaction among his/her peers — “why did so-and-so get promoted and I didn’t”. Many managers don’t feel comfortable having that conversation, for a variety of reasons.

6) sometimes there’s an amazing amount of “taking insiders for granted.” Routinely putting in good performance can paradoxically lull an employee’s boss into thinking that the employee is a perfect, reliable, self-managing performer who needs minimal attention or reward. Problems get attention; good performance gets repeatedly pushed down the priority list as something to deal with and recognize, because (being good performance) it’s never crisis related.

7) Many managers often don’t act on people issues, period. They don’t deal effectively with poor performance, they don’t reward good performance, and they don’t make the effort to retain high performers. In defense of those managers — most companies provide no goals, support or rewards for people management. For example, most managers don’t have their annual bonus based on how many people they promote or retain.

I was passed over repeatedly for positions that my management knew full well I was qualified for and wanted. I had four years of great performance reviews and numerous company awards under my belt. I kept at my manager about it, until one day on a business trip while drunk he blurted out, “You’re too good at what you do. You’ve painted yourself in a corner. We need you too much to move you into another position.”

That day I went back to my hotel room and calculated that it would be best for me to quit in three months. I even put a countdown clock on my computer. Three months later, after I vested, I quit the company and when my manager called me up in a fit over my resignation I quoted his lines back to him word for word.

Either I can train my replacement, or a former co-worker. Whom would be the best choice?

I’ve been passed over time and time again despite my excellent reviews…all due to the fact I’ve made myself “indispensible.” I’ve been fooling myself thinking that they’ll actually promote from within but it’s all a load of crap. The only one who’s going to take care of me is me. Period.

So boys and girls, take this advice to heart: Show your company just how valuable you are…leave.

The only way to fix this problem is by moving to a different company. For recruiters, the other side of the grass is always green.

After twelve years and no promotion the hand writing is on the wall, the old Peter principal. I had the same experience and started a business on the side and had a fall back position when the cut backs occured.
Good Luck

Sometimes your direct supervisor, who gives you those glowing reviews, is the person who deep-sixes your chance at promotion. Ask yourself – are you doing work every day that your supervisor should be doing? If the answer is yes, you are invaluable to him/her, and will never move up.

A co-worker and myself, both with 12 years at the company, had applied for a promotion. Neither of us were selected, it went to another co-worker that had been with the company for two years. I was told diffent reasons for not being selected. One was “If I wanted a promotion, I should go somewhere else.” Another was “I was doing my current job to well to be moved up.” The other co-worker was told similar reasons and is still at the company. I have moved on, someone else is picking up the slack, and will be training my replacement.

This happened to me last summer. I immediately told my boss that he and I had an agreement that i would recieve a promotion during the summer, and now tht I didn’t, I considered his word broken. I told him I would continue to excel in my position, but that I could not assure him I would remain there if another department was willing to offer me the same promotion. I was offered a 10% raise which is 5% lowr than the promotional raise, but with the opportunity to get the promotion in the next year. End Result: 25% raise!

I took my talent and knowledge with me and started my own company. What I put into my company I get back. No more performance reviews, staff meetings and empty promises from management.

Dear Anne,

One point you seem to have missed in your recent column regarding why an employee might be passed over for a promotion — something that happened to me! I was lucky enough to have a supervisor who leveled with me about why this happened.

She told me that, yes, I was very much qualified for that position, and, yes, I should have gotten it.

However, in reality, if I had indeed been given this promotion, not only would they have had to train ME for that job, they would also then have to turn around and find someone to fill my newly-vacant position and then begin training them. Since I was doing such a fine job at my then current position, from a manager’s viewpoint, it would not make much sense to promote me and in doing so, give the company TWO positions for which to train.

It’s a bummer, but the logic makes sense…even to me!

Preston
Boston, Ma.

It would be nice if the best candidates got the promotions, but with the federal government, it’s still the Friends and Family first plan.

I was passed over several times working for Equicor Health Insurance Co., then I started thinking and definately getting into an entreprenural operation working only with children and making bigger returns than my normal paycheck, finding other avenues pays off. Look for a new industry .

That’s been my experience too. And I had to leave; the rationale that you’re given for not getting that promotion is generally laughable, and at times possibly discriminatory. Some executives just like playing games, and when that’s the case, you should cut your loses and find a company or launch your own – where you’re appreciated.

Hopes of moving up through any large corporation is a poor career choice. In order to be promoted there are so many different hurdles that must be overcomed. The first is that more people need to sign off on the person moving up including your immediate supervisors and others. Don’t expect a big pay increase moving up because most places I’ve seen have a maximum limit on how much a person salary can increase from a promotion. So kiss the 20% increase in salary goodbye. Plus if you company has a pay scale with job classification numbers, don’t even dream of a big raise. Most corporations that I have worked at outsource the HR recrutiment which means the firm get less money for promoting some from the inside vs. someone off the street. The chips are stacked against you on getting a huge promotion within a company. Employer loyality is gone, act like a free agent and look at the entire market when looking for a new job, because you will find the reward that you desire.

I, too, came to the painful conclusion (well, with some nudging from an excellent mentor) that I was never going to be taken seriously in the office I’d “grown up” in, so it was time to move on. I hated to leave my home town, but it worked out well, as I’ve been twice promoted in this new position.

I agree with Shayaane. Let’s dispense with references to the “company”. There is an individual making a decision about your future. Integrity and fairplay, much like ethics, have left our corporate hallways. If your talents are unappreciated, it’s time to leave.

My husband actually gave his two weeks notice at his position after requesting multiple changes due to heart problems. They kept promising they would change. Guess what the last day he was to work there they offered him the highest paying non manager position in the company plus benefits and vacation.

All those excuses are good, but in reality don’t you think that companies are just looking to save a buck or two even though there might be a well qualified “inside person applying? A known fact in this day and age is that business think s in 2 terms… money and more money. Not thinking that they might be well satisfied and even might prosper by hiring from within.Not to mention give moral a big boost.

I was passed over three times for the same promotion even though my direct manager promised me the job and went to bat for me. The first time I was told that they were looking for fresh blood from the outside. The second time, they gave the job to a friend of mine at the office who hadn’t applied for it, wasn’t particularly interested in it and wound up leaving the company after two months. But it was the third time that truly took the cake: the promotion was given to a 23-year-old that had been working as my assistant. Turns out the big boss had taken a dislike to me from the time I was an intern five years earlier and kept vetoing my direct manager’s decision even though she was in charge of filling the position. Needless to say, I took all my vacation days that instant and was lucky to get a better job offer while on vacation.

It’s human nature. We are always attracted to what is ‘foreign’ or ‘new.’ Machiavelli even wrote about it almost 500 years ago. He said kings always prefer Calvary to infantry. That is to say, we always prefer to bring in outside hired guns and mercenaries rather than rely on our own troops. Most of what we know about human resources and management is wrong anyway. We are always looking for that “magic wand” in the form of a consultant who will solve all of our problems quickly and painlessly. The sad truth is that Managers are like network TV executives; always looking for innovative ideas and then putting the same detective and hospital shows on in September. But I agree with Michael , from New Orleans. You should be prepared to leave. And sometimes by preparing to leave we send off signals that cause management to change their ideas.

Happened to me too. My boss was promoted and he fought hard for me to be his successor. The company decided otherwise. My boss then took me with him to his new position. A year later a reorganisation happened and my area was restructured into another department and I was left stranded. My boss couldn’t help me anymore and now I have to take redundancy. The lesson: Companies do not pass you over for promotion just like that. It is a conscious decision and you should find other employment

External candidates are often “seen through rose colored glasses”. The only solution is to leave.