Old Boys Club is Alive and Well

Old Boys Club is Alive and Well

As a current Assistant District Manager for a B2B sales team, I recently applied for a District Manager position within my company in a neighboring district. The Division Manager who interviewed me kind of rushed through our first interview, saying I didn't have enough experience. I explained that I have been in my industry for nearly twenty years and on the sales and supplier side for almost a decade. He then says, "well, you don't really have management experience though" to which I pointed out that not only did I have management experience in this company, but in several other jobs as well, including several that were not included on my original resume, as they were outside of this industry. So he further stipulates that I don't have experience managing union sales reps, to which I responded that I have been managing union reps for over a year in my current role and my current District Manager has been training me to move up since day one. He says he wants to schedule a second interview to discuss all of this further. In preparation for my second interview, I made a short Powerpoint outlining my management experience, my management style, all the work my current manager has had me doing to help me get on the fast track, my 30-60-90, my extensive connections in the neighboring district for which I was applying... I emailed this ahead of our second interview. I come in and he seems in a weird mood - he says "this is all very impressive and clearly you are qualified for the role... I've been struggling with how to tell you, but I already gave the job to someone else." That "someone else" is an old friend of his who has barely any experience on the supplier/sales side of the business and is currently floundering in the position... Fast forward two months: my District Manager puts in her resignation and suggests me for her replacement. The Division Manager I had applied with knows he f'd up by hiring his friend and tries to coach me for my interview with his boss (since I had previously interviewed with him, I had to interview with the State Manager). However, when he hired someone from outside of the company when there were internal candidates, he had to give a reason for that - so he had told the State Manager that I wasn't qualified and he didn't feel confident moving me forward............. So when I interviewed with the State manager (I including a streamlined and updated Powerpoint prior to my first interview with him), he just grilled me on my "problem" reps and specific accounts and didn't bother to read or go over my experience. I got a feeling it was a brush-off interview. When he called me in to tell me that I didn't get the job, he told me it was because only two months prior, the Division Manager had told him I wasn't experienced for the other job, so he would defer to his judgement and said he trusted him that I wasn't qualified and therefore he gave the job to some guy with less experience than me.

In the almost three months that I was acting District Manager, we had two incredibly strong EOM closes, we over-delivered on two of our largest supplier's fiscal year goals, and we delivered on the most Salesforce goals in the state. But I don't have the experience or knowledge to motivate my team to succeed and surpass goals. Right.

Open to work.