My manager resigned a month ago, and I was hoping for a promotion from my employer.

12 Comments

1. AnonymousSeptember 23,2021 at 7:43PM UTC

   Do you let everyone know that you were interested and wanted to be considered? Can your former manager recommend you as his replacement?

2. AnonymousSeptember 23,2021 at 8:39PM UTC

   I did ask my manager before she left, and she wasn't sure if the employer would consider me for her job. I also asked someone else at work if our employer would consider me if I applied. Their response was, "not sure. They are looking for someone with more experience." I feel heartbroken and undervalued.

3. AnonymousSeptember 23,2021 at 10:27PM UTC

   You have to at least apply for the position. You are assuming at lot but you don't know. You have to ask for what you want in this life.

4. AnonymousSeptember 24,2021 at 12:32AM UTC

   With love, feeling heartbroken and undervalued for a job you haven't even applied for to know if you'd be rejected, or discovered that you didn't have enough experience for yet, is part of the reason that you might not be viewed as the strongest candidate. Yet. There's a leaderly maturity that is gained from being able to assess one's own fitness for something, there's a learned empathy in being able to put yourself in the chair of the hiring manager, and a developed EQ about why selecting someone else is often not about your personally. It's about the ways you need to grow first. And that's a gift. It's a path to take to get where you want to be. Apply for the job. If they don't offer you an interview, ask why. What is the experience you would need to be considered a strong candidate? If they do interview you, but don't select you, ask that question at the end of the process. Then work with your new boss or someone else in the company to come up with a game plan for gaining the experience and skills that will help you there or somewhere else. If it helps, before I started managing people a couple of decades back, I was passed over for a management position for which I thought I was eminently qualified. I knew it all! Hindsight is always 20-20, but I now understand what skills (hard and soft) and experience I hadn't yet developed. That rejection set me on a path that led to the C-suite and the leader I am today.

5. AnonymousSeptember 23,2021 at 8:45PM UTC

   I have counseled many people about shifting their mindset around this situation over the years. Time invested and loyalty have no relationship to qualification for a role. Seniority isn't the same as skill. Hoping for a promotion isn't the same as making it clear what you want from your boss (or your boss's boss), finding out about what you need to learn or do to be considered when the next opportunity opens up, and then asking for the role you are qualified to do. Employers rarely just hand someone a role because they've been there the longest. (Unless it's a role no one else wants.) It isn't a realistic expectation. The ball is really in your court, not theirs.

6. Deborah MitchellSeptember 23,2021 at 9:07PM UTC

   Have you applied for your bosses job?
   You have to put yourself out there for advancement, don't just assume you'll be granted the role.

7. AnonymousSeptember 23,2021 at 10:03PM UTC

   I agree. Opportunity doesn't fall from the sky. You have a reach out for it.

8. Regina BrownSeptember 23,2021 at 10:22PM UTC

   Well...have YOU expressed YOUR interest in the position? You can't get attitude and "quit the stinky job you've been loyal to all these years" because YOU failed to reach out and express interest in the job opportunity.

   You have to pick a struggle, Honey...express interest or find something else...if it's that bad...

9. Ginger PetrusSeptember 23,2021 at 10:23PM UTC

   They really should have said something to you about it (or the whole team, if there is one) just to be considerate, but they probably had to post the job for HR reasons. If you want the job, you should apply. Don't let them get you down! If you don't get it, then you will know that was your answer all along and you can make up your mind from there as to quit or stay on working for for what could possibly be a great new boss. :)
   (Take this with a grain of salt of course.)

10. ThumbelinaSeptember 24,2021 at 1:38PM UTC

    When my manager retired, they posted his job and I applied for it. Now I'm the manager!

11. AnonymousSeptember 26,2021 at 3:42AM UTC

    So apply for it!

12. Monica Lynn SadlerSeptember 28,2021 at 8:34PM UTC

    Listen...I think you should go to the hiring manager, express your interest and apply. What have you got to lose?