I've been with my current employer for nearly four years, and I love the company culture, our mission, the benefits and employee resources - but I'm starting to feel STUCK.
It seems there are select associates within HR who are rising through the ranks like superstars; they receive promotions and raises and lateral job moves frequently - often without the opportunity being open/advertised to everyone else. A large part of this seems to be dependent on the manager who hires you: some managers are really great advocates for their direct reports (networking with other managers, lining up opportunities or recommending reports for them). Another factor that seems to come into play is whether you graduated from the same program as one of our directors - that seems to be another commonality among these stars. I was hired at a certain level, and after about 18 months, our director decided I was hired in to the wrong job level, so she retroactively "changed" my title/level to the next one up - but she told our group that it was "not a promotion" and it didn't come with a raise. I then moved into a new role in a different team, but my manager is very low-energy and definitely NOT the sort to advocate for me; I also rarely receive feedback of any sort [positive or negative] so I have no idea what she thinks of me. Objectively, my performance ratings have been "Strong" since I started [the only higher rating is "Exceptional" which is apparently quite rare]. I'm also not comfortable sharing with my manager some of my concerns about the cliquey / favoritism that appears so frequently. These days, I'm feeling tremendously demoralized and unmotivated. I've tried looking within the company for a new role, but it's difficult without having any support from my manager [and when so many HR roles are seemingly filled without being posted]. Should I consider leaving a company I love because of the way our HR team operates within it?
Yes, we have regular check-ins (weekly for 30 minutes) and we just had our annual professional development conversation, where I brought up some of my concerns and THOUGHT she was hearing me - but then everything went back to the way it had been before. I started updating my resume last night and think I will try to apply for both internal and external positions that interest me; hopefully something will pan out and I'll find a manager who is a better fit.
Do you have regularly scheduled time with your manager to discuss your work? Setting up a quick check-in can help with transparency and hopefully help when it comes time for feedback.
These are great questions, and it’s easy to feel overlooked in your role. Have you asked for feedback? I understand discussing your feelings can be uncomfortable, but the only way to approach the situation is to address it. I also ask people prior to giving feedback, “can I give you feedback about some of my feelings?”
I hope this helps! As always if you’d like to chat more about your career documents, feel free to email me at [email protected]