I joined my current company 11 months ago. Got outstanding performance review recently. And a small raise.
There was a new opening for a position that is one step above my title in the company. My manager told me to apply.
Today he told me that they might hire another one even if I was the best. He mentioned that this might help the team as whole and that we might learn new things from the new hire.
I am a bit skeptical now. He clearly told me I came first in the technical interviews and almost tie on the other (experience) side. He was the one told me to apply in the first place as âI was the perfect fitâ. The other weird thing is that we wanted âto check how I feel about thisâ before speaking to HR for finalising the procedure.
How to deal with the situation? I was planning to stay and grow in the current company but I now have many doubts about transparency in these procedures.
Transition from peer to manager can be difficult for all, so some companies try to avoid this. If youâve been preparing for it and your peers already âlook up to youâ then it can be a smooth transition.
What procedure are you/your manager talking about? Whoâd be finalizing and what?
How to deal with it depends on your aspirations, in my opinion. If you have sky high aspirations then take the experience of a safe interview process (the one you just did, and safe because it was internal and you donât need a job since you already have one) and try to apply it in applying for the position you barely missed in another company. Typically as youâll know salary and role jumps happen easier when you move jobs.
Iâd personally not speculate on whether the company is transparent or not from this experience. If your manager was not the hiring person then theyâre just conveying information to you, they werenât the decision maker and maybe (likely) donât know everything either. Maybe the other person clicked better than hard data would explain with the hiring manager.
For my character one should stay no more than 3 months in a place they donât want to be, and no less than 12 months in a job theyâre generally happy with, anything else looks bad to me, but thatâs my opinion. Doesnât mean you canât grow your skills in safety and look for something in 6 month from now?
Thanks for the food for thought. So the process I am taking about is essentially the finalization of the hiring process (offer to be sent out).
The hiring manager was my manager. It is a position within my team and I was encouraged to apply when this position opened. This is the tricky part. The discussion I had to day with my manage (hiring manager for this position) was more like âI am having a hard timeâ, âI wanted to check with you first how you feel if I go on with an externalâ and âwe might learn new things both of us from this personâ.
I appreciate this âfriendlyâ discussion but it now makes me question my career path growth given that positions open rarely here. To put it in another way, I donât see any similar opening happening in the next 1-2 years.
I will be getting notified by HR soon that I ranked 2nd I guess now to conclude my application.
Looks like the hiring manager thought the external hire was bringing more to the table, but theyâre leaving things open, right?
Did you tell them how you fell (if you consider youâll be stuck and are more likely to move away, that could still tip the decision in your favor, itâs not 100% clear form your post that the decision has been made).
Itâs hard to assess the situation without the full picture.
My read is that your manager (hiring manager for this position) is handling the situation poorly. It doesnât reflect on your skills and I would assess whether I enjoy my current job independently of it. I would assess my career prospects in the company with that new experience in mind.
Part of being a manager is managing expectations. Your manager encouraging you to apply may or may not have been a right move (youâre still fairly new in the company but may have displayed the required spirit and skillset). That was your managerâs to assess and isnât on you in any shape or form. Their assessment may have been right or it might have been misguided.
What strikes me are:
Thatâs not something you say. Youâre meant to pick the best candidate. Under no conditions and in no shape or form do you tell other candidates that they were the best but passed over. Ever. As a manager, you keep your view of the decision to yourself and make what you can to make the process look fair. What they did is giving way to resentment on your part that wasnât necessary. Thatâs on them.
Thatâs not something that should be done either. What theyâre doing is checking if theyâre going to face some backlash by not promoting you or if youâll accept the decision without problem. Their job, as a manager, is to make those calls and handle the trouble that might result out of it. Asking you and making it appear as if you not appreciating being passed over could change the outcome of the selection process isnât a managerial thing to do.
I would not question the procedures, although there might be reasons to (just as well as there might not be, we donât have enough information to assess it). I would question my manager. I would not consider that my manager is a reflection of what the company is otherwise unless I had other reasons to do so.
Edit: in other words, your (former) manager appears to be a nice person but not a kind person. Nice people say nice things to avoid conflict. They can be good company but they are poor managers. Kind people create an environment that furthers other peopleâs growth. Iâd take this as a learning experience of how not to be a manager, keep in mind how you feel about it and strive not to put other people in that situation. Be kind. Not nice.
It might be a time to be forceful. Just tell him youâre ready for the position, that the company should support internal promotion and that it is BS if they put an inferior candidate above you.
They might be concerned about your new reports being disgruntled, so balance it out with you being disgruntled if they donât promote you. Maybe a good time to start looking for new jobs too so you have a backup plan and credible threat.
Well the discussion today was more like a preparation to what comes next (the HR email that I did not get the position).
I expressed my concern when it comes to career growth as positions open rarely in our team. I was clear about this and also a mismatch between my current title and responsibilities.
Try not to depend on other people. After this you should just say goodbye. Even if this is a very big risk, at the end the risks you take in your life define where you are.
I never did regret my FU day, even I spent al truckload of money in my goodbye party, it was epic.
Canât afford to quit and FU due to family expenses.
I might consider moving on for new opportunities. I have given everything these 10 months (and got partially rewarded with 6% raise and outstanding rating).
But this now it another story. As the other Mustachian mentioned, my manager (and hiring manager) is just nice, not kind.
Yeah thatâs a big problem right there, as @Wolverine laid it out, they messed up communication with you and also broke trust that your manager has on some level your interests at heart. Either way itâs a very poor management of expectations, I never ever promise my direct reports anything, I just get them to a point where itâs a clear home run for them though!
Again, in my opinion it depends on your aspirations, stage of life, appetite for going for it. Ie need to know if youâre all in camouflage paint, climbing the enemy ship with a dagger between your teeth, or more chill and willing to coast it until something else comes along there or elsewhere.
I joined with the intention to grow high and contribute at max. This has been my goal and feelings up to today.
Coasting a bit now is probably my way forward. Indeed trust has been broker and I would also never have this kind of discussion with any direct reporter to me or potential candidate.
It also hurts my ego as I have proven myself over these 10-11 months and I will now have to welcome the person who got âmyâ position
Iâve had bosses/managers like that. I take it as motivation to strive and get in a position to prevent other people to live that experience. Itâs a tough life but thereâs plenty of excitement in wearing battlegear and pushing forward no matter what.
No harm in taking some time to let it cool down and reflect on it either. I do enjoy a tactical rest to assess the best position to take moving forward after these kinds of adventures.
Thatâs another thing your manager has done: they have hampered the ability of the newly promoted person to prove themselves and handle their new responsibilities adequately. To you, theyâve lost credibility and if gossip goes around, which I advise against, they could have lost it with other people too. Iâd try my best to give them a fair shot at being good at what they do: you were somewhat tied, after all. They may have what it takes.
Edit: I would avoid seeing it as âyourâ position. It may never had been yours to get in the first place either because of politics or experience. There are too many unknowns to draw conclusions on it. Just keep trying, youâll know your position when you get it.
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(itâs spot on).
