Earlier this year, I wrote about my continuous job issue - getting promoted.
Let's recap:
Last year, I applied for this position, and interviewed with HR. The company suddenly restructured, and HR decided to put the job on hold. I was a leading candidate.
January of this year, the job reopened, for two positions in the area. I applied to both, and waited. I did a preliminary interview with HR, where they asked me to pick one of the two open positions (they're both in the area, but I did have a clear preference), and waited. I then did a final interview with my boss' boss and the man who would have been my boss, and waited. In all, I waited three months. And didn't get the job. I covered that in May.
After I didn't get the job in the first half of the year, I decided to swallow all pride and help the guy who got the job (keep in mind, I used to help him before he got the job, too). I put on a brave face and acted like an adult. I filled in for him three times, a total of about 18 days in three months. I helped him close sales, deal with problems, and covered my office location so that he didn't need to spend as much time with us. He excelled at his job. I took on some more responsibilities, and even became certified to train my team on a new product that pertained to that job.
And then they decided to add a third person to the position. I applied. I interviewed with HR again. I interviewed with my boss' boss' counterpart, and waited. I then had an interview with the new boss over the group in our area (they had expanded the management as well), and waited.
I didn't get the job. Again. The fourth time in less than a year.
This time, they hired a woman in our area who had always been there, pestering the first hire to fill in for him instead of me. She never had the time to do it, and never focused on getting the job, but took a temporary position in management to fill in for someone who was out. And that got her the job. Mind you, I've done that before - I mentioned it at the beginning of May's post (see the demoted link). When I was told that I didn't have the job, I was erroneously told that the person they hired (they didn't tell me who - I found out later) had come from outside the company, and had more experience than I did. As you can imagine, I was quite miffed when I figured out the truth.
Once again, I played the loyal worker and rolled with it. I started conversations with the new boss, and shook hands with the lady who got my job.
And then I started casually looking around for a new job.
My casual search changed only a week later, when my boss for the past three years, a guy I've managed and who had managed me at various times, a guy I've had some issue with before (he was the ultimate cause of being demoted in 2015), but has been the best manager I had in all twelve of my years with the company, was suddenly fired.
They didn't have a reason, really. It was an algorithm, a computer program that scored him against others without taking into account that he was the highest-rated manager in the state, and managing the top location in twelve states. And in his place, they put a guy that had been trying for years to get rid of me. I knew I wouldn't have much time, so I escalated my job search, and looked for jobs within the company around the country - the same position I had been passed over for earlier in the year.
I applied to a position just beyond the state, half a day's drive away. I contacted people back where my parents live, and in the state where my boss considered moving to. I had some interest, got a couple interviews, and got to the tail end of one of them.
And they chose me. The location that's back home, on the other side of the US. Better still, they will pay for my move.
It infuriates me that I couldn't get a job in my own area, where I've worked for a dozen years, but I could get the same job thousands of miles away on the first try. The people who want me to move are genuinely interested in my abilities and success - something I can't get with people 30 miles away from me.
So now I stand on the precipice of massive change for myself and my family. It's a daunting task. But I think that in the end, it will all be worth it. A new adventure awaits - the adventure I wish I could have had here. Instead, I get to spend the next many years far from here, from an area I love, but from situations I despise.
Wish me luck.
-TRM
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Monday, May 23, 2016
It happens again
Funny how things work.
A year ago, I posted about being demoted at work.
The last three months - that's right, THREE MONTHS - I've been waiting for a promotion at work.
But this isn't what I did in the past, this was a job I'd been waiting years for. They only made the position in the past six months, but I had suggested an earlier version of it in 2012.
I applied last year, and interviewed, but they held off due to some corporate restructuring that changed who the bosses were and where they were based out of.
When they reopened the position, I was excited to get this over with. The position was essentually what I was already doing within my own team, but on a larger scale. I'd be duplicating my success across several offices. And when I say success, I should mention (with some humility in my heart) that I am the highest person in reporting for this success in twelve states, and as far as I can tell, the whole company (I have no way to check). By almost triple the best people in the business, and about 50% more than average.
I had lived, breathed, and crapped this metric for many years. The job was made for me.
I interviewed a second time a month after the first with HR. And another month later they reopened the job posting to get more people - after they had already launched a whole team of people in the same position across twelve states. I was automatically applied, but never interviewed again.
And after all the waiting, they gave it to one of the people I've been a mentor to.
And while I was told I wasn't getting the job, I was told it was because I hadn't been doing anything to teach my success to others.
What?
I've taught my own team constantly for years. I'm the guy who put together a group of like-minded people within the other half-dozen offices in our district. I'm the one that those people go to with questions on how to do the job. I'm the one that management asks for help when they need it. This person? They've never done anything to teach others. They don't have the success I've had. They didn't even apply for the job the first time around.
When I was told why I wasn't being hired, I asked that person what I could do to have won the job over what I've already been doing. And the person didn't even know about the things I had been doing in preparation for the job. Hell, they didn't even call my current supervisor. They took the word of my boss' boss, who was in the interview and supposedly was supporting me for the job, yet I rarely see him. The person told me they'd look into what I've been doing. Which told me they hadn't done a damn thing to begin with.
I was fucked from day one.
This isn't the job I lost a year ago. This is the job I waited more than a decade for. This is a job I asked for years before they knew they needed it. This is the job I already do, at least in part.
This was my job. And they took it from me.
I feel lost. I feel angry. I feel like a failure, and a disappointment. I feel alone in my work. I feel useless, unappreciated, and misunderstood.
And I thought it was bad last year.
How much longer do I have to wait for someone at work to see my worth? Because actual, physical results aren't getting me there.
- TRM
A year ago, I posted about being demoted at work.
The last three months - that's right, THREE MONTHS - I've been waiting for a promotion at work.
But this isn't what I did in the past, this was a job I'd been waiting years for. They only made the position in the past six months, but I had suggested an earlier version of it in 2012.
I applied last year, and interviewed, but they held off due to some corporate restructuring that changed who the bosses were and where they were based out of.
When they reopened the position, I was excited to get this over with. The position was essentually what I was already doing within my own team, but on a larger scale. I'd be duplicating my success across several offices. And when I say success, I should mention (with some humility in my heart) that I am the highest person in reporting for this success in twelve states, and as far as I can tell, the whole company (I have no way to check). By almost triple the best people in the business, and about 50% more than average.
I had lived, breathed, and crapped this metric for many years. The job was made for me.
I interviewed a second time a month after the first with HR. And another month later they reopened the job posting to get more people - after they had already launched a whole team of people in the same position across twelve states. I was automatically applied, but never interviewed again.
And after all the waiting, they gave it to one of the people I've been a mentor to.
And while I was told I wasn't getting the job, I was told it was because I hadn't been doing anything to teach my success to others.
What?
I've taught my own team constantly for years. I'm the guy who put together a group of like-minded people within the other half-dozen offices in our district. I'm the one that those people go to with questions on how to do the job. I'm the one that management asks for help when they need it. This person? They've never done anything to teach others. They don't have the success I've had. They didn't even apply for the job the first time around.
When I was told why I wasn't being hired, I asked that person what I could do to have won the job over what I've already been doing. And the person didn't even know about the things I had been doing in preparation for the job. Hell, they didn't even call my current supervisor. They took the word of my boss' boss, who was in the interview and supposedly was supporting me for the job, yet I rarely see him. The person told me they'd look into what I've been doing. Which told me they hadn't done a damn thing to begin with.
I was fucked from day one.
This isn't the job I lost a year ago. This is the job I waited more than a decade for. This is a job I asked for years before they knew they needed it. This is the job I already do, at least in part.
This was my job. And they took it from me.
I feel lost. I feel angry. I feel like a failure, and a disappointment. I feel alone in my work. I feel useless, unappreciated, and misunderstood.
And I thought it was bad last year.
How much longer do I have to wait for someone at work to see my worth? Because actual, physical results aren't getting me there.
- TRM
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