So You Didn't Get that Promotion?
So You Didn't Get that Promotion?
So You Didn't Get that Promotion?
The prospect of making more money and gaining prestige is always attractive. In movies and television shows, it is common for characters to have their employer dangle a promotion in front of their eyes only to revoke it in the end. This is not a far cry from real life, where employers constantly use the verbal promise of a promotion to their advantage.
I first experienced this when I worked for USRobotics. I started working for USRobotics through a contracting agency. I was given a six month contract with them to prove I could perform. I did well. I was a top representative in their Technical Support department and was well liked by management. "Just keep doing what you're doing!" I was told, "and we'll sign you as an employee!". After six months, the company went into a hiring freeze. Nobody could be hired as a permanent employee during a hiring freeze. I could only continue working at USRobotics via another 6 month contract through the agency. I was angry, but waited it out for another 6 months. After all, a permanent position would mean higher pay and health benefits. "Just keep doing what you're doing and be patient!" I was told. 6 months later, I was disappointed again. There was still a hiring freeze, and it looked like it would last for months.
I left the company only to endure this same cycle again with a new company. I started a position at Classified Ventures, a company that owned many dot-com businesses such as Cars.com and Apartments.com. I grew there as a Helpdesk Technician for over a year. I wanted a new, more challenging position though. I wanted to be a Network Administrator. I was told again "Just keep doing what you're doing!" I played the role of a Network Administrator. I was still a Helpdesk Technician, but I was doing things as a Network Administrator without the title and without the bump in pay. I did this for a year. No positions came open. The company was struggling, and when a few Network Administrators left the company, they did not rehire for their positions.
"Just keep doing what you're doing and be patient!" I was told again. But I had enough. I left the company angry. Years later, I started working for a large software company. I worked 2 years for them doing phone support. A new opportunity opened up. I had been working in Chicago and the company was opening a new office in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Sioux Falls is quite different from Chicago. The change would be stressful, but I was told that in 3 months, I would be in management. I would help lead the start of a new location for the company and I thought it would be an easy way to a sure promotion. I took the opportunity with high expectations. I played the role of management, helping hire new employees and training them. 3 months passed without a change in my position. I was told again "Just keep doing what you're doing and be patient!" 6 months passed, then 9. I still didn't see a management position.
Frustrated, I approached my boss telling him how unfair it was. I had moved my life 580 miles to a smaller city where I didn't know anybody, and still I had not been promoted after 9 months. My boss calmly sat me down and told me his personal tale. He had worked for this company for a period of 7 years. He started with them in Ohio where he was forced to move himself, his wife, and his 3 kids to Chicago in order to keep his job. In Chicago, he was rarely respected at first by management. He was promised a promotion several times, but they never seemed to pan out. He interviewed for a position twice only to find that each time the position was later eliminated. Still, he stuck it out and was eventually promoted to a Manager. Now he managed in Sioux Falls, where he moved his family again, and has again been promoted and given a bump in pay.
I was flabbergasted. Here I was, a single male, with no family, and I thought that it was a big deal for me to move my life to a new place. This man moved his family 2 times for this company. Was he ever angry? Yes! At times he flew off the handle. But he stuck it out and it paid off for him and his family in the long run.
Employers can and will dangle promotions in front of employees to get them to perform at a the highest level possible without having to fork out more money. There is no fighting or changing this. They can always find somebody to step up and take a shot at a promotion. A person has two choices when they are getting frustrated about not getting a promotion:
1. They can leave, find another company and start all over again from the ground up. They can try to build a reputation with a new company and eventually go through the cycle again.
or
2. They can stick it out for as long as they can with their current employer and prove they are worth finally promoting them and paying them more money.
If you perform well for long enough, and a position comes available, your employer will eventually promote you. Every employer has a point when they realize "Hey, we gotta reward this guy!". It just might not be when you wanted it to happen, or when you expected it. Forget about what you were promised. Unless it was in writing, it means nothing. Instead, just keep doing what you're doing and be patient!
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