Read This Before You Decide Your Next Career Move
Have you ever been passed over for a promotion after months of preparation and anticipation?
It’s not an uncommon experience – your superior resigns and recommends that you assume the role per the order of succession. Then the powers-that-be supersede your promotion with an external hire.
It’s a massive loss of an opportunity to advance as a reward for your talent and effort. Not only that, but you also lost a trusted boss and mentor, and now you have to start from scratch and build a relationship with the stranger who took your dream job.
It will probably take a week or two to fully recover from the shock, anger and despair of this crushing defeat. While it’s good to give yourself some time to lick your wounds, don’t take too long. You need to bounce back quickly and decide on a path forward.
Three common options come to mind –
- Accept the decision and return to your current job
- Quit the current job and find another role in the company
- Quit the company altogether
Before you decide on your next career move, evaluate your situation objectively. Use this questionnaire as your helpful guide –
If you answered mostly “yes”, trust that you are with the right company, while you were not elevated to the position you desire, it might do you well to stick around. Understand the reasons why you were passed over, resolve to fill the skill gaps and keep performing at your best to be considered for the next round of opportunity.
If you answered mostly “no” it’s probably time to quit and move on. The experience of being denied a coveted promotion can be illuminating once you take the time to self-evaluate. You may discover that you’ve been stuck in a job for too long or that you are not getting the recognition you deserve.
A career rejection is a powerful learning experience. Surviving it can lead to even better opportunities going forward. Start by learning from Australia’s most inspiring businesswomen the tools to advance in your own leadership journey. Register today for The Empowered Woman 2020.
