They Said No to My Promotion… So Is It Time to Walk?

Dear Stephen,

I work for one of the majors, and I'm a Regional Vice President for the Northwest. Recently a national position opened up at my company — it would be like a promotion, so I applied for the job internally. I interviewed and interviewed — with Human Resources, the direct manager that I will be reporting to, all the way up to the CEO of the company. I felt like I was well qualified for this position.

I know I have a great job but I'm also very focused on the "next steps" of my career. I was just told that I didn't get the job and it actually went internally to someone else in the company.

I know the person who got the position — it is one of my colleagues, and they are eminently qualified for the job and maybe more qualified than me, so part of me can't feel that sorry for myself. There were a lot of candidates both internal and external, and I got really far in the process, so I feel good.

My dilemma is that I'm concerned about my future with where I am currently employed. That's because there are lots of regional jobs lateral to what I have that open up, but national jobs only come up once in a blue moon. Of course, if I was at a smaller company, I'd have even less opportunity to grow my career. But on the other hand, I do get calls from recruiters about national jobs at these same smaller companies.

I'm comfortable about why I didn't get this promotion right now, yet I'm getting antsy and I'm wondering if I should start interviewing for national jobs at smaller companies or just bide my time here. The truth is the regional VP position I'm holding is excellent — I make great money, it's a good company, it's just my ambition that is driving me more than any negative thing about my current job. What's your advice?

Signed,

Not Promoted, What's Next

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Dear What's Next,

My recommendation for now is to stay put!

Focus on your current job — it sounds like you're working for a great company and you have a great job. My experience is that it was probably equally difficult for HR and your direct supervisors to tell you you didn't get the promotion as it was for you to hear. It may make them anxious as well that they might lose you, but if you start fidgeting around with interviews and they hear about it or sense it, they're going to suspect that you might be out the door and they might lose confidence in how you're performing your current job. Then you've created a whole new worry for yourself!

Here's the thing — once you've had the taste of working for one of the major manufacturers — Steelcase, HNI, Haworth, MillerKnoll, Teknion, Global... and some smaller company calls you up and offers you a big National VP job (sometimes they even call it a President job, but what they're really looking for is a glorified VP of Sales), it just doesn't come with the same bells and whistles of the big company you're working for now. The prestige is different, even the respect you feel at meetings is different, and chances are the smaller company is a privately owned company with some owner breathing down your neck for revenue all the time. I'm quite sure that that smaller company is an open line and you're taking for granted what it's like to work for a prestigious brand where they have their own exclusive dealers.

But let me play "devil's advocate" for a second. What if a VP Sales job opened up at a smaller manufacturer and you admired their products and their management and you could make more money and have more responsibility? Could this be a logical stepping-stone towards your ultimate career goal?

I appreciate people who are ambitious. I respect them. Those are the people I want to recruit for my clients. However, there is a big difference between ambition and ego, moving for the sake of a title. Sounds like some of that may be mixed in with your motivation if you're asking this question.

Here's my answer — the money is still the same color green no matter what your title is. The job security of a bigger organization is still in your favor, at least that's my experience.

Maybe my advice will change after Design Days and NeoCon in June — that's when you want to start keeping your eyes open again, but for this next six months, my advice again is to stay put. Focus on the job that you have — it sounds like a good one.

Signed,

Stephen