I went for a promotion for the next step up, Think area sales manager, up from my position of local office sales manager. My sales meant my office was always in the black under me year after year, and for the last 3 years my office had also increased 30% year on year, which is completely unheard of, especially in the current climate, and I had been sent internal awards, I've kept hold of my staff etc, so I'm very good at my job. Anyway a vacancy meant there was a spot, the outgoing manager recommended I apply saying I was the best they'd seen for years etc, so I did.
The first interview was two white people interviewing me, my company is 98/9% white so this is normal, there is only one other person of colour on my area. One of the interviewers is my line manager two steps above me and another the sales manager for another area that previously held my role. Oh my god I felt like I was on a tv show. She was so incredibly rude, she couldn't believe I'd made the sales in her former role, I must be dodgy, told me she couldn't be bothered to read my cv so to explain in great depth my history, she wants to hear it from me, general put downs about how if she couldn't do it she doesn't believe it's down to me etc. I actually felt she really hated me, despite having never met me before. Answered all the questions put to me whilst feeling the most unwelcome I've ever felt, like I was defending myself for my record of achievement. She actually looked angry I could answer the questions.
After the interview I was taken aside and apologised to by my line manager and was told she wouldn't be there in the next stage.
In the next and final stage I was interviewed by 3 white men of middle age at an assessment centre. It was down between me a black women and an Asian man from the next area over for the job. He was also good at his job also one of very few in our company who managed to keep his office in the black but didn't have my record of high achievement so he said he didn't expect to get the role over me.
Anyway we had written assessments, role play and 2 presentations to give to these 3 assessors over the day and we could chat in-between the different tasks.
The final task was role play, I had to sack or discipline someone who was underperforming/not responding to training and generally was a liability and at the end of their employment. I was told that the "employee actor" would act out and disagree with this. So to handle the situation as best as possible. I should state this would be an actor and the other two assessors would watch and mark me on this. So I did and it went remarkable well, the actor (other assessor) agreed with my points on the steps we'd taken in our pretend scenario, I asked the actor their thoughts, went through what happened, our end, their actions and agreed to terminate their role. All so simple it went really well, so I thought.
At the end of the day I was speaking to the other person I was against, the other persons experience was that the actor shouted pushed a chair over and stormed out to his responses so I had felt I had done at least well especially in this part.
3days later I get the phone call, that I didn't get the role but that he would come down personally to talk through the day with me, as he said I deserved that at least considering my track record in the company. So he does a couple of weeks later, he goes through the assessment day, how everything was fantastic especially my presentation the best he'd ever seen in an interview I had good thoughts for the future etc, written part was excellent, no faults to pick up. We then get to the actor part. They felt I was too aggressive to the actor in their sacking, that I was perhaps mean in my handling. I asked him to give examples as I was told the actor would push back against everything and would play up to being dismissed, my job was to dismiss them as best I can as they asked me to do, and that it all went calmly with the actor agreeing the role isn't working for them anymore etc. And I was able to do that with no push back or scene created. But he just said it came across as aggressive of me. He said he appreciated my record is the best in the country but unfortunately, the last part of the assessing day meant he couldn't offer me the role and that he was sorry. I was shocked because he knew that is not how the actor part of the day went at all, but he wouldn't hear it. The other Asian guy didn't get it either. The role went to a white male middle aged outside applicant with no experience in our area after readvertising the role who lasted 6 months then quit. Then another outside white middle aged male applicant, no experience in our sector, sacked for under performance. We're now on our third outside middle aged white male applicant with even more areas underperforming more so than they did previously, so likely to be sacked, as they again don't have experience in our sector.
I don't know what to say other than, I'm the best performing in my company for my role, applying for the next step up. I have met resistance almost every step of the way. And I wrote this just so people can hopefully see that what I have experienced, in lack of promotion isn't obviously racist but I do perceive it to be however it's not tangible enough to prove. So when you don't see black faces in higher positions just know it's not for want of trying, it's the push back you get every single step of the way.