To be annoyed at this work situation? Advice appreciated.

[Celia24]

I've been working at a company for a little under a year. Really enjoyed it so far and especially in last couple of months have grown hugely in confidence and delivered key project.

Here's the messy/annoying part: my line manager is leaving and I'm disappointed as I love her. In our recent 1 to 1 she told me that she is putting me forward for a senior position in the team. To be clear, there is me (most junior but more 'associate' level), my manager (senior) and the director of department (my boss's boss who I also work with and know well).

She said she had sent on her list of objectives I needed to tick off to get that promotion to her boss. I anxiously asked who they were going to hire to replace her - and she tells me she is going to recommend they promote me and get someone more junior to work under me. At a recent work function two other colleagues approached me and asked if this meant I was getting promoted. And I feel ready.

Well...she is now on holiday and I've seen not one, but two, senior positions in the team open up (clearly instigated by boss's boss). I also spoke to this person yesterday who said he was impressed with me and keen to discuss my future but hadn't had a deep conversation with my manager (clearly: no promotion discussed despite what I've been lead to believe)

To my mind, I am already performing at that senior level. So to see they are now recruiting for two positions above me has really annoyed me. I even looked up one interviewee on LinkedIn and saw they were less experienced. How should I handle this?

You are in charge of your progression. You need to apply for the job, that is how you show your bosses boss that you want the promotion.

I was given a promotion a couple of the years ago, the job was mine, it was virtually guaranteed but I still had to apply and interview.

Always apply! Even if you can only tick 80% or so of the criteria always apply. Worst they can say is no. Best is you get the job.
I have done this before and not got the job but still go a prompt and pay rise. It can't hurt.

Apply for the position and stop mithering.

I think it’s a bit of a messy situation. There are two different lines here. Performing in a role and being promoted can be distinct from applying for a higher grade role and being successful. Often the 2 are conflated.

I think given you have been looking at other applicants details there might be a question mark around actually applying. Hiring processes are supposed to be confidential.

I would have a straight out conversation with your boss’s boss and try to get to the bottom of it.

The only person in charge of your career is you

Not thinking that can have you held back by a bad manager as much as promoted by a good one

what? Most companies have a policy of advertising all roles. Apply for the job for gods sake!!!

Usually that example isn’t a promotion in a traditional sense just moving up a banding range within your role. A developer is still a developer and a junior, associate, senior is usually a distinction of skill rather than responsibility (although this will vary by workplace)

I completely agree, I just wondered if the OP was getting this kind of senario confused with a traditional promotion, as that would make far more sense of the getting objectives signed off and the 6 month timescale

How did you only just see the advert on your way home yet also know who an interviewee is?

My line manager definitely said a promotion. She said she wanted to be clear that is what it was and explained that I would receive an increase in salary as well.

She said that she was more junior than me previously and wanted her departure to give me the chance to move up the ranks. All well and good as some have said...

Stop cutting out middle people or trying to have off record conversations- just APPLY, before the closing date, or you’ll miss it!

So your manager spoke about creating a new role and recommending you as the preferred candidate. Then two separate senior roles - different from the one you had spoken about - were advertised and you are unhappy you haven't been approached or allocated either? Or that your manager didn't tell you about the two other headcount being added, even though she may not have known given she is leaving?

You need to take more ownership of your own career here and apply for the job(s) you want. Your managers role is to support you, not spoon-feed you, so it's down to you to apply.

For new roles, like the one discussed with you, its entirely normal to advertise and apply even where there is a preferred candidate.

Separate role. My boss's boss told me a few days ago he was recruiting for one role to replace my line manager. All fine... although he did say he had been struggling to recruit someone senior and experienced enough.

But now another role is being advertised as of today for a second senior role in the team (a rung below that one).

Fucking hells bells. Apply. Don't apply. Whatever. They don't have to run their decisions past you, you know.

@BatsAtDawn My line manager presented me with a set of slides some weeks ago outlining the objectives I'd need to meet to be promoted in 6 months. She then passed this over to boss's boss for approval. I've heard nothing since and now my manager is on holiday.

So I gave boss's boss a nudge as I have not had sight of the objectives since then. I made it clear I want to know what I am working towards. Boss's boss apologised for the delay - reiterated his interest in my progression (generally, no use of word 'promotion') and said we need to sit down with my manager to clarify what was actually discussed.

I am annoyed because I feel the carrot has been dangled and after several weeks of seeing these objectives Ive been waiting in a holding pattern for the so called promotion only to discover boss's boss seemingly knows nothing about it. I feel in limbo.

Im really surprised to hear so many people think I'm BU about this. Yes, you should be your own advocate (and people are right to reiterate this to me) but a good manager should be that cheerleader supporting your progression.

Goodness me - you're getting yourself in a right tizzy. Any company I've worked at has always advertised any role they have, regardless of whether they have a certain person in mind or not. You HAVE to apply for the role. There's nothing awkward about it! It happens where I am all the time.

Sometimes people get the job sometimes they don't. But they're putting themselves out there and they get fantastic feedback if they don't get the role.

It would be highly unethical for you to be 'given' your boss's job - what if someone else within the company wanted/could do the job and wasn't given a chance to interview for the role?

You need to apply - and forget all about misunderstandings and miscommunications. The company are behaving really fairly! They sound like a good company.

You don't sound very old? Is this your first job OP?

Except he hasn't indicated he knows nothing about it, in face he has alluded to knowing you've spoken to your manager and he now wants a group chat so you all have clear expectations.

Honest to god, either apply for the role advertised now if you want that or confirm that the slides you saw refer to what will be in the job spec you mentioned and if that will be advertised after the 6 month period you've been given to get to that standard.

OP you are looking at this wrong.

Your manager/ bosses boss / anyone else is not responsible for your career. YOU are. So apply for the role, show them you're interested in getting ahead.

It doesn't matter what your manager has said to her manager. She's not to be held accountable, you are, if you don't apply and therefore don't get a promotion, that's on you alone.

You don’t appear to understand how things work. Where I work every job is advertised, the best candidates get interviewed and score points the one with the most points gets offered the role.

Within my company everyone applies for all the roles and the best one gets that role. I haven’t seen ‘promotions’ within companies for years.

Quite often the role advertised happens to match the intended recipients qualifications/skills/knowledge exactly!

You don’t sound very proactive to me op, senior positions don’t just fall into your lap. Apply for the promotion, if you don’t get it, then don’t throw your toys out of the pram, but try again next time. Your senior management will at least see you are keen to take on a more complex role.

don’t be so entitled expecting it to be handed to you, it’s not a good look.

I'm not sure how things work where you are OP but if anyone where I work was told 'you need to nail these in the next 6 months to get a more senior role' and then a more senior role came up the next week, that person wouldn't be considered for it.
Your manager seems to be saying you're not ready yet. And potentially that she wanted to create a role for you? But are you expecting they will wait 6 months to recruit on the basis that you might have nailed your objectives yet?
A couple of scenarios:

1. You have misunderstood what your boss said to you and you have objectives to hit before you are promoted.
2. Your boss was planning to talk to her boss before she went on leave and didn't get round to it.
3. Your boss did talk to her boss but didn't make it clear enough you were interested, or
4. Your boss did talk to her boss but made it clear you had some development to do before promotion, or
5. Your big boss does not agree with your boss that you are ready to step up yet
6. Your big boss can't faff about for 6 months and has realised he needs two team members now
7. You need to apply for the job directly

Or a combination of the above/none of the above. Either way I would take it as a sign that you are not just going to be handed a more senior position.

You are really overthinking this.

If you want the job you need to a) tell your boss' boss clearly that you want the job and think you would be extremely suitable for it, and b) apply for it.

But it is obvious now I need to cut out the middle woman and speak to the boss's boss myself.

The middle woman is on holiday, and she is leaving.

The post that you want presumably reports into your boss' boss.

Of course you should be communicating with them.

Being the best employee in the whole damn world is no good if the only person who knows it is leaving the company.

@Livinginanotherworld I don't think that's fair. I've been working really hard in order to move up and I got in touch with boss's boss yesterday go follow up on the objectives. How is that not proactive? I don't pretend to know a lot about the overall process and that's why I'm here.

I'm certainly not entitled. But if my manager says she has done something/had a conversation with someone senior about my future and that turns out not to be true, that is fairly annoying.

Sorry @StepAwayFromGoogling maybe I haven't been clear. No I am absolutely not expecting them not to recruit. They were already recruiting for one senior role, to replace my line manager. But they are now recruiting for a second role, the one I was told had been created for me.

I think several of your points are possibilities.