Acting role

[Lifesd]

Hoping to hear from others who have been in a similar role - my boss has been appointed exec director and has asked me to step in her old role to fill the interim gap between it being formally recruited (likely 2-3 months minimum). I want the job on an ongoing basis but know I need to go through the process and the end result may mean I don’t get it if there is a better candidate. Questions for anyone who have been here - if I do the acting one and then I don’t get it would that be career ending, what are the pitfalls to be aware of and anything else anyone could tell me they wish they had known please tell me! I’d be leading a large team and am one of 5 senior managers who don’t know I have been asked yet.

Can't they just formally promote you and she can be around to ease your transition into the role as she's still gonna be there anyway, albeit in a different position. I think thats what I'd hold out for.

She would still be my line manager even in the ED position, so that will remain consistent from a handover perspective. I wish it could be that but unfortunately due to the nature of the org and the senior nature of role it has to go through a public external facing recruitment process! It will be made clear the position is interim until a fair and transparent process has been adhered to!

In that case, I think i'd just wait for it to be advertised and apply then. By that point, they'll be a little bit more keen to place someone quicker.

How easy would it be for you to move jobs
As you would have been told you have reached your promotion celing in your organisation.
Same pay / conditions / transferrable skills

Has her role any quirks which you know but an outsider would not
Functional / cultural / strong ethos

How happy is the organisation to promote from within as an outsider brings an opportunity for change

Is her management level missing weak in any skill or experience which could come with a new hire

Take the "acting" role and ensure you appoint someone into your role for the same period - don't leave yourself doing both

Assume there will be an "acting up" allowance and get that in place.

Read "the First 90 days" asap - great for promotions.

Stop thinking "what if I fail" - this is an opportunity in itself to experience the next job up and talk about your achievements when you are interviewed for a perm role at that level

Take the acting role as long as somebody else is filling your role.
Prove yourself and make it impossible for them not to appoint you.

Thanks all - I’ll be doing elements of my old role as that can’t be advertised until the director role is filled. It is all within the same division, so currently she is my manager and in stepping up to her next role she will become my line manager as me being interim director but I will take on line management duties of the other managers if that makes sense. No backfill for my role but I have been offered consultancy support to help. Agree it is an opportunity to prove myself and I will get an interim pay rise to cover the additional duties. I’ve only been at the department for 9 months and kind of knew this was on the cards and credit to my boss she has certainly fulfilled her end of things but equally know everyone is looking out for themselves at the end of the day.

You need to be rutless and cut out anything in your current role which is not going to scupper your new role and aim to hand 100% of your role off to the new hire. To the role only needs oversight
You are expected to be in training for the new role and train a temp.
Your manager is in training for her new role and when you take it on she has done handover before her appointment.
If you get her role you have to do handover again as the temp has left.
So post appointment you "cant hit the ground running"

Good luck and go for it

Hmm... doing a higher paid role for the same salary? Sounds like a win for the company under the guise of 'if you do a good job, maybe...'

I’ll be paid more but I take your point

Definitely take the acting role. Ideal opportunity to get strong evidence to use in your application and interview!

Not getting it permanently is absolutely NOT career ending. I’ve known lots of people do a short term interim ‘acting up’ role who then go back to their substantive role - and no one thinks any less of them. IMO it can only be career enhancing. You get opportunity to prove yourself, you’ll develop more senior-level relationships in your org etc… etc… Really the only way it can be career damaging is if you spectacularly screw it up.

If you don’t get it then you just need to have your story straight in your mind, eg: you had a great opportunity to try a stretch role, you weren’t quite ready for a permanent role at that level then, but once you’ve got X Y Z extra experience under your belt you’ll be ready for a permanent role at that level in a year or so.

I'd still take the acting up role. Then it's on your cv, you've done it, no one can ever take that away from you. To help you get that same position, up, if you need move.

An update as I really appreciated the advice on this thread. I interviewed for the role formally 6 weeks ago and have been waiting - I was getting angry over the timeline and assumed they were negotiating with an external hire.

I was accidentally e mailed a new copy of my contract giving me a 15% pay rise with no explanation. I saw this for what it was and was DEVASTATED - forwarded the e mail to my boss and said am I to assume this means I was unsuccessful in the role. She called straight away and asked to meet and was very apologetic and stressed that I was never meant to get that e mail, the first external candidate was yet to sign the contract and “please don’t do anything rash” on the back of this news.

Sorry to read that you will not get the role. You will be a little shocked so dont make any rushed decisions.

Tbh if she is not explaining why the outsider got the role you need to ask her directly.

But take everything you hear with a pinch of salt as she (the seniors) dont want you to leave your current role. And if the 15% is a way to get you to stay in your current role you need to check your current roles replacement cost to see if you are currently being underpaid or if this is a lock in offer.

NB make sure they are not sneeking about and adjusting any leaver clause.

You may still get offered the new role if the outsider says no. And if they have not said yes yet its likely to be a contract term issue or they themselves are waiting for a better offer.

You need to look at your org chart and be honest with yourself when looking at the roles you could move to as most will depend on others leaving or/and being promoted.

If offered I would still take the acting up role for your CV. And if the pay bump is worth it aim to stay to learn as much as possible from the new manger while looking around

Oh God. Sorry to hear this.