Internal promotion, didn't get the job - but they want all of my ideas?

[Unboundcuriosity]

I interviewed for an internal promotion about three weeks ago. I went for the role as a rank outsider, and as expected, I didn’t get it.

However, part of the interview was to give a pitch on how to improve an aspect of our workflow. Knowing I was at a disadvantage, I really worked hard on my pitch and was really proud of the plan I had come up with and the implementation framework I built around the plan.

I am back today after two weeks' leave. I received an email from the lead interviewer asking me to pass over all the details of my pitch, as they were blown away by the detail, the build work, ingenuity, and the work I had done, and they want to implement the changes I suggested.

Um no?

The person who got the job should be implementing their pitch? Right?

the only problem i think of with projects developed within the company is once developed the ideas belong to the company ? i could be wrong

I'm not naive, just someone who has progressed into a senior role in a very large institution. And who in the past went for internal roles that I didn't get (same employer), as is often the case in larger organisations.

The OP's employers have not said OP is not promotion material, it's rude to suggest that they have. She says herself that she was a "rank outsider", so presumably lucky to be interviewed at all. She should be using the feedback she gets and making this suggestion of using her work to her advantage. That does not mean just handing it over.

Being petulant will not just confirm that she's not ready for promotion, it will indicate that she might never be.

one person vaguely curious and might have a second read of it

Id be absolutely honest. I spent 50 hours developing it in my own time if you want it tgen it is for sale at £xxx. Dont undersell yourself!

That sounds like a very measured sensible way of thinking about it all.

Point 7 sounds very reasonable - not that I've deleted my ideas which could easily come across as poor but I've continued to develop them for my current role and you hopefully get some benefit.

You could offer to sell the information to them. Perfectly reasonable as a kind of ad hoc consultancy.

So do I. The OP comes across as sensible and grown up.

But for what purpose if not to scope out ideas that they could take from it and use?!

Respond saying exactly that, pointing out you formulated the plan on your own time, meaning the company has no right to them.
Be prepared to have to look for another job though.

Mildly interested
thought something might be useful
but really.. if they heard the Op said she’d deleted it, unlikely to be particularly bothered (although a bit 🤔) or if the OP decided to use it as bargaining tool, I rather imagine the response would be to chuckle

I honestly wonder sometimes

You've got this OP

Excellent way to frame things.

Fair enough, then - if they aren't really bothered and just asked for the sake of it, she can just ignore their request, I guess.

The situation that you're suggesting sounds rather like corporate negging: where her idea is apparently only stupid, so not worth anything much... yet curiously of genuine interest to them and 'they might just be able to wring something out of her silliness' - which just underlines even more that they want her ideas but don't want her to get any credit for or benefit from them.

I think they are genuinely interested in the OPs presentation... @ParsleySageToiletDuckAndBinBags @Alittletiff as they came back to her when she returned from a two week holiday.

Seeing her update, I am more comfortable with her sharing it. However, I like her idea of using her concept to benefit her own current workflow.

Forget any worries about being considered petulant. They are taking you for a ride

Just say calmly "yes, it was good, wasn't it. Sadly you did not give me the role so I didnt retain those files as I spent my own time outside work developing that."

If you'd like to discuss a role for me where i develop that concept & am remunerated accordingly, im happy to have a conversation.

Gulp - I have had an email from the Interview lead for a catch-up next week to discuss the build ideas I pitched.

Luckily, I am back on leave next week & then the team is off-site for a week. So I can still kick the can down the road a bit.

I haven't mentioned that I have reformatted it, and I am trying to decide if I just wait to see if interest fizzles out after another two weeks of no movement while also saving myself from having to have a conversation about this.

Or should I send an email back (after I have left for leave lol) explaining something along the lines of:

Hi Interview Lead

Pleasantries, holiday chit-chat

Thank you for coming back to me re: BLAH build Idea. On hearing the outcome of the interview, I didn't want the build to go to waste, so I dismantled that initial prototype and repurposed its base elements for my current workflow. Because it was stripped down and built directly into my local environment and has been used very successfully and tweaked over the last few weeks, the original pitch build no longer really exists in a shareable or functional format for wider use outside this particular workflow.

General update about something they wanted to know about — with some good news

Short pleasantries re off-site stuff.

Sign Off

I think I’d be inclined to ghost it all for now, and see if she contacts you after the holiday/off-site.

They are determined to have your idea. How is the person they appointed settling in?

Ah right - so this wasn't just a paper/ppt proposal, you actually built tooling to support the process? That does change things a bit.

Given you actually do like the successful applicant, like your job and like the organisation, and so presumably want all three to succeed, I think "I realised the same ideas were applicable to my current team so I'm afraid I've already re-engineered the prototype for that use case. But I'm happy to work with new guy to get another instance stood up for team X, I see a lot of value in having standards we can reuse across the organisation." Would be a good approach, and keeps you visible s the designer/architect of a wider solution than just your team or just his.

If you sent that, as an employer I would be even more interested as now it is no longer theoretical - there is now a working example to judge its success. It wouldn’t let you off the hook and might even get you more work so I would be careful to make it clear that additional work on this outside your current role would require freeing you up from your current role.

Hold this response back until they really press you. In the meantime go on your break and don't respond. If you have out of office switched on they won't keep bothering you while you're away.

Would your lack of response be seen as a negative against how you communicate and tackle difficult situations?

I would stay quiet for now and kick the can down the road. Your email is good, but keep it up your sleeve for now as the more time has passed, the more credible your story is.

I really wish you could send the hilarious email thanking them for their interest etc but you would probably have to resign afterwards 😉

Sounds like a bit of AI/corporate garble in the refusal, but may be appropriate in your line of work @Unboundcuriosity and I agree with the general tenor of your reply.

I predict you will not be long with this company.