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?

I have had an email from the Interview lead for a catch-up next week to discuss the build ideas I pitched.
As a matter of interest, how do you feel about this? Is interview-lead a forward looking, proactive person. Or are they like a dog with a bone, and you dodged a bullet not being in their department.

I think that your e-mail is good but make sure that you have people on your side e.g. current boss.

If that is the second email on the topic then you do need to respond rather than put your head in the sand and hope it goes away. Your lack of response would otherwise be noted.

I would send a more constructive email than the one you're proposing.

Is what you're saying true, in any case? Do you really not have the original proposal?

Listen to all the people here telling you to turn this into an opportunity for yourself, rather than the bitter types telling you to tell them to bog off.

Just give it to them op and make some sort of joke about this being remembered in your next yearly assessment

It doesn’t sound like AI / corporate garble at all, it’s an accurate description of what OP has done with the work.

I think I’d just give it to them tbh, given you can also use it in your own department, so get some credit for it that way. But explain that you have no time at all to help implement or work on it for the other department.

i 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.

@GoldTie - could you put that in plain English?

I think that is a reasonable response OP. Obviously it makes more sense in your actual context but the idea that youve repurposed it into something else useful is something that no one can object to.
Good luck !

It's perfectly understandable, and will be to the people at work asking about it.

I agree.
Your response is good.
What you did was reasonable.
They know you are capable of it.
You have made it useful for you.

Leave it as long as you can to send that reply.
They are CF's though, so be wary.

I am back from leave today - to an email from another business unit who have been referred to me by the interview lead.

Basically, they have asked me to do a whole lot of build work along the lines of my original idea. I have passed the email over to the person who got the role and explained that I do not have capacity, nor is it part of my role to undertake this kind of build (it really isn't). The build I demonstrated was a one-off for a specific interview, and it's not an area of the business I was looking to second into or undertake work for.

To the people that keep saying 'don't cut off your nose ': I like my work here; I have been doing this a long time - they know I can do this stuff, they have seen me do it before, and taken advantage, but it's never translated into progression. Never. It has only translated into requests for more - this is not part of my role.

I stretched as part of a formal promotion interview to show I could work and innovate at that level (and therefore be paid to do it), not end up having to do my day job and this new work at the same time for no recognition or increase in pay.

So let's see how that goes down.

Thanks OP, would be great to hear their response if they do respond. Cheeky bastards.

They're taking the absolute piss. Glad you are holding your ground.

Cheeky fuckers! Shows your original instinct was correct OP that they just want loads of work out of you for no reward or recompense.

I do not have capacity, nor is it part of my role to undertake this kind of build (it really isn't).

Isn’t this something your line manager should be supporting you on?

The gent who got the role emailed back with 'Understood, and I will pick this up with the relevant area' - but has messaged me on chat to say he was so sorry and is genuinely gobsmacked at how cheeky they are being, but also said they are already getting really militant with him about me just being a 'team player' - I have not commented futher, thats what he got the promotion for, to deal with stuff like this lol

Well done OP great response. They clearly haven’t valued you enough to this point and looks like they wouldn’t anymore if you’d gone along with it.

Theres a reason the ‘highly paid/rarely seen IT guy’ is a trope as a lot of companies understand you have to pay good money to and value the people who can do specialised work.

If you’re willing to handover your ideas for free where is the incentive for them to promote you or increase your pay.

What are they saying to him about you, that you should be more of a team player?

I’d watch out him for playing good cop by manipulating you into helping him because he’s trying to appease the bad cop.

@nomas

He's not my manager - he is the new manager of the area set up for this kind of thing. So what they say to him about me is not my concern.

My area is beyond frantic at the moment, so my direct line manager is highly unlikely to entertain me being asked to move off any of my current workload. I have so far kept her out of this loop as I didn't want her to know I went for the promotion; she gets really weird about that type of thing - like it's disloyal or it's something to do with her.

I think she read something once that said people don't leave jobs; they leave bad managers, so she gets super paranoid.

I might be stating the obvious, but if other parts of the organization are reaching around your manager to try to get you to do unsanctioned work without her knowing, that’s dysfunctional and as much as anything, supremely disrespectful to her. Perhaps she’s not such a great manager; they don’t seem to treat her like one.

Sums it up!!

Agree.
All the posters encouraging OP to do it all and they will see your worth🙄.

It may happen very very occasionally.
What I have seen in my professional life is work horses being just taken advantage of if management think they can get away with it.

They don't want to give OP the promotion despite knowing well she has great potential, which she displayed with her proposal.
But they are more than happy to use her efforts created on her on her own time, to benefit them.
CF's.

Well done to you for standing up for yourself and not giving them an inch. Let them see what they have lost and they will see you are no pushover. So disrespectful to you too

Please remember that if the chat is on a channel managed by your employer it is not private.

Good for you. Something similar happened to my sibling, people learned he was good at his job, helpful etc, and the workload got bigger and bigger as more people turned to him. Good job maintaining your boundaries.