Feeling bad about job searching

[313Weather]

Originally Posted by hockeywriter110

I went back to a manager I work closely with (my regular manager is on a leave) to talk about what I needed to work on in order to improve my chances at a promotion. He did promise me professional development in some areas and is letting me take on an extra project related to the kind of job I want, but he did add that he doesn't know if my promotion can come with the current company or if I would need to get a job elsewhere.

Originally Posted by hockeywriter110

I started as an unpaid intern, then got a paying role doing what I was doing in my internship. I was promoted to a different position late 2012/early 2013. I was given the OK to go for this position I got rejected from, so it seems odd that they'd suddenly be discouraging.

Are they actually discouraging you from applying for any future promotions, or are they simply telling you they don't know when any more promotions will come up that you may qualify for?

As far as giving you the OK to go for the position you were rejected from, you may have very well been qualified enough to be considered for it, but they felt another candidate you were competing against was a better fit for the position. It may have had nothing to do with you.

[hockeywriter110]

They are telling me that they don't know when opportunities will come up for me to apply for. If I'm interested in advancing, I still have to check the same job board I would if I didn't already work at the company. Right now, there are not a lot of openings, and the jobs that are open don't really align with my experience and goals. So no point in applying for them just because they're there.

But I'm thinking of job searching because there are other factors about the job that I'm unhappy with, and I'm not sure how much longer I want to stay in hopes that something else will come up. There's not a lot of turnover here. I'm willing to stay until I find something new, of course, as my situation isn't bad enough that I need to up and quit.

[SquareBetterThanAll]

It's a free agent world we're in now. Unless it is a very small company that depends on you (I would think this is rare), do your thing. Even then, do your thing but be courteous about it.

On top of that, I've worked places where they made it significantly harder for internal candidates to advance compared to coming in from the outside. They set performance goals that were well beyond what most competent people were doing yet would hire a person from the outside with a decent resume and a good personality. Could be the situation where you are, I don't know. I ultimately left and moved into a higher level position at another company.

If you try to land a job elsewhere and don't, you're no worse off than you are right now. But you can't decline a job you never apply for (barring someone directly offering one to you but it doesn't sound like you have those kind of relationships).

Go for it.

[beera]

Don't ever feel bad about bettering your situation.

I'd look for work and if something better came up, I'd leave. In the meantime do whatever they say to move up, one will come first. In this economy the fastest way to move up and make more money is usually go move to a new company.

[mkpunk]

Originally Posted by Emigrations

With one promotion after four years from entry level, and them discouraging you, I don't think they see much of a future with you.

Yeah get out and maybe after you prove yourself elsewhere maybe (just maybe) they will realize your worth to them as a company. If not, you should be in a better position. Don't feel guilty, they just think you have hot your Peter Principle for the time being. Use that as fuel to prove them wrong.