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Yes, it happened to me. I wanted to apply for a promotion in another department and thought it best that I give my supervisor a heads up lest he think I was going around him - and since the two VPs were friendly (lunches out together, etc). I applied for the job, and was waiting to hear back, when my supervisor came into my office, said that the "promotion VP" and he discussed the new position and that she was going to offer it to me. He then asked, a bit menacingly, "are you SURE you want to do this?"
I said yes, and he then said, "OK....she and I discussed it, and I convinced her that you have potential for the promotion but aren't yet ready - and she agreed to lower the grade after I explained your limitations to her."
I'm not sure why the new VP went along with it, but I suspect it was to "keep the peace" between herself and my old supervisor. It was a dirty thing to do, though, and I ended up leaving the company for a higher-level job (the one the "promotion" would have been) within six months.
No supervisor can sabotage me personally, but he/she can certainly sabotage matters for me work-wise within the company boundaries. Been there, done that. Sometimes it has ultimately meant leaving the company, to be free of the dysfunction and power mongering.
Yes, it happened to me. I wanted to apply for a promotion in another department and thought it best that I give my supervisor a heads up lest he think I was going around him - and since the two VPs were friendly (lunches out together, etc). I applied for the job, and was waiting to hear back, when my supervisor came into my office, said that the "promotion VP" and he discussed the new position and that she was going to offer it to me. He then asked, a bit menacingly, "are you SURE you want to do this?"
I said yes, and he then said, "OK....she and I discussed it, and I convinced her that you have potential for the promotion but aren't yet ready - and she agreed to lower the grade after I explained your limitations to her."
I'm not sure why the new VP went along with it, but I suspect it was to "keep the peace" between herself and my old supervisor. It was a dirty thing to do, though, and I ended up leaving the company for a higher-level job (the one the "promotion" would have been) within six months.
This is akin to any abusive relationship.
"You want to leave me?!?! You can't leave me!!! Nobody will be as good to you as I am!!!"
"You left me?!?! I'm going to make your life a living hell!!!"
When I had poor performance from an employee working for me... I'd give them a glowing 'internal' review to get rid of them. Some of my peers in the same division did the same thing and knew the truth of it. However it's important to also state, I never gave a poor review for an employee trying to improve their station within the company I worked for... in fact I was their advocate because I knew some day, I could/would probably work for them.
I've been in the same position for 10 years and have taken on several of the responsibilities of my former boss, who retired last year.
Late last year, I told my dept head (whom I now report to) that I felt I'd earned some kind of a promotion/title change. She said she agreed and would vouch for me, but that it had to go through her boss's position (which at the time was vacant because the person in that role had left the company). They have since filled the position.
It turns out that a new position in a different dept became available about two months ago, and I applied. When I gave my boss the heads up, she asked if I would consider staying in her dept if she were able to offer me something better eventually. I said yes, but that I wanted to see what happened with this other position I applied for first. She asked that I keep her posted throughout the process.
So today, after an excruciating two-month wait, I got the dreaded rejection email.
My supervisor called late in the day to discuss something regarding annual review goals. Very casually, she asked how things were going with the position for which I'd applied. I said I found out just today that I didn't get it.
She said "oh, ok" and immediately launched into a discussion about how she promised to discuss giving me additional responsibilities and higher pay with her new boss, but that it would take some time because her boss still learning the ropes in her new role. She added that she couldn't promise I would get anything, but that she'd do her best to make it happen.
The way she blithely said "oh, ok" made it seem like she knew. And it just so happens she asks on the day I received the rejection email.
Could it all have been a coincidence, or is it possible she sabotaged me (maybe by telling them they were already working on getting me promoted in my current dept)?
HR confirmed a few weeks back that they do in fact contact current supervisors during the interview process.
Something seems fishy, but maybe I'm being cynical...
Sure, it's possible. Just hope she sabotaged you because she values you and doesn't want to lose you. Not because she's a controlling wench.
"You want to leave me?!?! You can't leave me!!! Nobody will be as good to you as I am!!!"
"You left me?!?! I'm going to make your life a living hell!!!"
Happens all the time in education. Principals won't release a teacher to go to another position, say from classroom to Instructional Coordinator, and that teacher eventually loses out because the new position needs filled so they're given a deadline to take over. Principal doesn't budge and position goes to someone else.
I worked for a company that, if you left, and wanted to come back would stick you back on the factory floor even if you left as a manager. Something about disloyalty.
I ran into that twice, I was transferred from one facility to another, by the company, and left the second place in management for another company. That one didn't quite work out so I wanted to go back to the first factory. No credit for the management piece, right back on the floor. As was explained to me, I had been doubly disloyal, first for accepting a company initiated transfer and then leaving that job.
"You want to leave me?!?! You can't leave me!!! Nobody will be as good to you as I am!!!"
"You left me?!?! I'm going to make your life a living hell!!!"
Yes, the relationship with the first VP - from whom I was trying to get away from - WAS abusive. He'd call me while I was on a business trip, fully loaded down with responsibilities, and drop another five hours' of work on me, which had to be done by the next day. Or he'd wait until Friday at 5 p.m., when he knew I had out-of-town visitors arriving for the weekend, and give me a humongous assignment due Monday at 9. a.m. Played all sorts of games like that.
And yet, when I tried to leave him, he "punished" me for leaving him. Thank goodness I found another job quickly.
And yet, when I tried to leave him, he "punished" me for leaving him. Thank goodness I found another job quickly.
It reveals how incredibly dumb and short sighted these people are. It's as if they can't fathom the possibility that if you don't get this opportunity internally, that you are going to be looking for it at another company.
Like how stupid, narcissistic, or egotistical must you be to not realize that you're shooting yourself in the foot by sabotaging your employees? Thanks to your manager's incompetence, the company just lost an expensive asset that he was hired to cultivate, keep happy, and keep productive. I'm sure he had a whole dumb story concocted in his peabrain about how the company was better off without you anyway.
It reveals how incredibly dumb and short sighted these people are. It's as if they can't fathom the possibility that if you don't get this opportunity internally, that you are going to be looking for it at another company.
Like how stupid, narcissistic, or egotistical must you be to not realize that you're shooting yourself in the foot by sabotaging your employees? Thanks to your manager's incompetence, the company just lost an expensive asset that he was hired to cultivate, keep happy, and keep productive. I'm sure he had a whole dumb story concocted in his peabrain about how the company was better off without you anyway.
Yes, exactly. Also amazing that they didn't understand that the slap in the face (my getting offered the promotion and then having it lowered back to my original level after I accepted it) would drive me out of the company in search of the opportunity they stole away.
(Sorry to hijack, but I think my story does give some insights to OP as to what can happen with internal transfers/promotions.)
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