Did you ever want to leave a company, going so far as to secure job interviews etc, and even having a position you were pretty confident you were going to get once the decision was made? And during that process, were you ever offered a promotion at your current company?
Did it ever seem to you at the time that if you took the promotion, and then very soon left the company, you were burning a lot of bridges and harming people (and, really, an organization even) that ultimately you don’t want to harm?
Also, did it ever seem to you at the time that if you didn’t take the promotion, and also didn’t get the job outside the organization, then by not taking it you’re disappointing and confusing a lot of people, and possibly making yourself seem much less valuable?
Finally, did you ever have all these experiences while all the while being unsure your present organization would even be able to continue to exist for more than a year or two?
Also was it ever the case that the position you were getting promoted to was already occupied by someone you consider a friend, or at least, ally, and you know for certain that person isn’t getting promoted herself?
Take the promotion. If you get the other job and the company can’t understand that later you got a better offer, that’s their problem; you aren’t “harming people” by taking your best path. It’s not like you KNOW you’re getting the other job.
I think that has to be the right answer. But the thing is, I genuinely do think I may be harming people by leaving especially under those circumstances, because where I expressed reservations about this org’s surviveability, I should say that without me here, the surviveability chances go down even more. I know that’s a bit self-important of me to say, but I know for a fact that others here agree.
And I actually care for these people and this org.
One problem is that there has been an unexpected delay from the other company, they have put off making a decision til next month. I applied as a result of one of their people, a team leader, having basically recruited me, on the basis of the fact that everybody on his team was “very impressed” etc etc with what I did when working with them as a consultant. He told me to apply, and fast-tracked HR’s response to my application. He says he tried to get me just hired on the spot, but his supervisor (a new guy apparently) wanted to have me go through the interview process instead. Then, a couple days ago, they emailed me to tell me I’m “still an active candidate” but they were not going to make a decision for another month or so, something something evaluating how many people they need something something. (I think this email may have been boilerplate that went out to more than one person.)
I called the guy who recruited me and he said he had no idea what that was about, that he’d look into it. I haven’t heard back from him.
So maybe it’s not so certain I’ll get that job after all. I’m thinking maybe the team leader’s supervisor wasn’t impressed for whatever reason. (Though in fact I haven’t actually even interviewed yet–just sent them an essay and a sample teaching video.)
But I’m trying to figure out whether it’s a good idea to poke at him once more, and whether it’s a good idea to bring this up in an attempt to encourage them to accelerate the decision making process. The worry, of course, being that “accelerating the decision making process” will turn out in this case to be identical to “saying no to the impatient candidate.”
Or you can tell them you have another job offer, and you’ll accept the promotion and work as long as you can, but you’ll have to leave if you get the other job but if you don’t, you will work hard for the company that you just got promoted in
I wish things worked the way you describe, and I think they should. But they don’t. (Maybe in very rare cases, but sadly no where near as a general rule.)
If that’s what’s driving your concerns, then the promotion isn’t really relevant: your question is whether you should stay and help the company survive or go and let it do whatever it’s going to do. It seems like you’ve decided that go is at least an option. Does being offered a promotion change that?
Companies seldom (and by “seldom,” I mean “almost never”) live or die because of the presence or absence of one employee. From your pit thread, it looks like you’re a mid-level manager who’s impressed a VP. If you take the promotion and do your very best, you’re still only going to improve the company as much as you can with the resources that senior management allows you. If you go, somebody else is going to take those resources and do their best with them. Either way, the burden of ensuring the company’s survival falls on the people above you, not on you. Take the promotion, do your best while you’re there, but don’t feel bad about potentially leaving for a job that will make you happier.
In that same pit thread, you also say that you don’t want the kind of power that the VP expects you to wield. That might be frustration talking, or it might be an honest evaluation of your feelings. If it’s the latter, then its pretty important, don’t you think?
WTF? He doesn’t have another job offer yet. Never, ever try to use another job offer as leverage unless you’re prepared for your employer to wish you well and escort you out of the building.
Welp, I just found out I really am still an active (and very likely to be successful) candidate at teh other place, it’s just that they won’t be able to offer the position til January now. This is actually good news for me. I simplified the situation in the OP–the promotion is to an “interim” position, while they look (I assume) for an outside hire. I am totally happy taking an interim position knowing I may be leaving in six months. Thinking I might be leaving in one month was much more iffy.
As to what kind of power I do and don’t want, I don’t mind wielding authority, and I don’t mind using influence and persuasion, what I do mind is being told to act as though I have authority when in fact all I have is influence and persuasion. Makes sense?
Well…technically every company.
If you are so important that you leaving would significantly harm your company (or your staying would save it), maybe you should go out and form your own company. Realistically, unless you are a C-level executive or a rainmaker bringing in significant business, the staying or leaving of one person usually doesn’t matter.
It doesn’t sound crazy, because I know exactly where you’re coming from. I’ve thought that too (twice!), and I’ve been wrong (both times - let nobody say I learn lessons quickly). My successors in each position did things differently than I would have done them, but I can’t say they did anything worse than I would have.
I just have to keep reminding myself that “different” isn’t the same as “wrong.” And that if the company thought I was that important, they would have been paying me more.
You need to review the reasons why you were looking to leave your current company. And then ask yourself if those reasons will still exist in your new position with that company.
I realize that this is somewhat off-topic, but two of my children were offered promotions and other changes to their work status after they resigned. My son had a definite offer on a Monday and was given till Wednesday at 5 (PST, and he was in EST) to accept. He resigned on Tuesday morning, but said that if certain changes were made he would reconsider. He waited till 7:55 and called the other company and accepted. Thursday morning, they made him a counter-offer. He told them to shove it. I don’t recall as clearly what happened with my daughter, but she had do-nothing supervisor she could not continue to work with. Her complaints go nowhere. After she quit, she got an offer of promotion. She quit anyway.
I was prepress production supervisor at a newspaper, and they wanted me to go into sales - they thought that was a promotion. I went to the publisher and said, “I’m thinking about quitting,” and he said, "Me too. " We both did.
Just leave. This happened to a couple of friends. One was offered a promotion to keep her from leaving and she took it, only to realize she still hated the company and it grated that it took the threat of her leaving to have the recognize her contributions before. After a miserable year, she quit anyway.
Another took a promotion at a job she didn’t like but was fired over an error six months later. She made the error in part because hating her job made her lax about it. She was out of work for two years. She finally went back to school and changed careers, which did work out for her, since she loves what she does now (she’s a chef).
The bottom line is will a promotion fix what you don’t like about the job or place? If it won’t, you’re better off leaving on your own terms. Taking the promotion and then leaving may help your resume in terms of title and salary, but hurt you with the previous company and what’s said about you if you work in a close-knit industry.
Yes. Their “promotion” for me required more responsibility for less pay than I could easily get elsewhere with less responsibility. I told them this in very polite terms, they said no, I went for the other work. For me, it was a no-brainer.
The course I was lined up to lead is not going ahead any more so they’ve lost that income and the prestige of the course, which was a high-level one. They now have to start from scratch WRT the high-level course. The people involved at the other end of the high-level course declined to continue their involvement in the course after I backed out.
Why that company expected me to take on more work for less pay, I don’t know. Just because I’m really nice to my students and am nice to chat to doesn’t mean I’m a sucker.
From a long-term career planning perspective, you might be better off waiting six months or so to leave after a promotion. That would at least give you more experience in that roll. It looks weird to leave a job after you just got promoted (not like anyone forces you to put every position you had at a company).
And that if the company thought I was that important, they would have been paying me more.