This just happened with me, applied for a few internal positions I was told I was qualified for, then later found out they had changed their minds. No other opportunity for growth internally otherwise, so my only option is to look outside of the company.
I applied for four positions at Capital One before throwing in the towel:
- Two of those applications were ignored. No response at all from the recruiter.
- Another jumped on a call to say the requirements were "dumbed-down" to get more diverse applicants to apply. Women tend not to apply for jobs they think they are unqualified for.
- Last was pulled as I was told I had to go through the promotion process.
It happened to me too a few years back. A posting cropped up with the company hiring for two positions right above mine to fill out direction needs, I was a technical lead already. I wanted the position, because I was already filling the role they were hiring for.
I was shut down right when I inquired, and told that the company wanted some outside talent. Wow okay, even though my performance reviews were dazzling. So they hired two guys who had zero familiarity with the industry and zero familiarity with our stack. One had to be fired because he was insane and did nothing all day but try to be some motivational speaker in a technical role. I liked the other guy, but it was another person I had to explain stuff to when he had preconceived notions that were incorrect. He was cool, but HR/execs really screwed up the positioning.
There was a later time when they were going to have a leadership vacuum. I decided it best to quit at that time because they were going to ask me to help by advancing _only_ when they needed me as a backup. However, when I asked them to advance, they just said not interested. So too bad, had a better offer to advance elsewhere and their interest in me was clear.
> So too bad, had a better offer to advance elsewhere and their interest in me was clear.
"Their interest in me was clear."
Exactly this.
Enlightened and effective leadership would pair a "not this time" response with a series of career development meetings, resulting in a tailored path for advancement; not as detailed as "this job, then that job, then that," but informed enough to show the candidate that they were heard and valued.
An additional bone in the form of a small raise and or training would also be effective.
And of course the plan needs to be reviewed periodically and sincerely, for adjustments and progress on the part of both parties.
Thanks! I really wish they would have put me through training. If I recall correctly they did do a special mid-year for me. That was because of the VP, who knew I was frustrated about the position and HR. That same VP got tired of the rest of the company’s crap, he threw in the towel, and that started the reorganization/leadership vacuum. I am glad I had a couple other options. The company lost a couple dozen good technologists in the span of the following year just because of their horrible organizational management.
I've applied for 6 various higher level roles after being with the company I'm at for 5 years and getting numerous high level ratings each year - I got non responses and even one "oh we've only posted this one for someone else" on all of them so far. Started looking externally because of that.
Or the signals you're getting is that you're good at what you are doing, and not as well suited to other jobs as other candidates, at least in that context.
I don't think 'passive-aggressive' is the appropriate term, because there's not likely any conscious action by the company in these circumstances. You've applied, someone else was selected and that's it.
There's a tiny bit lack of self awareness on this thread with people with 'qualifications' assuming that there's some kind of implicit right to move up higher in the company. When they chose 'someone else' it's usually for a reason.
It's a pyramid, and just above manager it's really narrow there are just very few of those jobs, it's very circumstantial as well.
Looking outside might get you a sense of 'market value' and of course, there may simply be more opportunities elsewhere, but ultimately, the same structural limitations remain overall.
And finally, I would say that after various positions both contributor, managerial and also staff (i.e. reporting to VP's but without a team) - I'm not sure if most people recognize what the trade-offs are, the pay is nice but usually comes at a cost.
If you're doing something you remotely like, if you have a half-decent manager, and you're getting paid somewhere near a reasonable rate - you're already winning. Anything else is gravy.
This is an armchair psychoanalysis, and it is quite pretentious.
> assuming that there's some kind of implicit right to move up higher in the company.
This is so far from the truth in my situation, but yet you feel self-righteous in your judgement that it is laughable. I know your type.
The company I worked for deliberately used the "reorg + redeploy = attrition" strategy to avoid lawsuits because they had been repeatedly sued for their focal procedure over several decades, and this was a known method for avoiding getting rid of people who didn't want to work 80 hours a week.
And thanks for mansplaining how management works. A "pyramid?" Wow, insightful, that never occurred to me after 30+ years. "Market value?" You don't say! I'm overwhelmed by your astute, 101-level observations of business practices. I guess you got that from the VP's you reported to, weirdflex but OK.
You wrote a lot of stuff in response to one sentence, and seem to assume that if it triggered someone it must all be true.
Has it occurred to you that stereotypes tend to annoy people whether they are false or true?
Also, if you, off the cuff, evaluate someone you don't know at all as unsuitable for something, quite possibly they have information that tends to rule out your hypothesis, like that they were able to do in a different environment what wasn't possible in a previous one.
Have a similar story: was working in a very toxic team and wanted to get out of it. They had openings in other teams but for new hires. I've applied anyway on one of those to either get in one or at least talk to somebody (my supervisor and his supervisors didn't want to talk to me at all). We'll I almost got fired. Jumped ship on first opportunity after that and never looked back.
Yeah, as I wrote in another comment this happened to me too. Admittedly it was only a single position so my situation may not have been quite as bad, but it was a little frustrating not to get any response even though the role remained unfilled. I ended up leaving for an external position.
I had a similar thing -- I wanted to get out of powertrain controls software (engine code) and into the much more lucrative, much longer term AV/driver assistance space. I found a position in the research department, interviewed for it, got accepted and then was blocked by my manager (supervisor's supervisor). This was sold as a "we'll look out for opportunities in 6 months" which (surprise surprise) turned into 18 with no hope in sight and a bunch of ugly reorg on the horizon, so I bailed for a different automaker.
