Very length post, but to summarize I was essentially told I have a promotion secured that I was extremely excited for, then two weeks later was told that I’m not eligible for the position. Details below!!
I have been with my company for going on 5 years, and started right out of undergrad in a very junior level position. Since starting, I’ve been promoted twice extremely quickly (I got hired in essentially as an engineering assistant, then was promoted to associate engineer, then engineer within 1.5 years of starting), with constant positive feedback in my performance. I’ve made it clear I’m eventually interested in a leadership position since I’ve started, and have been given several opportunities to demonstrate my capabilities in that regard, with again nothing but positive feedback. My performance reviews have always been the highest assignable rating, with genuinely no critique of my performance year after year, despite me asking every year if there’s anything I could do to improve or how I can take on more responsibility on my team. Two years ago, I was told I’d be getting promoted to senior engineer within a few months, and due to many excuses like hiring freezes, economic issues, etc, that promotion hadn’t happened and I’ve been unexpectedly stagnant in my role for awhile.
Exactly two weeks ago, my manager reached out to me regarding a job opportunity that was essentially created for me. It was for a team lead position, where I’d be stepping between my manager and fellow engineers on my team and managing a handful of senior engineers that I currently work with, as well as hiring another individual that I’d be completely responsible for hiring and onboarding. This is not a standard scenario, typically I’d be promoted to senior engineer, then be eligible for a leadership role. I was ensured by my manager that they’ve already confirmed I’m eligible for the level hop with HR, and had approval all the way up to the CTO, already had compensation worked out, etc. and there were no roadblocks. They told me they’d been working on getting all of this approval months ahead of time so once I was told about the opportunity there would be no roadblocks, and all that I needed to do was apply and interview and I’d be ready to start. I told them I was very interested in the opportunity and I’d be applying to the job and they let me know I had a week to apply. On Friday they reached back out asking why I hadn’t applied yet and I told them I needed to spend some time updating my resume and I’d be applying that weekend (it had literally been 43 hours since I found out about the opportunity when they reached back out). I applied on that Saturday, and first thing Monday morning HR scheduled an interview for the position on Wednesday.
Through all of this, I was told multiple times that the application and interview process was just mandatory for HR, and that I was the only person the application was accessible to and already had the position secured. I was still taking the whole process seriously as I wanted to make a good impression, and wanted the practice, but was ensured time and time again not to worry about it and it was only a formality.
I interviewed very well that Wednesday, and again got nothing but positive feedback even though I specifically asked for them to note points of improvement for me during this process when they initially introduced the opportunity to me (I asked them to critique my resume/application and interview answers and they only gave positive feedback). They told me after the interview that I’d be hearing from them on Thursday or Friday.
On Friday, my manager reached out to me asking me where my partner goes to school, where we’re currently living, etc. For more background, a couple of years ago, I requested to be relocated to a satellite office so we could move closer to my partners school. My request was accepted without question and I’ve been working out of that office for almost two years without any issue. One of the points that my manager also confirmed and ensured many times through this process was that I’d be able to step into this new position from the satellite office. They’re very aware that I prefer living in the current area and will be here for my partners very long term schooling for the foreseeable future. The questions raised some alarm bells, but I figured it was me just being paranoid. The rest of the day, I heard nothing back, so I just figured HR was taking longer than expected to finalize the paperwork.
I had a call with my manager about something unrelated on Monday, and they cheekily told me I’d be hearing from them later. I spent all day with my manager on Tuesday and a conference, and didn’t want to badger them with updates so I just left it alone, as we were also there with people who weren’t aware of the promotion and I didn’t want to be unprofessional. They asked me to do some dumb HR related task this morning to update my company profile, I did that then they scheduled a call with me to discuss. I assumed that was the last tiny hurdle and we’d be on our way. In that call, I was told that “someone” decided I’m not currently eligible for the position. I will be promoted to a senior engineer title (which I’ve been meeting all of the role requirements for since they told me I’d get promoted to it years ago), and I’ll be expected to work as a senior engineer for at least two years until I’m eligible for a lead role to give the people I’ll be managing time to adjust, even though they would never have an issue with the promotion. On top of that, once I’m promoted to a lead role, it’s also been decided that I’m no longer able to work out of the satellite office, and would have to relocate back to the office that is too far from my partners school (our plan was to remain in this area for at least 6 years total for their schooling), and again I really don’t care for the area my original office is in.
To say I’m disappointed is an understatement. I already sent back the signed offer letter, but I’m debating if I should start applying elsewhere. As I mentioned, typically the level hop isn’t “allowed”, but I was assured so many times that it was already approved and not to worry. So now I’ve been promoted to a position I was already promised 3 different times over the last 2 years, and now I feel like the dangling carrot just got pushed further. Odds are that in two years, they’ll have another reason why I can’t be promoted and that timeline is going to continue to extend. The problem is that I really don’t have the “numerical” experience that most companies would want to see to even find a leadership role elsewhere, so I’d likely have to work as a senior engineer somewhere else for longer to be considered for a lead position. I’m just so angry at how this situation progressed that I don’t want to be loyal to my company anymore. My manager is great and I know they have my back, but I consider that a “temporary” thing. I’d love advice on how others would approach this situation.