My manager left 5 months ago, and I've been doing their job without an official promotion or raise, and now they told me I'm getting neither. I need advice.
At first, I was told this was a trial period. Basically, they wanted to make sure I could handle the role for 4 months before anything became official. Honestly, at the beginning, I didn't have a big problem with that. Work can be weird like that sometimes.
They just told me that in the next review cycle, I won't be getting the title or the pay bump because I'm "not there yet." I could have accepted that if they were saying I didn't get the position. But they still want me to keep doing the same work, in this extended "trial" setup, with the same title and the same salary.
I think I'm doing good work. I'm definitely my own harshest critic, but I'm handling the responsibilities they gave me, and I also pushed through a few side projects that I came up with myself, got signed off, and leadership seemed happy with them.
At this point, I decided I don't want to continue in a place that clearly doesn't value the work I'm doing. Instead, I'm going to start applying to some of the opportunities I had saved before and focus my energy on companies that are more transparent about growth and compensation. I already have a few interviews lined up, and this time I'm preparing differently too. I've been doing mock interviews with my friend and I’m planning to try InterviewMan tool during interviews to help me explain my experience more confidently, communicate my value better, and handle salary discussions professionally.
Is this sketchy? Or is this something companies normally do? Honestly, I'm really upset, even though I genuinely like the work itself.