I can hear my wife right now: “Only you would say no to a promotion…”
For those who were furloughed or let go during the pandemic, finding a job to supplement the lost wages and benefits became critical to the stability of themselves and their families–especially when their recent position lacked the flexibility to work from home.
I found myself in that predicament and hit the ground running. Nearly two and a half years later–after having several great interviews in 2022 alone both with my current company and others (which all resulted in no offer)–I am finally being seriously considered for a minor promotion at the store level…that I don’t want.
Getting promoted always seems to be the goal: a welcoming and exciting reward and recognition for a job well done, and accepting it may be the best move for your career progression. But that’s not always the case. You may enjoy the position you have now and want to maintain the relationship you have with your team and managers, or the role may include management responsibilities you don’t want or feel that you lack experience in, or it may be the wrong direction for your desired career path.
When informed of or offered a possible promotion, it is incredibly important to take your time and consider the pros and cons before accepting it or turning the offer down, both for your career within the company and beyond. Let’s consider a few big ones:
Pro: Career Advancement & Easy Transition
As mentioned before, a promotion is a reward and an act of recognition for your excellent work, and is a full step through the door to greater experiences. It is a long-sought-after validation of the blood and sweat spilled towards living the company’s mission and providing the best service to its clients. Growing in your career impacts everyone around you–your family, your employers, your colleagues at the office–and the work you do grows increasingly specialized.
And, of course, don’t forget what a promotion does for your self-esteem.
And if you are climbing the ranks within the same company, the transition should be easier than starting a new position with an entirely new company. For instance, unlike moving to another employer, climbing the ladder within your original company allows you to keep your healthcare and other benefits the same until the next open enrollment (or at least makes it easier) rather than having to fill out form after form to get you and your family coverage a month or two out from your hire date.
Con: It Goes Against Your Career Ambitions
This was actually provided as the main reason I was denied a position with my company’s corporate headquarters: the hiring manager felt that the position did not match my own career ambitions. But to put things into perspective though: neither does being let go from my previous company due to budget cuts following being subjected to a toxic work environment and hostile newly-recruited director, nor does being forced to wear multiple hats from unrelated departments before that (I forgive but, as you can tell, I am still a little bit bitter).
Back to the original topic. One reason to turn down a promotion offer can be that you are simply content with the position you are in currently, and not merely due to the manageable responsibilities or how the current position maintains your current relationships within the office. Your current position may be a contentful means to an end as you search for the next step in your career. That’s part of the reason the “Great Resignation” has been taking place with people finally feeling comfortable enough to quit the jobs they had to take due to pandemic-related furloughs and layoffs for positions with better pay, better work environments and better balance (despite the threat of a new recession).
It is all certainly up to you, your current circumstances and the specifics of the position. But there is one thing to keep in mind: accepting a promotion shows initiative and drive to your current employers, and having that leadership role officially as a title on your resume will be attractive to any potential hiring managers in the future.
Pro: Better Pay
Yeah, no kidding. This is obviously the first thing that comes to mind when you think about promotions. The chances of being paid more is always a challenge to pass up, even if it means extra responsibilities. If you are single with no ties, you can imagine what to do with that extra cash. Or, for the family individual, that can go towards a house or car payment, towards retirement, towards a vacation, towards building a better life for your family.
Con: Being at the Office Even More
As rewarding as a promotion may seem, it often means more hours at the office. More time at the office means less work/life balance/harmony, which can take a toll on any employee, but especially those with responsibilities outside of work. In the current retail position I’ve held for the last two and half years, the “flexible scheduling” has certainly taken time away from my wife and young son and other things I enjoy, especially when having to work Saturdays and closing shifts at 10 PM and the duties are physically intensive. But if you are part of the increasing number of teams working remotely, increased responsibilities will only make logging off even harder at the end of the day.
Whether you subscribe to the work/life balance ideal or prefer the work/life harmony model, establishing equal boundaries between work and life outside of it is an important factor to consider when faced with a promotion.
Pro: Decision-Making Power
Ever look at a supervisor doing something that can be done simpler, or learn an established process within the operation and think “I can do it better”? A promotion can bring the decision-making power to make it happen (or, at least, place you in a position to be heard even more by the decision-makers) and create change.
*This one can be both a pro or a con, depending on how well you make and stick to decisions.
Con: New/Changing Relationships and Jealousy
You may have met the district manager, the regional supervisor, or even your company’s CEO before, and a promotion will allow you to build upon those relationships even more. The downside of this is that you may not like those individuals in the new light you see them in through your promotion. The team you worked with before may start seeing you in a different light, too, as a new supervisor.
And, of course, we saved the biggest con for last: jealousy. The risk of experiencing jealousy plays a significant role, as many promotees experience jealousy on a daily basis. You’ll likely notice not everyone sharing your excitement to the fullest, especially if your promotion is at the expense of another’s demotion or termination.
Jealousy of your promotion is not just within just the team at work. It can extend to the people you love the most: your spouse, family members, relatives, friends and colleagues. They may be excited with and for you at first but, depending on circumstances, it is only natural jealousy to break.
For example: when I joined my current company in the fall of 2020, there was another lady there who had joined as a sales supervisor not crazy long before I did. She and her husband both worked as managers in the restaurant industry before the pandemic eliminated both of their jobs. She and I worked together for about a year and a half (maybe longer) while her husband struggled to find a new job, and some of the aggravation and jealousy showed in a passive-aggressive manner, such as being uncommunicative or being intentionally unresponsive to text messages.
I have certainly felt that jealousy myself. When my wife found a short-term job shortly after the pandemic began while the interviews I had set up vanished without a trace or explanation, I was certainly happy for her and not happy at the same time. Many of my old colleagues have done very well for themselves with very few employment struggles since graduation that still tend to make me self-conscious and bitter.
The Wrap: What Will I Do?
When I came into this position, it was for the sake of my family: we needed health benefits, especially for our son, and I needed to maintain consistent employment for both potential employers and for my own dignity. I went in considering it a temporary solution until the pandemic restrictions subsided and the economy picked up, and still consider it a temporary stop even now. As I have mentioned before, I had plenty of interviews in 2022 alone that went exceedingly well for positions within my desired occupations, including one where the interview process took a few months to narrow the candidate pool from over 50 to the final two, of which I was one. And I have heard many excuses as to why I was denied an offer, from slightly lacking in very specific experience, to the position not meeting my own career ambitions, to not liking making mistakes but accepting that they happen, to the other candidate having performed the exact role at a different company, to already having an internal candidate in mind throughout the entire process. Still, there were many others that did not provide feedback.
So, what will I do? Pending certain processes that need to take place in this particular case, I will likely accept it for the sake of my family and my future. I know I have a team that is not only desperate to keep me–not just for tasking, but also for my ethic–and is ready and willing to work with me and guide me to make the transition as painless as possible.
The little bump in pay is nice. But that’s not the main reason, and should never be the main reason. The team I have worked with over the past few years has been great, trustworthy and very considerate. But it is still a temporary step that shows initiative and drive to take on new responsibilities, with a title that I expect will be an attractive bullet point in applications to come.
I have been told “no” so many times over the last few years to advance in my career, and have been desperately hoping for someone to simply say, “yes”.
It turns out that someone had to be me.
Further Reading:
THE BURDEN OF LEADERSHIP: PROS AND CONS OF BEING PROMOTED TO MANAGEMENT
The Great Resignation, Quiet Quitting Right Now: Is It Safe To Quit A Job In A Recession?
Eric Kambach 