Got passed over for a promotion after four years - do i stay or start looking?
Two weeks of going back and forth on this so i'm just asking people who don't know me.
Four years at this company. Good reviews every year, took on extra work, trained people, the whole thing. Every performance review for the last two years i specifically said i was interested in moving up and both times my manager said i was on the right track and to keep doing what i was doing. I took that seriously. Stayed when i got recruiter messages. Turned down a conversation with another company last year becuase i thought something was coming here.
Last month they promoted a colleague who's been here eighteen months. Good guy, nothing against him, but he has less experience than me by a significant margin both here and in the industry. The role he got is exactly what i told my manager i wanted. Twice.
I went to my manager after the announcement and asked about it. She said the decision was based on current business needs and that my time would come. That was the whole conversation. No explanation, no timeline, no acknowledgment that i'd literally told her this was my goal.
I've been here four years. I'm not someone who leaves easily. But i'm sitting here wondering if i've just been patient while they had no actual plan to move me forward and kept saying the right things becuase it was easier than being honest.
Do i push for a direct conversation and ask for something concrete? Or do i just start quietly looking and stop waiting for something that might not be coming?