If you were me, how would you feel?

[Springsummer]

So, this person one level up of me is leaving. In a meeting with people from other teams, people asked if I am the one who is replacing her and her office and the special device in her office.

 

she said no, and in fact they are hired someone her level from another department and going to take over her office. ironically, that person is taking paternal leave for a year. and he never shows up since. she said I can go over to use the device in her office instead of the one in a mail room.

 

she was still trying to hire someone on assignment in her last day. even she taught and prepare me to take over her responsibilities.

 

I am the only one who works for her and know what the crap. I started the beginning of the year.

 

It makes me feel like I am very incompetent. but is it true?I was a app developer, albeit small app. and her job mainly involves some aspects using a huge enterprise app. technically it's a no brainier for me, even I know nothing about that aspect of the application when I started. but it doesn't look like many people know those stuff either.

 

I keep lying to myself an pretending it's doesn't matter. but deep down, I find it very indignant. I want to write something to her. like told her I will just use the one in mail room instead.

 

 

If you were me, how would you feel?

[d0nnivain]

Are you qualified to do her job? Did you apply for it?

 

If the answer to both Qs is yes, I would feel overlooked. I would also start looking for another job with a different company.

 

However, if you are not qualified to do her job through lack of experience (you have been there less than 1 year) or lack of education, then I would work to get those things & I would be flattered that others already see you in the role.

[Springsummer]

Are you qualified to do her job? Did you apply for it?

 

If the answer to both Qs is yes, I would feel overlooked. I would also start looking for another job with a different company.

 

However, if you are not qualified to do her job through lack of experience (you have been there less than 1 year) or lack of education, then I would work to get those things & I would be flattered that others already see you in the role.

 

I would think so. maybe over qualified technically, but not the exact business. but no one else is probably.

 

Do I need to apply for it? I just need to take over the responsibilities, I supposed. She told me they consider me an acting role if she can't find a replacement. That feels insulting to me though.

 

I think I need to start looking to transfer to another department (don't really want to leave the gov. and go back to private industry. )

 

ya, I know the keyword is qualification. Education is definitely not a problem. experience? I think it's actually low tech.

 

however, I may not have strong communication skill (English is not my first language, but the counselor over the phone told me my English is fine) and leadership skill? etc...

[Springsummer]

3 weeks after I got this job. another dream dept offered me a similar position. I declined, because I think it seems extremely bad to do so because they need to do many things to hire you. like letter of offer, security clearance, all email exchanges...

 

Now I regret that...

[d0nnivain]

Yes you need to formally apply for the job. Who gets to make the hiring decision? Give that person your resume & tell them you want the position

[ChatroomHero]

I just need to take over the responsibilities, I supposed. She told me they consider me an acting role if she can't find a replacement. That feels insulting to me though.

...

 

 

I would find it insulting too, however, when she said they consider you to be in that role temporarily, that is when you MUST ask, "Why not permanently?". I have a feeling you didn't really ask that question because you didn't want to know the answer you already suspected. It sounds like without saying it, they are strongly indicating that you're competent, but they feel like they can do better than you or in the least don't see you ever moving from your position.

 

 

I have had this happen a few times, each time I made a move to a new company. I felt like if you get typecast or ruled out of a promotion despite doing everything asked of you and more (and getting praised and all positive reviews), it's better to go somewhere your skills are appreciated. On a couple of occasions, I believe that I fit a role so well that they didn't want to promote me and then have to replace me in my current role. To me that was frustrating because in each of those instances they promoted someone that was literally on the firing block the weeks before. Like they were so bad in the same position as I was, they promoted them to their max level of incompetence I guess. If I stayed put, I never would have progressed in my career.

 

 

It came down to, do I want to work for a company that placed an invisible ceiling over my career or go to a company that begs me to work for them and badly needs someone with my skillset...in other words treats me like a valuable asset as opposed to just a worker?

[Springsummer]

I would find it insulting too, however, when she said they consider you to be in that role temporarily, that is when you MUST ask, "Why not permanently?". I have a feeling you didn't really ask that question because you didn't want to know the answer you already suspected. It sounds like without saying it, they are strongly indicating that you're competent, but they feel like they can do better than you or in the least don't see you ever moving from your position.

 

That probably is not how generally gov. works. they need to create a job process, post it, put qualified candidates in a pool.

 

Of course, they probably can do that just for you if they really like you. but it's not an easy process.

 

 

I have had this happen a few times, each time I made a move to a new company. I felt like if you get typecast or ruled out of a promotion despite doing everything asked of you and more (and getting praised and all positive reviews), it's better to go somewhere your skills are appreciated. On a couple of occasions, I believe that I fit a role so well that they didn't want to promote me and then have to replace me in my current role. To me that was frustrating because in each of those instances they promoted someone that was literally on the firing block the weeks before. Like they were so bad in the same position as I was, they promoted them to their max level of incompetence I guess. If I stayed put, I never would have progressed in my career.

 

 

It came down to, do I want to work for a company that placed an invisible ceiling over my career or go to a company that begs me to work for them and badly needs someone with my skillset...in other words treats me like a valuable asset as opposed to just a worker?

 

Yes, time to move. Just hope it can be quick.

[Gretchen12]

People ask for promotions. They might get nervous asking, but they ask. If you can't ask and you can only leave, that hurts your career eventually, because you can't just keep changing companies. That looks bad on your resume, and when asked for your reason for leaving, the true answer sounds bad too.