I Did What You're Supposed to Do to Get Promoted. Suddenly, There's a Catch.

"When I first expressed interest in a promotion, my manager said a big thing the higher-ups looked at was what I did outside of my normal workload. Being good at your job is expected in your current position, not something that would get you promoted. So over the years, I've added extra things to my work."

"However, the promotion applications focus mainly on what more I will do after I'm promoted. How will the promotion let me do more at the company? While I try to answer with specifics, I feel that this is the most annoying question and leads to my weakest answer. I did all this extra work because I was told that it would lead to promotion."

An employee has requested promotion twice over two years but was denied due to budget constraints and promotion application requirements. The first promotion went to a more senior colleague, and the second to someone transitioning teams. Management indicated that excelling at current responsibilities is expected, not promotion-worthy, so the employee took on additional projects including guideline development, new hire training, and special assignments. Despite this extra work, promotion applications emphasize future contributions rather than past achievements, creating a frustrating disconnect between what management said would lead to promotion and what the actual evaluation process requires.

Read at Slate Magazine