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Calvin Asks: Time to throw in the towel?

I’m a young professional engineer and have been working with my current employer for the past seven years. I’ve applied for a few different internal roles during my time here that I feel would improve my personal and professional development but on every occasion I’ve been turned down.

I’ve been keeping up to date with my CPD and have attended many events and conferences etc related to my industry and have been on many internal training courses. However, the feedback I’m getting is that I don’t have enough experience for the roles I’m applying for? But how do I move forward with my career if I keep getting turned down for the roles that will give me more experience?

Is it time to throw in the towel and start looking to move to another employer or should I stick it out for a bit longer?

Overlooked and frustrated - Manchester

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0 Roy Bowdler over 5 years ago

Most has already been said.

“When I was one and twenty I heard a wise man say” (A E Housman). If you stick around in the same place people will still see you as the “jack the lad” apprentice that you were, not what you have become.

Fortunately at the time, I worked for a huge national organisation, with vacancies always being advertised, if you were willing to relocate. Initially I had to move for “operational reasons”, but then found myself repeatedly knocked-back, despite working days off to study part-time, there was a surplus of people in the grade above needing to be accommodated. So I rather gave up (aka “threw in the towel”) and focussed my energies on other things (including becoming a Union Rep, Branch Secretary of a voluntary group and joining the Territorial Army). Within a year my local Personnel Officer suggested that I applied for a role that I wasn’t aware of and I had to be gently persuaded to do so. There was a competitive interview process, but the recruiting manager had seen potential in “jack the lad” and wanted me on his shortlist, so I had been “tapped-up”. Another promotion opportunity came perhaps rather to soon, in another part of the country and colleagues encouraged me to apply, successfully as it turned out, head of a small department at 27.

I’m probably just re-phrasing some other’s advice, but try to step out of your situation and survey the landscape of opportunities for people with your skills. Hopefully you will identify some potential options worth considering. Also try to understand your own motivations and broader talents, not just skills in your current job. Someone mentioned “career counselling”, I tend to think of a psychometric personality instrument as part of that, to help you understand yourself better. However the better ones are costly and mainly used by larger corporate HR departments. I have used Saville Wave and OPQ (both involved Peter Saville), I also used Margerison-McCann in a team context. I have a very low opinion of MBTI or derivatives. If something like this isn’t readily available, then at least try to understand “how would I fit in” or “could I work for this person”. Someone has to be willing to take a risk on you as a leader and/or expert. Can you empathise with their perspective i.e. “stand in their shoes”. What makes you someone worth taking that chance on, are they looking for potentially “higher risk-higher reward” or a “safe pair of hands”?

If your ambitions are towards senior management, then this might help http://www.edacen.com/portfolio/MCPA_Handout_Feb_2013.pdf . I am not advocating this specific organisation having not used them, but I have sampled the methodology when it was recommended to me by another company’s equivalent manager after he had used it. If you grasp the idea of “flow” then it might help. Are you “in flow”?

I can’t second guess the situation and motives of your current employer. Don’t make idle threats to move on, but if you are unhappy then try to open other doors, you don’t have to walk through them, but it may spur your existing employer into action. If your needs and those of your current employer are drifting apart, then part on good terms, you wouldn’t be the first person begged to stay or to come back. I agree that 7 years is too-long at an early career stage if you are stagnating.
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0 Roy Bowdler over 5 years ago

Most has already been said.

“When I was one and twenty I heard a wise man say” (A E Housman). If you stick around in the same place people will still see you as the “jack the lad” apprentice that you were, not what you have become.

Fortunately at the time, I worked for a huge national organisation, with vacancies always being advertised, if you were willing to relocate. Initially I had to move for “operational reasons”, but then found myself repeatedly knocked-back, despite working days off to study part-time, there was a surplus of people in the grade above needing to be accommodated. So I rather gave up (aka “threw in the towel”) and focussed my energies on other things (including becoming a Union Rep, Branch Secretary of a voluntary group and joining the Territorial Army). Within a year my local Personnel Officer suggested that I applied for a role that I wasn’t aware of and I had to be gently persuaded to do so. There was a competitive interview process, but the recruiting manager had seen potential in “jack the lad” and wanted me on his shortlist, so I had been “tapped-up”. Another promotion opportunity came perhaps rather to soon, in another part of the country and colleagues encouraged me to apply, successfully as it turned out, head of a small department at 27.

I’m probably just re-phrasing some other’s advice, but try to step out of your situation and survey the landscape of opportunities for people with your skills. Hopefully you will identify some potential options worth considering. Also try to understand your own motivations and broader talents, not just skills in your current job. Someone mentioned “career counselling”, I tend to think of a psychometric personality instrument as part of that, to help you understand yourself better. However the better ones are costly and mainly used by larger corporate HR departments. I have used Saville Wave and OPQ (both involved Peter Saville), I also used Margerison-McCann in a team context. I have a very low opinion of MBTI or derivatives. If something like this isn’t readily available, then at least try to understand “how would I fit in” or “could I work for this person”. Someone has to be willing to take a risk on you as a leader and/or expert. Can you empathise with their perspective i.e. “stand in their shoes”. What makes you someone worth taking that chance on, are they looking for potentially “higher risk-higher reward” or a “safe pair of hands”?

If your ambitions are towards senior management, then this might help http://www.edacen.com/portfolio/MCPA_Handout_Feb_2013.pdf . I am not advocating this specific organisation having not used them, but I have sampled the methodology when it was recommended to me by another company’s equivalent manager after he had used it. If you grasp the idea of “flow” then it might help. Are you “in flow”?

I can’t second guess the situation and motives of your current employer. Don’t make idle threats to move on, but if you are unhappy then try to open other doors, you don’t have to walk through them, but it may spur your existing employer into action. If your needs and those of your current employer are drifting apart, then part on good terms, you wouldn’t be the first person begged to stay or to come back. I agree that 7 years is too-long at an early career stage if you are stagnating.
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Calvin Asks: Time to throw in the towel?

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