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If you’ve ever been rejected for a promotion you will understand that it is a difficult thing to process. Regardless of the reasons given you are going to go through a whole raft of emotions, and one idea that will begin to germinate in your mind is whether you should leave.

While assessing the factors affecting career development it is important that you don’t react too quickly. Within a few days or perhaps weeks of not getting the promotion you may certainly feel like storming out and never returning. This is never a good idea.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t plan on leaving if you have weighed up your options properly. What I am saying is that you shouldn’t leave as a knee-jerk, emotional response. Decisions based on emotions are should never be included in the factors affecting career development.

Do You Really Fit In?

You may have been with this company for a number of years, but in truth you’ve never really fitted in. Sure, you are great at your job because you meet your sales targets, and you are a supportive and admired leader of your team. However, there may be other factors your company are interested in which they hold highly when considering anyone for promotion.

Perhaps your company has a great sporting ethos, for example. Do your peers participate in weekly sporting events together like basketball or baseball? Are they keen on winning medals and championing their own sporting prowess? Regardless, you may not be the sporting type. Sure, you like walking the dog and going to the gym, but not everyone enjoys team sports.

And, more importantly these sporting events happen out of working hours and you have other commitments. You may have a young family or you would rather wander through art galleries in your spare time – or both! These activities don’t affect your ability to do your job really well, but they do affect your likelihood of a promotion if the company you work for places a high value on them.

If these scenarios sound familiar then perhaps you simply don’t fit in. If you try to be like your co-workers, but it goes against the grain, then you will just end up becoming frustrated with both yourself and the company. 

If this is the case then you should find a company where extracurricular activities are not part of the criteria for promotion or are ones that suit your individuality. After all, if you were bad at sports you aren’t going to be much use anyway, and this will affect the way your team sees you. If they begin to lose respect for you on the sporting field, this may come out in the workplace, and you’d be better off leaving all together.

Goals and Targets are Becoming Unreachable

Some companies base a candidate’s viability for promotion on goals and targets only. Sure, these are an important part of your job, but so are your other skills too. 

You have developed a good understanding of how the company works from top to bottom. You know how the logistics side of things operates, how data is collected and used, and you have been updating your own skills and expertise by doing online courses in your own time.

However, if you’ve been told that the only way you’ll get a promotion is to reach a target that you feel is unreachable and unreasonable then perhaps it is time to look for a different job.

You may ask for an increase in your budget to reach these goals, but you may not get it. This is sure indication that your company is either setting the promotion bar too high or the senior managers have lost touch with what’s really going on beneath them. In either case, do you really want to stay?

At this point in your career it is imperative that you analyze your specific situation. You need a clear head so don’t do this just after you haven’t got the promotion you so wanted. Make sure you are feeling emotional stable, and you’re not overreacting. 

Create a list of pros and cons about your current position, and see if these give you more clarity. You could also start interviewing other companies to see which one might be a better fit for you. After a lot of soul searching if you still believe that leaving your current company will not increase your chances of being promoted, then by all means, begin making the move now.

And always remember: 

Great managers are made. Not born.

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