Passed Over for Promotion & Pay Raise:
What To Do (and Not Do)
Right After
to Get Another Shot

Thou Shan’t Give an Ultimatum!
(If You Do So NOW, you Will Be Crushed & Humiliated, and Rightfully So!)

I’m going to give you the 4 biggest NO-Nos of what you should NOT do immediately after being passed over for a promotion and the pay raise that goes with it OR I guarantee – you will 100% mess up your career to a far greater degree than “just” this promotion you didn’t get. the second “don’t” is: do not give an ultimatum! “if I don’t get a promotion (and the pay raise that goes with it) within 6 months – I’m out ‘ta here!” of course you would say it in a nice way, but it will still be an ultimatum. there are 2 reasons why “thou shan’t give an ultimatum” firstly, you have no wiggle room! think about it: what will this ultimatum be exactly? To make an ultimatum (or rather win one), you need to have something substantial that the other party wants and can’t have otherwise – we have already established that this is not the case with you, at this time: dude, you were just passed over for a promotion meaning you are deemed by your boss or employer as NOT worthy (or at least less worthy than the one who got it) less worthy of being in a higher, better position, better paying position, a position that would enable you more control over people, processes, results, and budgets… does this sound to you like having the “upper hand”? (and just in case rhetorical questions escape you – the answer is: NO! a resounding NO! you do not have the upper hand, so you should…you do not get to give an ultimatum, and if you do: you’ll be crushed! you’ll be humiliated! because your boss will reply (and rightfully so) with something like: okay so quit! after which you will either have to indeed quit when you didn’t really want to and you’re completely unprepared for, with all that that entails, as we’ve already covered, Or You will have to grovel your way out of it, which means you’re not only… you’ll not only be humiliated, but also have no chance of ever getting any promotion e-v-e-r in that workplace – you will be doomed to see the backs of all your juniors being promoted over you for all eternity which is the worst case scenario, much MUCH worse than “just” being passed over this once – which was your original circumstance before you decided to play Macho! the second reason why you shouldn’t give an ultimatum is that the Wise gives an ultimatum ONLY when they are certain they’re going to win it! (or at least the odds are in their favor and you know it’s quite probable that the other side will back up and you will get what you want.) This is the ONLY circumstance in which an ultimatum may succeed, but e-v-e-n Then, it is very likely to put you in a bind in the longer run, which I’ll address in a moment this is, however, is NOT the circumstance you are in, my friend. you are in the diametrical opposite corner because of all that being passed over business… now, suppose you DO have a bit of an edge over your boss or employer, some “upper hand” – what would that be? it… it would have to be some… some very unique professional knowledge or acumen, that is either unique in your field as a whole, or specifically at your company why? because that would make you harder to replace all together or especially in a bind: the bind being (looking at it from your company’s perspective) the bind being either the fact that your resignation is a surprise to the company (as it is to you) OR that they have some pending tight deadlines for delivery to clients OR that the company is otherwise stressed: maybe finances, maybe others in your department have just left and you… and they were not yet replaced OR they were replaced but the new recruits are still acclimating so they’re not Fully productive yet OR all the above THESE circumstances, and only them, WOULD be the exception to the rule where you could indeed give an ultimatum and win it BUT it would be a victory very short lived, and at a tremendously high price that will come back to bite you, so a total Pyrrhic victory! how so? well, an ultimat… your ultimatum “victory” would bring two different ADDITIONAL problems, on top of everything else we’ve already covered: 1. well, firstly: it won’t do you any good, it won’t get you anywhere because your boss can’t promise you – let alone guarantee – when the next opportunity for you will come up because your boss doesn’t know when the next relevant position will become available, IF AT ALL: it could be the next day, six months down the line, a year – who knows??? for a position to become available: somebody will have to leave, OR be promoted, OR get fired, or… an altogether new position should be formed… so even if your boss should… would have liked to make you a promise or a “pact” in return for you “obliging” him or her with your stay, he or she cannot for those OBJECTIVE reasons – these are OBJECTIVE reasons: it’s just out of their control !!! secondly: your boss will hate you till the day you DIE! nobody likes being pushed over, all the more so by a subordinate what do you think people feel when you manage to twist their arm? is this a good basis for a working relationship? or any relationship for that matter? this is the epitome of a short term gain that has a mid-term disaster spelled all over it (so not even the long term – this will come back to haunt you very quickly)