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

Don’t Storm Out!
George Costanza Tried It – It Didn’t Work!

If you’ve just been passed over for a promotion (and the pay raise that goes with it) THIS IS FOR YOU! I know you’re trying to wreck your brain around: how was that loser promoted over ME??? and I know you want to eff the whole thing off: the company, your boss, that LOSER who got YOUR promotion, the whole effing situation! you want to slam the door in your idiot boss’s face and just walk away And there’s no denying that that will be soooo satisfying employees all over the world indulge in this very fantasy every single day BUT You know you shouldn’t BUT it’s really tempting and you really want to 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. There are 4 things you should NOT do immediately after being passed over for a promotion and the pay raise that goes with it Number one: DO NOT LEAVE! Do not threaten to leave, do not resign, do not slam the door and walk away in one of those grandiose gesture Why? Because you’re not going to be able to pull a George Costanza bit of quitting while storming out, then coming back on Monday as if nothing has ever happened, ok? (which is actually, as an aside, something Larry David, whom the character is base on, did do, and it did work out for him, but hey, you’re not Larry David, ok?) and I’m not saying you should stay there forever, of course not! but quitting now will de-rail your career, GUARANTEED! And as a proof, I’m going to breakdown every possible realistic scenario that will unfold the moment you succumb to this burning temptation to quit right now. I’ll put the whole thing down in the description so don’t worry about it just focus on the reasoning that I’m laying before you, so that you can make your own informed decision. So, why not quit? firstly, you’re upset so you’re not thinking straight it’s like texting when you’re drunk but worse you cannot make clear good decisions that will benefit you when you are in a state your reasoning faculties are deficient or completely gone, no good can come of it, so… not the time make life-altering decisions like quitting! Secondly, you’re not that rich that you don’t need a salary. yes, you’ve lost the pay raise that came with that promotion you were passed over for and I know it’s heart wrenching BUT what about your current salary? what about your current pay? are you so willing to just waiver it away? so carelessly? Are you insane? Do you have some other money stashed away somewhere so that you can fall back on??? Come on… Thirdly, resigning when you are down, and you ARE down right now, will 100% sabotage your chances of landing another job, especially a good one! and this is true for both the short and long term. how so? well, two 3 ways: here’s my crystal ball reading, actually [making a round gesture] it should be like this, never mind [firstly] you don’t make a “sexy” candidate or applicant, when you are demoralized you’re not that good of an actor, we’ve already established that (remember George Costanza Larry David?) your low spirits and you’re under-mined confidence and self-esteem will absolutely shine through, which is not the kind of shine you want! secondly, you won’t be able to have an appealing reply to basic questions regarding your previous workplace, and you know these questions are the staples at any job interview so they will definitely come up, and for a good reason by the way: it is absolutely understandable for a potential new employer to want to know how you did with a previous one and thirdly, the more time you’re unemployed the more this situation will worsen because your soul will have been broken by that time and worse yet: you will have accepted (maybe) a much lesser job just to pay the bills! need proof? still? let’s do a thought experiment: say… okay say you’ve resigned: you went into… you’ve fulfilled this fantasy you went into your boss’s office and told him or her, to their face, just what you thought of them, and the whole effing company, and that loser that got YOUR promotion, and how you’re not going to take it any longer, and how you don’t des… THEY don’t deserve you, and how you can do so much better elsewhere and you stormed out! ok. great. now what? obviously you’re looking for a job, right? you’re looking for another job so now, to continue this thought experiment, imagine yourself sitting across from the HR recruiter – how would that play out? how would that go when she asks you why did you leave? (a basic fair question to ask), What was your position there? (and after you answer) Really? You’ve been there that many years with no promotion? how so? and the all-time pièce de résistance question of any job interview ever: what will your ex-boss say about you? what indeed… so what are you going to reply? “I left because they passed me over for a promotion because they thought I wasn’t worthy of the pay raise and that higher position in the company, and now I come here to you to take me in like you’re some sort of a Workforce Statue of Liberty? ‘give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses… the wretched refuse’…” do you want to be a “wretched refuse”? do you think that HR recruiters want to hire other organizations’ “wretched refuse”? really? And going on with this thought experiment just a little bit more: what about when she actually calls your boss? (well, your ex-boss by then) when she actually calls your boss to ask for feedback about your performance and the terms you left on? Your (ex) boss will be bound to admit the truth even if they like you and they want to help you: the truth both about having preferred someone else over you for a promotion AND about the scene you caused when you quit (remember George Costanza?) in short: DO NOT LEAVE immediately after being passed over for promotion and the pay raise that goes with it!