It almost seemed like a sure thing. You did the networking, you had the experience they needed and you were willing to work your ass off to get that promotion. But then you didn’t get it.
For some reason, you were overlooked. Maybe you didn’t have the skill set they were looking for. Maybe you didn’t make it clear that you wanted the role.
Whatever the case may be here’s how you can bounce back from the situation.
Face the feedback
When you miss out on a promotion you might want to bury your head in the sand. Heck, you might even want to skip work entirely but that won’t help your career in the long run.
Instead, be brave and ask for feedback from anyone involved in the promotion process. The feedback should be built on positives and negatives. You should take both on board. Use the positives to outline your strengths and areas that you are excelling in. This will boost your confidence.
The negatives will be divided into two groups. The first will be skills and experiences that you need to acquire before you are a viable candidate for the job. Write down a list of how you can achieve these things. Perhaps through a night class or online learning.
The second set of negatives are natural weaknesses. While you won’t be able to overcome all of these things you should try to think of ways to work around them.
Assess your position
Take some time to think about whether or not this is a job that you really want. Will it help you to get closer to your career goals? Will you be happy in this position?
If a promotion requires you to sacrifice personal time, move cities or even manage a team then you need to think if these are things that you are willing to accept. Just because this job seems like a natural career progression does not mean that it is necessarily right for you.
Let go of your disappointment
Naturally enough you will be disappointed but don’t hold on to that negativity for too long. You’ve made a list of things that you can change now you need to let go of the things that you can not change.
At the end of the day, there’s a reason you didn’t get this promotion whether you can see it now or not. It simply wasn’t meant to be.
Don’t give up
You missed out on one promotion, so what? It’s not the end of the world. Rejection is difficult, horrible in fact but it’s a part of life. Most successful people get turned down for more jobs that they actually get. What makes them stand out from the crowd is that fact that they didn’t stop trying. Don’t let this one setback define your career. Keep raising your hand and looking for new opportunities.
