Passed over on a promotion. How to deal with it?

I-W

esj13 wrote: »

the boss pulled me into the office and basically told me that I was walking around labouring under the impression that it was a foregone conclusion that the job would be mine.
He told me that even though I have been here longest and have worked hardest, gained more skills and experience, in the interview I failed to shine as brightly as I could due to apparent nerves.

Your boss might have actually been telling the true, sometimes it is all down to the interview. A few years ago I was interviewed for a job I had been doing for 6 months and everyone, including the manager interviewing me thought I was brilliant at the job, however I performed badly in the interview and was later told that the process meant only what was said in the interview could be taken into account, so someone else (who turned out to be a lot worse at the job then me got the job).


However I learnt from this experience, and thankfully with some help from a kind person in HR passed another interview and got a better job in the company in the end. I would definitely get feedback and maybe ask if you could have help with interview technique. I had interview training and have gone on to pass my next interview and get a job at another company.


I personally believe the system of only relying on what is said in interviews is a poor basis for getting the right person for the job, but unfortunately a lot of companies use it (I was told the reason it not to discriminate against people who hadn't had the same opportunities to demonstrate their skills at the job). Maybe in sales or customer service jobs it is more relevant, but in a technical job such as mine often those naturally better at interviews are worse at the role.


Sorry for going on, but my advice is to learn from this get as much feedback and training as possible and you will eventually improve in interviews (which will be useful if you say in the same company or choose to move on)