Can my manager stop me taking an internal promotion?

Loopy28

I have a really good relationship with my manager and am a really strong player in my team.

A few months ago it was suggested that I move to the training department (my dream job) but my manager kicked up all sorts of fuss about not losing me etc. and nothing was taken further.

The vacancy has now been advertised internally and I want to apply. But I fear my manager will try and stop me applying.

Can they do this? I have been with the company for 3 years.

TELLIT01

I'm sure they can but what would be the point of keeping a deeply unhappy person in a team? What I have seen happen is a transfer being agreed but then repeatedly delayed because the manager can't let the person go until they have an effective replacement.
If you have a good relationship with your manager tell him/her that you are going to apply for the job and you hope they will support your application this time around.

Astraeus

No he can't.

He can manage you out of his employ (carefully so as to avoid any suggestion of constructive dismissal) if he thinks he is likely to end up with an uninvested team member but he cannot stop you applying for the role.

I recently applied internally for a role (successfully!) and it bounced around the firm as a political hot potato. My boss, however, was the first person I told about me potentially going for it and he has been, as a result, very reasonable and grateful to me for being up-front with him. Courtesy.

Takeaway_Addict

Legally he can persuade them to not allow you the job but as has been mentioned its highly unlikely they would do this as it creates bad feeling and ultimatley you are likely to move to another company.

The post mentioned constructive dismissal is a red herring, its is highly unlikely to ever be near constructive dismissal.

jc808

Sometimes !!!!!!s are either jealous or value you too much to lose you (cos they employ losers or cannot, for the life of them set their business up so it works effectively) so sabotage your career by not letting you go anywhere.

If you sense this hapening, you need to leave. Yesterday.

pickledonionspaceraider

No he can't professionally - but if he is the kind of person - he could sabotage you in terms of pushing someone else for it, and giving them a glowing reference behind the scenes, and you a mediocre one

babyboos

is it a secondment or permanent promotion?

ashtonwn4

As has been already said "NO he can't". He can try to persuade you not to apply but he cant physically stop you. You state, however, that you are a strong player and that your manager kicked up a fuss about losing you. It looks like your manager respects you and your work ethics etc to the company. Why not arrange a meeting with your manager and the manager of the training dept with an idea somewhere upon the lines of " I want to transfer to training, you don't want to lose me. I appreciate your appreciation of me so what would you say to 'if I was to transfer and my first task would be to train my replacement?' " Obviously discuss this with the training manager first.


Colin

InsideInsurance

To give counter balance, arguably he can depending on the processes/ procedures of the company but it could be exceptionally career limiting for him to do so.

Certainly in some places I've been internal job applications were done via an intranet based system and the workflow process was that once the application was submitted it went to your line manager for approval and didnt go to the hiring manager until that approval had been given.

In theory they could sit on it for a while and then reject it and all that you would know as the applicant was that you got a generic email thank you for your application but it wouldn't be progressed. By the time you've done your digging and found out its your manager that blocked it/ raise a grievance against him etc the job has already gone.

Any sensible manager knows that an employee isnt going to hang around forever. A great employee typically will be wanting to going upwards/ outwards at some point and as long as you get your couple of years of good service you wont begrudge them that. If you really dont want them to go you deal with it by creating a counter offer rather than attempting to block their efforts

Ozzuk

For the people saying 'no' he can't - can I ask what they are basing that on? I was blocked from a job change (was actually changing countries as well) because the risk it would cause if I left my position - they had issues with backfill. I was actually fine about it (mostly) and understood as a professional but I had no idea this isn't allowed. Thinking about it, I had another manager block another role change again because I was 'too useful where I was'.

getmore4less

They can stop you moving internaly if the company lets them.

Career does not trump business needs so no chance of constructive dismissal

You need to understand the pecking order of influence and convince the right people this move is good for the business.

If they need to keep you so much they have a massive hole in the contingency planning, difficult to leverage this without putting the manager in a bad light. You should have been addressing this after they blocked the previous move to improve the contingency cover for holiday, sick and you moving internally.