Company giving jobs internally without advertising

[Amplus]

I work for a global supply chain company and recently my office has started to give promotions to people internally without advertising them.

A couple of the jobs I would have loved to have gone for as well. Most of the people who have got the jobs are friends with the main manager which makes it even more annoying.

Is it even legal for.the company to give jobs to people without advertising them?? Been with the company for several years now and the fact I haven't been considered is very demotivating and makes me think I need to move on now as I ain't getting nowhere. The branch managers line on this, as several people have mentioned about people getting jobs without them being advertised, is that to progress you need to speak to him and let him know what you want and make it clear you want to progress?? If the jobs are not advertised though how would you know the jobs even exist. Sounds like BS to me.

 

[dowie]

Are you talking about people leaving and the someone else needing to fill that vacancy or new positions being created.

Either way, AFAIK, they don't have any requirement to advertise them. I'm not sure why making your intentions clear sounds like BS? I mean do they even know you're interested in a certain career path etc..? If not then you can't reasonably be expected to be randomly offered stuff, for all you know the people put into these positions might well have been pushing for that sort of move for a while now in their yearly appraisals - you don't necessarily know what has happened behind the scenes and what might seem like a sudden move/promotion for one person might well have been something that has been planned for a while or perhaps someone has had a job offer elsewhere etc.. and the company has decided to offer them something to retain them etc...

Best thing to do IMO is to make it clear that you want something, if there is a particular area you want to work in then tell people, speak to the people in that area, see if you can do some work alongside them, take part in some project with them etc.. show them what you can do etc.. and make it clear that you're interested in their area and would like to work in their team/department etc..

 

[HangTime]

I don't think ever worked for a company where this doesn't happen. Typically what happens where I am now is we will look at people over an extended period and determine if they are exhibiting the behaviours of a more senior position based on the defined criteria. If they are ticking all the boxes and we feel they warrant a promotion then we will look to arrange this - for example if people are underpaid, or regularly perform duties beyond that in their job description, or are generally someone we consider to have a lot of potential. It could tie in with other factors like wanting to give them line management responsibility and needing to acknowledge that in the job. It's not something done on a whim by a single manager, it will be part of a wider strategy for developing talent and with manager's manager plus HR involved in the process. If you don't do that then options are very limited when it comes to salary reviews (and other factors that reflect seniority).

Numerous roles get advertised but some don't because there is no change in headcount - you can't create a position above the employee and fill it with someone else unless they came out of the same headcount pool and even then that might create other problems like a hole in the area they came from.

I guess it depends on what people mean by 'promotion', there is a difference between what I would call making an adjustment to an individual employees status and having a new vacancy that will persist in addition to the role current filled by that employee.

 

[DanTheMan]

I'd much rather this than the approach taken where I currently work.

All jobs get advertised but most of them already have somebody lined up to take over and the advertisement is just a formality. It's frustrating but you don't know which jobs are like this and you do end up wasting a lot of effort going for interviews for roles which you have no chance of getting.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

I’ve seen both of the above happen at large corporations.

My favourite was being told categorically by my then boss (in California) that as Lead Engineer in Europe (team of 4) there was no need for a regional manager only to receive an email 2 months later from HR telling me to find an empty office and IT kit for my new manager who starts tomorrow.

 

[subbytna]

I’ve seen both of the above happen at large corporations.

My favourite was being told categorically by my then boss (in California) that as Lead Engineer in Europe (team of 4) there was no need for a regional manager only to receive an email 2 months later from HR telling me to find an empty office and IT kit for my new manager who starts tomorrow.

Ouch

 

[Martynt74]

Where i've worked it's always been the aim to promote from within and then filling the newly vacant role externally. All my promotions have come from either new roles or leavers where i've been approached to move into the more senior position.

It's never been offered out internally to the whole group, they'll approach who they feel is capable and then work from there.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Ouch

Yup, having worked my **** off for my then boss, that was a serious kick in the ‘nads.