Anyway, reason I came into this thread was to update you. I had the interview but the role doesn't sound quite right. It was more of a chat (no HR present), because I'd met the interviewer before, he remembered/knew of me so it was quite informal as it turns out. Keeping it simple, the role was more "line managery" than I had thought (I've never had any direct reports let alone the number they were saying the role came with) so I'm not expecting it to go anywhere. So, with regards to all the talk above - I still believe I should speak to my boss and tell him I was approached for another role. Explain honestly how it didn't turn out to be the right fit for me, and explain how it's been making me think about my progression and blah blah blah.. Thoughts?
Don't do it, there is no good reason that I can see for mentioning that you've already been for an interview and then didn't take the job... it is irrelevant.
Talk about you and what you want to do in that company, what your goals are etc.. if you believe you can handle a promotion now then lay out clear reasons why etc.. if you're rejected then ask why/ask what you can do to progress - get clear targets set and go achieve them.
If you're getting fobbed off after having done that then you look at taking another role and that is where you might be willing to accept a counter offer. Make sure you get an actual offer or are very confident the role is yours and you can move if needed as you'll be liable to be treated like a complete chump if you both mention the offer/indicate you're trying to move and don't get what you want and also don't move.
Some managers might not have been able to offer the promotion/pay rise when you asked previously but if you've got a solid offer and asked or you handed in your notice then they end up going back to HR/their boss etc.. and the pay rise/promotion is more forthcoming.
Some might get emotive over it, see it as "disloyal" and then react vindictively to it... look at the different opinions you've had already. This isn't necessarily the end of the world, it is why it is important to network/be seen as a good person/go to guy by other departments too - a counter offer doesn't necessarily need to come in the form of a pay rise within your own team but can be made higher up and be a move to another team. This is however a strong reason not to just casually throw out comments about attending interviews if you've not actually got an offer/aren't otherwise going to move.
It's not petty. If someone is on my team and has demonstrated what is required for a promotion, they'll get it, without asking.
That seems dubious, unless you're talking about some minor job title change/pay rise and a pat on the back... like a "junior" developer getting "junior" removed from their job title or a developer getting "senior" added to it. Or perhaps if your team can act as a bit of a feeder team for others - like say QA guys who've done some ad hoc dev work going into proper dev teams or support guys working on maintenance stuff going into billable consulting roles on client sites etc... and those moves are viewed as promotions. (still some conflicting priorities there in that managers of such teams generally don't want their best people disappearing too quickly and do want to get some return of service from them)
In plenty of cases that isn't the position a manager can take - there are only so many team leader or manager positions available and in any one team there might well be team members who would be just as good at that role as the current team lead/manager, perhaps even provide coverage when he's on holiday and who the relevant MD level person has in mind as an immediate replacement in case the manager quits*.
If someone is already at the top of the available pay grades within a team and the next step is a real promotion and there are more than one of them but no slots available then you're stuck, you can't manage that so easily beyond keeping them happy with pay rises/reviews etc.. ad hoc projects where they'll take the lead etc..
*That is the sort of case whereby the good employee who the MD had in mind might even get a job made up for him or take part of a team etc.. things get changed that the company wouldn't otherwise want changed in order to retain the employee should he quit.
That's overstating it somewhat but I am kinda on my own.
