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Your #Career: Passed Over for a Promotion? Your Next Steps…Turn a Rejection into Bigger & Better Future Jobs With these Strategies to Make Yourself a Stronger Candidate

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Nobody likes being passed over for a promotion, but it can be a defining moment in a career. Individuals willing to stay put and strengthen their skills often find that such rejection can lead to bigger and better things, several leadership specialists say.

Free- Door to Building

​Few people avoid this common setback. Fred Hassan, a former chief executive of ​Schering-Plough Corp. and Pharmacia Corp., was rejected for a senior corporate strategy job at ​another pharma company early in his career.

Mr. Hassan says he kept his cool and instead accepted a less prestigious promotion that required him to relocate. It’s important “to carefully evaluate options outside that department or even outside the company,” he says.

It is tempting to quit after losing out on a plum job. Since November 2014, executives at big businesses such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. , Pfizer Inc., Procter & Gamble Co. andAbercrombie & Fitch Co., have walked away after failing to win a top executive role. Tom Staggs, Walt Disney Co.’s second in command, decided to step down this spring after learning he wasn’t likely to succeed CEO Robert Iger.

For most of us, it’s smarter to stay on, experts say.

“A promotion turndown initially feels like the end of your career, but could propel you further if you take time to reflect,’’ saidHeather Vough, an assistant management professor at University of Cincinnati’s business school. She recommends using the rejection to​ review career goals and decide whether you still yearn to fill the position.

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​Ms. Vough​ co-authored a recent paper about finding success after denied promotions. One tip for explaining a rejection to others: come up with a “growth-based” narrative that attributes the setback to internal and controllable causes, such as inexperience, organizational politics or budgetary issues.

Employers are often willing to help. Amid a stronger economy, more companies are giving frank feedback to runners-up because they “realize they need to do a better job of retaining their top performers,’’ says John Beeson, author of “The Unwritten Rules: The Six Skills You Need to Get Promoted to the Executive Level.”

In turn, those denied a promotion should “show a mature desire to learn from the experience,’’ advises Mr. Beeson, who has an executive-development consultancy. Don’t ask why you didn’t get the job. Instead, ask what specific things you could do to be a strong candidate for a similar job in the future, he says.

TO RECOVER FROM A DENIED PROMOTION

Do:

  • 1. Review your career goals.
  • 2. Ask your boss how to become a stronger candidate in the future.
  • 3. Expand your leadership skills and critical work experiences.
  • 4. Find ways to showcase your talents inside and outside the workplace.

Don’t:

  • 1. Lose your cool and act angry
  • 2. Ask why you didn’t get the desired job.
  • 3. Hesitate to put your hand up again for a promotion.
  • 4. Stay with your current employer if you’ve been passed over several times.

Kenneth Miller, a vice president of the diabetes-care unit at Becton, Dickinson & Co., told his boss that he felt honored to have been a contender for world-wide president of his unit after the Franklin Lakes, N.J., medical-technology company picked another executive for that post in the fall of 2013.

The winner had stronger operational capabilities than Mr. Miller, the unit’s exiting president told him, adding that if he continued to develop, he would someday land the role. Becton arranged leadership training for Mr. Miller and retained Mr. Beeson as his executive coach.

During the yearlong training program, Mr. Miller says he discovered that “I could be tough on standards and tenderhearted with people.” Mr. Beeson taught the Becton executive how to delegate responsibility better.

Mr. Miller enhanced his operational acumen by managing his unit’s financial forecasting and budget-setting process. He soon became a vice president of a larger unit. In February 2015, he rejoined the diabetes-care business as president.

“I had grown a lot over the past year and a half,” Mr. Miller recalls. “I was much better prepared than in 2013.”

Other executives flourish after the denial of a promotion because they conceal their bruised ego and find smart ways to showcase their talents. “Make yourself mandatory for your company,’’ suggests Alexandre Wentzo, a French-born executive.

Several years ago, Mr. Wentzo was running operations in France for Casewise Ltd., a small British software vendor. When the CEO departed in late 2009, the executive chairman of the firm took command temporarily.

Mr. Wentzo expected the chairman would choose a global chief operating officer. Instead, he named Mr. Wentzo and an American new hire as regional COOs, launching a horse race for the top job. “The best guy will win,” the chairman told the two.

Mr. Wentzo says he felt somewhat offended that he wasn’t selected for a global role. “I was thinking, ‘Why? Am I not good enough?’ ” He nevertheless pretended to support his boss’s decision, while aiming to prove “I was better than the other guy.”

Mr. Wentzo thrived in his new job. Financial results for Europe, one of his regions, beat internal growth targets and overtook those for the U.S. within six months, he says. Casewise fired his American counterpart and in 2012 elevated Mr. Wentzo to chief executive, Mr. Wentzo says.

At General Electric Co., an ambitious executive used a different strategy after a promotion turndown, involving associates at a variety of levels to help improve her leadership abilities.

‘Show a mature desire to learn from the experience.’ —John Beeson, author of “The Unwritten Rules: The Six Skills You Need to Get Promoted to the Executive Level.”

The GE vice president had pursued a senior vice presidency within her unit during summer 2011. “One of her identified strengths was her aggressiveness,’’ recalls Adam Holton, who then was human-resources manager for the unit. (He now is chief human resources officer at CHS Inc., the biggest U.S. farmer cooperative.)

“She drove her people too hard,’’ Mr. Holton says​ of the executive, who did not want her name used in this article. The promotion went to a male peer whom managers viewed as a more inclusive leader. The woman immediately asked Mr. Holton how she should change. He advised her to build more trust among her subordinates. In response, she prepared a detailed developmental plan that she regularly reviewed with Mr. Holton and her boss.

She also solicited—and acted on—feedback from colleagues above and below her about her relationship-building skills. For instance, she began to give her lieutenants “the freedom and latitude to fail on things,’’ according to Mr. Holton.

The GE executive finally became a senior vice president in July 2012. And in October 2014, she landed a fresh senior spot with even bigger responsibilities.

Write to Joann S. Lublin at joann.lublin@wsj.com

 

WSJ.com | April 19, 2016 | Joann S. Lublin