#224 What To Do When You Don't Get The Promotion Pt 1 w/Ben Townsend

Understanding how to navigate rejection in your career is vital for long-term success and personal growth. Emphasizing resilience, this episode explores effective strategies for responding to disappointment and staying prepared for future opportunities.

• Discusses initial feelings of disappointment after not being promoted 
• Highlights the importance of preparing emotionally for rejection 
• Shares insights on expressing gratitude and seeking feedback after interviews 
• Stresses the need to align personal goals with the company's mission 
• Explores personal anecdote demonstrating persistence in the face of rejection 
• Encourages ongoing engagement and communication with potential employers 

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Promotion Strategies
• 13:00 Exploring the Disappointment of Rejection
• 34:00 Preparing for Interviews and Potential Outcomes
• 44:00 Emotional Management After Rejection
• 4:30:00 The Importance of Understanding Company Mission
• 8:00:00 A Personal Story of Persistence in Job Interviews

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Scott Townsend Show brought to you by Pizza man Productions.

Speaker 2: 0:08

Well, today, the last time we spoke, we got a good response from listeners. It was the topic of how to get promoted at work and it seems like that hit a nerve with everyone. We got a lot of responses, good, a lot of downloads, some good responses, uh, and I really believe that, uh, it looks like it's helping people. So you know, we were talking also. So you know what to do.

Speaker 2: 0:36

How to get promoted, that's one thing, but the the flip side of the coin is what do you do when you don't get promoted? So, that's, your chances of not getting promoted are so much greater than getting promoted, because you know you're always up against so many people, um, for a position. Usually, and whenever you're up against one, two, five, ten, whatever, uh, that decreases the odds you, so chances are you're not going to get promoted every single time you put in for a promotion. So it'll be interesting to get your thoughts on what to do, uh, what to do when you don't get promoted. What's, what's one of the first things you should do, or what's top of mind, what should you do?

Speaker 3: 1:28

That's a good question and I think, going into the whole interview process, you kind of got to have your mind, I think, around the entire process and the potential outcomes in the process and have the how you handle what happens next after the interview, whether you get an offer, an invitation for another interview or a rejection. That's got to be something that you plan for in advance, you know, in your entire interview prep process. And if you don't, you know you may find yourself just reacting emotionally versus acting in a thoughtful, you know, intentional kind of way. So I think I think, as you prep for an interview last time we talked about how to get promoted and it's kind of. It's kind of like it's different, which is different than than a applying for a job and the whole interview process, but it's foundational for it. For sure. We talked a lot about that.

Speaker 3: 2:34

But I think what happens after the interview is part of the decision tree you've got to consider in advance. Make your playbook, write down your playbook, you know, write down your playbook. You can't go into a whatever a football game and just plan on on, you know, going for your um. You know 10, 15 yard yard pass, play every down. You got to consider the possibility that you may have to do some clock management, and there's all kinds of things that can happen in the game. You're not passing at all. Maybe all you gotta do is kick a field goal. You're whatever you're doing. You know you got to have a playbook if, if the defense presents this, this is what we're going to switch to on offense, and vice versa. So it's full of those kind of things.

Speaker 3: 3:14

I think the interview process is one of those situations where there are some very obvious decision points along the way and points where your whole candidacy may proceed or it may stop. You may not even get an invitation to interview, so you've got to consider that as well. Um, but I think it's part of the whole interview process in my mind. And what happens you know when you, when you don't get the, or you said what we're talking about, whether you do get the, if you do what, what?

Speaker 2: 3:44

to do? How do you?

Speaker 3: 3:45

react. If you don't, yeah, what to do? What to do, which is different than what not to do, right?

Speaker 2: 3:51

Well, that'll be next week.

Speaker 3: 3:54

Yeah, so, yeah, so I mean I guess that's how I would start is know what you're going to do in advance, you know, before you get to that point.

Speaker 3: 4:06

Start is know what you're going to do in advance, you know, before you get to that point, and if you do, uh, if you do get um a rejection, what you should do, um, you know you should be prepared to uh write back a uh, you know a thank you letter for the process and uh ask if they, if they have any other questions they would like to get clarity on.

Speaker 3: 4:30

You should ask for some feedback and reassert why you're still interested in the job and how you are excited you could be excited about working in that role, and I think it's really important in the interview process to understand what the mission of the company is.

Speaker 3: 4:53

I think, whether you're in an interview process or you're just working in a job, I think it's really, really important to understand, have clarity in your own mind about how much about what you do in your day-to-day job relates to the company mission, and a company mission is going to be a very high level statement, so it's a big investment for them and I don't think they would be making that investment unless their government, if they, if they didn't have clarity about how what your your role, um is going to be doing to contribute to the company's mission, otherwise you shouldn't be there.

Speaker 3: 5:27

So I think when you're considering the job, you need to have personal clarity on how what you would be doing contributes to the mission. So I think, when you don't get it, I think reasserting I'm excited about this job is going to be help the company accomplish its mission to be the safest, most on time airline service on the planet. You know, whatever it is I just totally made that up in the moment but you should have clarity about that and and and state that in your in your letter, uh, and ask them if there's you know any other opportunities that feel free to reach out if you have any other questions. You know things like that.

Speaker 2: 6:15

You know this work for all industries retail, wholesale, corporate, I mean, I'm thinking of retail in the back of my mind. I think this holds true for those as well, even if you want to be an hourly employee to a manager, supervisor, assistant, store manager, store manager, whatever.

Speaker 3: 6:43

I can't think of a position where it wouldn't be appropriate and I think it really shows if you're talking at that level, if you're communicating at that level, you're communicating strategically and you're not just thinking about going there and um on an assembly line and getting widgets on one side, screwing this thing onto the widget and passing on on to the next process.

Speaker 3: 7:06

And that's the way some people yeah, some people see their jobs that way, though, and a lot of people number one, they have no idea what the company mission is, and if you're interviewing for a company, whatever company that is, you should research it until you find it out and you should memorize that mission and be able to just repeat it, just like you should know it, memorize it. That's part of your interview prep. But I can't think of really situation, or maybe you know, but where that wouldn't be an appropriate course of action, because the truth is, yeah. Well, what I was going to say is you know, the company may make an offer to somebody else. You may have well been number two, they may have had a hard time deciding. You know, between these two or three people, and they have a committee.

Speaker 3: 7:55

I've done this, you know, and you'll talk about each one. You'll talk about sometimes you have one, that's just a clear standout. Sometimes you have several that everybody is in agreement. You know, if we had any one, we only have one position we can fill if we had any one of these two or three, we'd be happy. We think they're qualified, we think they're a great culture, fit, all those kind of things, and so you know, tighten up your game. And when you write your, your letter of response first of all, when you get out of the interview process, um, you should thank them for the interview. You know, that's kind of firing a parting shot, if that isn't the right analogy, but it is one more thing that you can do, adding fuel to the fire.

Speaker 3: 8:44

Adding weight to your candidacy, showing them that you have class, that you will be a good culture fit, assuming that's valued by their culture. Hopefully it is. But nobody doesn't like to get a thank you note and, as an interviewer, when I was involved in interviewing for interviewing people to come work on my team, I probably got a thank you letter. It happened more than I thought it would, but I'll say yes and this is kind of like. I'll say it's less than 20%, it's probably less than 10%, but put it right at 10%. 10 to 15%, that's how many people after the interview will write a thank you letter of some sort, and so it's kind of easy to stand out in a process if only 10 to 15% are doing some of the obvious things right. So it just adds weight weight to it. So so all that to say if you get, if you get the rejection um, you can't let it get you down, you know, just got to stay positive and and go to your playbook, write the letter, let them know that you're still interested in the job, reassert how you're you would be excited still about you know being considered for that role or another role that comes open because you're you would be excited still about, you know, being considered for that role or another role that comes open, because you know I would be excited about and then state what your role does and be part of contributing to the mission of the company to accomplish best customer satisfaction.

Speaker 3: 10:16

In the playing card, manufacturing business, whatever it is, it doesn't matter. You know every company has a mission. You just got to find it out. You got to business, whatever it is, it doesn't matter. You know every company has a mission. You just got to find it out. You got to find out what it is and they want you there because it's going to contribute to the mission. So you've got to connect those dots and then you have to articulate it. And I think it's great to articulate it in that letter because you know you can get the person that they send the offer to. That person is probably pretty good. They probably interview very well and they also probably applied at two or three other places as well and they're probably in the top candidate pool there, so they may reject that offer. And then they go back to the slate and they go well, is there anybody else from these guys? We, you know Our number one candidate rejected. He didn't take our offer.

Speaker 2: 11:08

So is there anybody else from this candidate?

Speaker 3: 11:09

pool. Yeah, I have two, yeah, for sure. And so they'll either decide do they want to go back and have a brand new slate? If you didn't have a good second or third choice, then you may go back through and get a whole new slate of candidates which nobody likes. Nobody likes this process, you know. So you may well be, you know that second choice and if you play your cards right and you do all these things right, it's just really showing how well prepared you are for the role.

Speaker 3: 11:42

And how mature you are, how mature you are and how strategically you think, because that's that's really what they want, you know. They want somebody who can think beyond just the role or hiring for somebody that has, you know, a potential of going further than than just the role. Because if they can do that as a leader, it generally looks it, it um reflects very well on a leader if they are kind of become known as like a talent pipeline. You know, and getting your people promoted is a good way yourself to also get promoted and work every time, every time, but it's a good, good way to do it. Ge was very famous for how well they did that back in the 80s under Jack Welch, and so people would come to them and they would headhunt their executives because they wanted that magic in their company too. So they want good candidates and if you can solidify that they're going to. If they have an opening or they may hire somebody, they say, dang, we should have hired that guy, and next time they have something come up, maybe they'll reach out. You should be watching the boards and if they have another opening, ask them if there's any other openings coming up and just sell yourself, sell yourself, energy up, energy up them.

Speaker 3: 13:11

If there's any other openings coming up, you know, and they're, just do sell yourself, sell yourself. Energy up, energy up, uh. You need to project uh uh, positive positivity, positive image up, not discouraged, you know. Just up energy up, um, and keep selling yourself because because that can, that can come through with them with the job offer, and I've got a because that can, that can come through with the with the job offer, and I've got a story about that one. But do you have anything at this point, anything else? Cause I can keep going, I just don't want to talk.

Speaker 2: 13:36

Uh, no, I don't. Um, okay, yeah, so go ahead. Okay so so here's the story wind him up and let him go thank you for joining me.

Speaker 1: 13:50

Scott townsend show.

Speaker 2: 13:51

We'll be back right after this before we continue, the best way to support the Scott Townsend Show is by telling friends, family members and becoming a patron at patreoncom. Forward slash the Scott Townsend Show. So yeah, we have awesome perks, personalized videos, personalized episodes, all kinds of cool stuff at different tier levels. Patreon allows us to do the show full-time, part-time, anytime.

Speaker 3: 14:32

So thank you so much for your support. So this is a story back from way, way back when Jan and I got married. We've been married for 37 years, which is a tribute to my wife um her patience.

Speaker 1: 14:46

But back when we got married yeah, long suffering.

Speaker 3: 14:51

Yeah, I was trying to find a word, um, we'll just use that one long suffering. When we got, when we got married, I had just graduated from oklahoma state and she, she had two more years and she, she was in, uh, the accounting field. She wanted to to be an accountant. So we, we got married, we moved to midland. She did her next like semester of school um at utpb out in odessa and then, uh, when I went where I was at texaco, I got transferred out to to denver. I was working out there and then she went to back to school to finish her last year to year and a half I can't remember now at metropolitan state.

Speaker 3: 15:34

It's just a small college in downtown denver, janet is. She's very good, she's very smart and she's very good at um with academics. Uh, she was straight A student all the way through college. She had one class where she got a B in her whole college career, which is distinctly different from my college career career, but she, she made it through the whole thing. She had like a 3.98 gpa. I mean it's just insane. And you know, back then you didn't have people graduating with something over a 4.0. You know, oh, I graduated with a 4.4.2. What, what kind of scale you want you know. So I think it got game a little bit, but anyway she had a great g.

Speaker 3: 16:21

She went and she sat for the CPA exam. She passed all four parts of the CPA exam on her first go round. And then it was time, after she had that, to go interview. And so she got an invitation to. Oh no, she sent in her application for one of the companies I think it was Pete Marwick. It was Pete Marwick, it was a big six back then. So she sent in her her application to pete marwick, and as were, you know, a lot of her friends who've been through a similar process, and pete marwick sent back a rejection letter just for the interview and said uh, you know, thank you for applying. Um, unfortunately, you know, we're not going to be interviewing you at this time. Thank you for your thank you for applying. That was her first letter.

Speaker 3: 17:25

She got back from one of the big six firms, pete marlican. It was this rejection letter to even interview, and here she had a 3.98 grade point average and all this stuff. I mean it's crazy. She was super discouraged by that but also super motivated and she wasn't going to just let that slide. So she sat down and she wrote a letter back to Pete Marwick and it said something like thank you for responding to my interest in Pete Marwick.

Speaker 3: 17:58

And I'm sure as you go through this, pete Marwick, and I'm sure as you go through this, you have a stack of resumes on your desk that's five inches tall and it's easy for um you know any, any individual in that process, you know not not to make it to the round of people that you interview. Um, in my career, in my academic career, I've worked extremely hard to have a a 3.98 grade point average in hopes that it would at least get me in the door to interview and compete for a position. Um, I love, uh, you know what P Marwood does, your mission, and would appreciate you reconsidering my candidacy because I think I can be of service to Pete Marwick and your customers, blah, blah, something like that, something like that. So she wrote that letter, dropped it off in the mail and then, it wasn't long, was like you know, because we were living in south denver at the time and pete marwick was downtown denver.

Speaker 3: 19:09

So the mail happened pretty fast and in like two or three days, uh, her phone rang and it was this guy from pete marwick and he said hey, we, we got your letter today. Thank you so much for writing that. And you're right, we do have lots of resumes that come in here and we did reconsider your candidacy and we would love to interview you. Whenever they arranged the interview, she went in. She got the first offer that Pete Marwick made in that class, because when they go in and hire for these roles, they'll hire I don't know how many people, but a dozen, maybe more, in a graduating class Because they're trying to staff up their talent Right and uh, so, anyway, she went in and she got the first offer from pete marwick. Um, the salary was right in there with what she was expecting at the time seems like really low.

Speaker 3: 20:15

Now it was back, you know, 35 years ago yeah and uh and ultimately, um, she didn't take the pete marwick offer. She got five offers from the big six, as it turned turned out, one of them didn't, just wouldn't interview anybody from her school, you know, they just weren't, didn't have, wasn't a high profile enough school, I guess, for them.

Speaker 3: 20:40

Whatever they, didn't even interview people from her school. So she didn't get an offer there, but she got an offer from every, every single one of the five remaining CPA firms. So that's what I would offer kind of like as a, as a personal anecdote not not me, but Janet um, and what that can look like, you know, if you handle it in the right way. And I think what she, what she did there to me, was kind of like a template of success that people can use. Just be persistent, stay positive, put yourself in their shoes. Put yourself in the shoes of a hiring manager who's got 50 resumes sitting on their desk. You know, yours may not have risen to the top, for whatever reason. Maybe, maybe yours is on the bottom and they found the 12 they needed before they even got to yours and yours never really even got considered, which is, I think, probably what happened with hers no, right right but when people see you know you handle a situation like that with a lot of uh class, some uh tenacity, you know persistence, professionalism.

Speaker 3: 21:48

They can't get enough people like that and if you're going to be that way in the interview process, likely you're going to conduct your career that way and that's going to represent well, for you know, a highly professional firm like Pete Marwick or whoever.

Speaker 2: 22:04

You know, if no one sends a thank you letter, really nobody will even send that kind of letter. So now you've positioned yourself in the 1% that at least they're going to look at it and go, wow, that shows some tenacity, some resilience, some belief in themselves and some fight some hunger.

Speaker 3: 22:28

So that's kind of good, of good yeah, I'm writing down a couple of things you said because I really agree. Okay, so what one is, I think? I think an important element of her communication back after getting that, I think an important element of communication there was empathizing with the people at Pete Marwick. You're not mad, you're not blaming them or anything. You're empathizing with them. I can only imagine how many resumes must come across your desk and how hard it is to select the final pool of people to interview.

Speaker 3: 23:07

So, you're empathizing with them. You're really saying you know, if I were in your shoes, I may have done exactly the same thing, but here's why I would like you to reconsider, which kind of leads to the next thing that you said was and I think is maybe the biggest takeaway of the whole thing, this whole interview to me is stay in the game because as long.

Speaker 3: 23:24

As long as you, as long as you got the rejection letter but you didn't let it just sit there. You have more to say and as long as you send that back, you may not hear anything back. But as long as you send something back and you keep them on the hook, you're staying in the game and as long as you're in the game you may get the interview and offer that you want. So I'd say, stay in the game. If they choose not to respond or do anything with it, that's on them and it's okay. There's some things you can learn through that process. Hopefully they'll provide you some feedback of why you weren't successful. We should ask for that in that letter, the one before we were dealing with it. As long as you stay in the game, there's always a chance. I think that story about how Janet did that really is a great example of that. She just stayed in the game.

Speaker 3: 24:24

If she had just not done anything, she got it and walked away like everybody else and walked away, then that's what people expect to happen. But you have somebody who's willing to write back and be empathetic and be persistent and be professional. It's an opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade, as they say. And as long as you're staying in the game, there's always a chance. So I think staying in the game is super important.

Speaker 1: 24:56

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