Passed over for a job or promotion
Getting passed over for a job or promotion feels awful! Ick. Bad. No good feelings at all.
Here’s what I have done that has helped when this situation happened to me:
Be upset for 60 seconds
Think of the opportunity
Talk to your boss about development
Help your coworker
Let’s dive into the details!
Be upset for 60 seconds. It stings a bit, it doesn't feel good. Be pissed for a short amount of time (preferably alone and not at work). Yell into a pillow, punch the air, do whatever makes you feel better. And then move on.
Think of the opportunity. This is a big opportunity to observe how your coworker leads the project. Note the things you want to replicate when you are a project leader, as well as those things you want to avoid doing.
Talk to your boss about development. Use this as a catalyst to ask your boss about your own development: find out what you need in your 2021 work plan to be ready and asked to lead the next big project.
Help your coworker. If the opportunity exists to help with some leadership tasks, like slide creation or writing updates, jump on it. You will learn a lot and help the team.
