✉️ Mailbag: What happens if a boss "freezes" you?

This week’s newsletter comes in response to a reader question. Submit your Career River questions at bridget@mycareerriver.com. 📫

How can a person's career trajectory be impacted if a boss "freezes" you at a certain level? What can be done?

There are a lot of reasons a manager might “freeze” an employee’s progress, whether they mean to or not. But whether your boss is simply too overwhelmed to support your development or actively trying to keep you put so they don’t need to make a new hire, there’s one key thing to remember: They can’t keep you from moving forward entirely, even in small ways.

I reached out for advice on LinkedIn and got some great perspective:

• Go around instead of through: "Ah, yes, the 'Curse of Competence.' The dreaded 'you're too good at what you're doing in your current job for me to lose you to a promotion,'" wrote Ronnie J. Willis.
  
  "If you're committed to the company for which you work, this is the one instance where it's defensible to go around your boss. If you have real interest and qualification for a particular role in another space, you have fiduciary duty to yourself to pursue it – even if it means cutting your boss out of the loop.
  
  "If you have to switch companies to reach the level you want to reach, this is where treating your career like a river comes into play. Sometimes it's necessary to go backward to move forward – consider taking a step down at another company that offers a real path to advancement."
  
• It's OK to leave: "We have to normalize leaving bad bosses behind. Whether it’s switching teams internally or leaving for a new opportunity externally, I have seen wayyyyyy too many folks feeling stuck because of a lack of manager support and buy-in," wrote Emma Carew Grovum.
  
  "Good managers have their eyes open and encourage your development. Great ones go out of their way to create stretch assignments, highlight and share your wins widely, and plan WITH their direct reports with goals and growth areas.
  
  "And, for those in hiring and executive roles: if you have bad people managers on your team still, I have to ask: WHY???? And is it worth keeping those folks at the expense of the others who will leave??"
  
• You don't need a new job to gain experience: "If being passed over for promotion I think internal candidates deserve to know where they need growth, experience or skills to move up," wrote Eugene Sonn. "I think we owe more to internal candidates in this respect than external ones. In this scenario, I think it is fair to request a conversation about this.
  
  "If ... the manager is not receptive to talking about this, consider gaining valuable experience elsewhere. Could be in your local chapter of a journalism organization. Could be in your volunteer work outside of work. That can help build your resume to get a job somewhere else."

I’d also encourage you to keep in mind that whatever your next role is, making your career trajectory work for you is all about finding the fit. There may be humane hiring managers out there who light up when you share your unique value, job titles be damned. Just because one person or place couldn’t see what you have to offer, doesn’t mean your resume will forever restrict you to that level.

Happy navigating,
Bridget

P.S. I want to share a couple 🔥 hot tips 🔥 from attendees of my webinar last week on navigating layoffs:

• "Check press releases from media orgs you admire. They’ll usually highlight projects, team members and beats/topics/collaborations that they value. Check staff pages to find titles of those mentioned and look at their LinkedIn profiles. New staff announcements will also showcase what skills & experience led the person to be hired."
• "I like creating a Yes No Maybe So list – yes is all the things I love to do/excel at, No is all the things I hate to do/won't do, Maybe is stuff that I don't care for but will do. so I use that list to compare / gut check job listings and whether its worth applying or not."

Hello Navigators! This week I'm pleased to pass along an invitation for a free coaching session from Stephanie Yoder as she completes an advanced coaching program (full disclosure: I've been friends with Stephanie since college).