Loopholes In The Promotion System

What will you do if the promotion you’ve been waiting for was so close yet it was snatched away from you? Worse, you are even accused of manipulating the ratings. Worst, you are not aware what you’ve been accused of and nobody have told you or nobody planned to tell you.

I know someone should be promoted ahead of me and as a form of respect, I submitted my bid for promotion only to fulfill my responsibility to myself, to take every opportunity and act on it.  The bid was submitted 6 months ago and the results have already been released also months ago.

Some rumors always come out. It’s been a hell for two days. I have known I should have been the one promoted based on the official promotion criteria. My opponent’s ratings were changed (an old practice I have known being carried out long ago) so I will not get the position. But I am not angry over. I feel worst because I have been accused unknowingly of manipulating my own ratings.

To have an idea of how performance ratings are done, these are done twice a year. When a promotion process is at hand, previous two ratings are used to evaluate the employee’s chance of being promoted. Take note that promotions are not being done regularly. It is not also advised ahead of time. It can take years before another promotion process is advertised. This is true for our division.

The issue is I was accused of manipulating the ratings since I got a higher rating. Such a child’s play. Have I foreseen or known a year ago that there will be a promotion this year? The papers are signed by superiors. Didn’t they read what they are putting their signatures at? If my superiors have known I have done such thing, why have they not confronted me? Is that a quality of a good superior or manager?

I still have few days before my next tour of duty and I am not sure how will I act infront of them. Should I be ashamed for an act I have not done, go after the promotion, request for transfer to another facility or just act as if nothing happened?