Dear Jobs Guru: ‘I’m too useful at work and it’s stopping me getting promoted’
Reader Jayde says her colleagues can always rely on her – but she’s started to worry it might be holding her back. Our Jobs Guru James Innes is here with some advice…
Jayde often finds herself carrying other people’s baggage(Image: Getty Images/Tetra images RF)
At work, I’m very much the person that people turn to when something needs sorting out.
If there’s a problem, I deal with it. Something behind schedule? I get it moving again. If there’s a mess, I step in and clean it up.
That might sound like a good position to be in – and I suppose in some ways it is – but, when promotion discussions happen, my name never seems to be anywhere near the front of the queue.
I’m the one people rely on, yet I’m not the one who moves up. Why not?!
Jayde, Peterborough
Well, now, Jayde; I’m afraid I’ve seen this sort of thing many times. You have quite simply become a victim of your own usefulness. That may sound absurd – but it happens all the time in workplaces.
Once somebody is known as the one who can always be trusted to sort things out, keep things moving and clear up other people’s messes, there’s a danger they stop being viewed as a candidate for eventual promotion and just get viewed as being part of the furniture.
An essential part of the furniture. A valuable and appreciated part of the furniture – but not someone in line for promotion, because you’re just too useful where you already are.
If your boss says, “I’d be lost without them.” it’s more a double-edged sword than a compliment.
Meanwhile, somebody else – perhaps not half as useful, perhaps not half as dependable – gets the promotion you most likely deserve.
It’s definitely not fair – but promotions generally go to the people who are able to stand in the spotlight at the front of the stage rather than the people keeping everything working backstage!
The answer? Keep on being useful – but do make sure people realise how useful you are and don’t just take you for granted.
Top Tip:
Don’t just be known as the one who helps out and saves the day. Make sure people also know what you are responsible for, what you have improved – and where you expect to go next.
Spotlight On: Being ‘indispensable’
Most people would assume being indispensable at work is a marvellous thing.
In one sense, it is, yes. It means people trust you. It means you are useful. It means the place would be in a proper pickle without you.
The trouble is that, once somebody becomes indispensable in one particular spot, moving them starts to become rather inconvenient. And many managers would rather avoid that inconvenience.
You need to ask yourself: Am I truly being valued – or am I just being used?! I’m not saying it’s a bad thing to be indispensable – but it is a bad thing when the result is that you are just left trapped where you are with no possibility of moving up the ladder.
Get a head start in your job hunt with James’ new book, The Job You’ve Always Wanted – out now from Pearson at £16.99.
Our Jobs Guru, James Innes, is a best-selling careers author and founder of the world’s leading group of professional CV and resume writers .
