A Year Of Humility (IX): A Job Application

 Recently I applied for a higher level position at my current company.

I was notified that it was coming and "encouraged" to apply (if I read my personal interaction cards right).  I went through the process like anyone else - updated CV, Letter of Interest - and off it wandered into the world of computer applications (on the bright side, at least I know it will not get washed out in the initial pass).

At the time of this writing, the outcome is unknown - but there are only three possible ones.  The first is that I get the job.  The second is that someone else in my department gets the job.  The third is that someone from outside our department or the company gets the job.

Of the options, the first is and third are relatively easy to understand and follow up with - the first for sure of course (who am I to complain about me getting a promotion) and the third (someone undoubtedly brought in for greater experience and/or specialized expertise).  But the second - someone else - is the part of today's meditation because it brings up the following question: How do I serve in a current position when I have been passed over internally?

Before you dismiss it as a simple question, I urge you to think back to your own career - to yourself, or someone that you had worked with whom applied to an internal position.  You can remember the angst and concern as they went through the process - and often, the burning blow they felt when they were "rejected" for someone else.

There are one of two reactions we can have in such situations.  The first is the reaction of being embittered, of being angry, of constantly arguing about the person ("X had all the ins") or the process ("They never really considered me") or the company ("They have no intent on moving people like me [whatever "me" is] up the ladder").  The difficulty here - beyond just the initial reaction - is the fact that this attitude bleeds itself into every aspect of work, given time.  I have almost never seen an employee who felt they were (legitimately or illegitimately) passed over not become somehow embittered over time.

The second reaction is that of humility.

It is certain that one cannot always know all of the factors that go into a hire (having been a hiring manager and having been on multiple hiring teams, there are a great many things that make up a hiring choice).  And while I like to believe that teams get it right for the right reasons, that is not always the case - nor should it matter.

It goes back to that somewhat nagging line in Philippians 2:3-4:  "Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility of mind count others better than yourselves.  Let of each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." (RSV).  "Nothing" there simply means "nothing" - Not one thing.

What are the interests of others here?  That I do my job competently and joyfully (or at least with as much joy as I can muster).  That I do not hold back one thing that I was doing before I had applied to after the decision.  That I work for my new manager just as hard as I worked for my previous one (who will still be around).  That I do my best to make my new manager look just as good as I did my previous one.

Ultimately, that there is no interruption in the work no matter who is managing me or what position I have or do not have.

It is easy enough to say that for a single position.  It becomes endlessly more difficult when one puts aside the idea that one may never move forward in this job.  And then extrapolate it to every position or role we play in our lives.

Modern society only, ever, has us on an upward track.  Humility says something far different:  "It matters not what you are or what you are doing or even whether the situation gets better or more agreeable.  Humbly work and serve as if God Himself were your employer or manager."

Which ultimately, of course, He really is.