Didn’t get that promotion? How to turn ‘no’ into opportunity

Job openings are down 8.6%, year over year, according to federal data published Tuesday. The number of people quitting their jobs—a proxy for workers’ ability to find greener pastures—has fallen 2.6% during the same period.

So you might be stuck making the best of your current situation. That might not be such a bad thing.

Staying put with a strategy for advancement can actually help your career, according to people who have turned rejections into future promotions. The key is recognizing you have leverage as a runner-up, even though you might feel undervalued in the moment.

Carson Heady, who now works for Microsoft, says he once jumped ship after missing a promotion and regretted leaving.

Carson Heady, managing director of the Americas region in Microsoft’s Tech for Social Impact group, left a previous employer in a huff after losing out on a promotion. He quickly regretted the decision, partly because starting over at a company where he had no internal network proved harder than he anticipated.

Years later, at Microsoft, he was more deliberate when he got passed over for a promotion he expected to win. He congratulated the person who beat him and studied the qualities that set the successful candidate apart. He also sought constructive criticism, requested a mentor and asked for a clear path to a bigger role. In six months, he landed one.

“It was really about ensuring I had the right relationships, focused on the business challenges that my leadership was calling out and came up with replicable solutions that made everybody else around me better," says Heady, 46 years old. “That’s been my ticket to getting to where I am now."

Know you’re valued

It’s natural to interpret getting shot down as a sign your employer isn’t high on you, but that is often the wrong conclusion, says Ani Huang, senior executive vice president of the HR Policy Association. Being in contention for a more prominent position shows you’re well-regarded, even if you ultimately lost out.

She says businesses are increasingly asking human-resources chiefs to try to stop also-rans from walking out the door, especially after an internal competition for the CEO job or another top post. The effort starts with a respectful selection process.

“More companies are trying to avoid a public horse race," Huang says. It can be hard for rivals to work together after jockeying, and losers are sometimes embarrassed if everyone knows about their defeats.

Other strategies include retention bonuses and plum assignments to make an employee who missed out on a promotion feel like a rising star.

“Companies are doing a better job of making clear, ‘This is not the end of the road for you,’" Huang says.

Negotiate now

If you work for a company that hands out consolation prizes unprompted, good for you. Often, though, you’ll have to ask for what you want—if you can stay levelheaded and not let yourself get overwhelmed by the rejection.

Consultant Kathryn Valentine recommends treating a promotion rejection as the start of a negotiation.

“Do it in the same conversation where you’re told you didn’t get the promotion," says Kathryn Valentine, founder of Worthmore Strategies, a consulting firm focused on boosting negotiation skills. “Part of negotiating is preparing what you’ll say next if you hear ‘no.’"

You’re more likely to get a “yes" after a denial because most people don’t like to say “no" repeatedly, she reasons. Your odds are even better if the request is inexpensive.

Valentine says the moment you get bad news can be a good time to propose an experiment that, if successful, will show you’re innovative and ready for more responsibility. You also might ask for the company to send you to a conference or, better yet, nominate you as a speaker.

The idea is to raise your profile and expand your network to set you up for the next promotion bid.

“See what you can trade into that drives up your market value," she says.

Get a coach

Another possible request is an executive coach like Sabina Nawaz. She says most of her clients’ tabs are paid by their employers—often after failed promotion attempts.

With executive coach Sabina Nawaz, people who have lost out on promotions ask their companies to pay for leadership training.

Asking for a coach accomplishes a couple of things. It shows you’re hungry to improve and humble enough to seek help. And it’s a way to find out where you stand. If the company is willing to invest in leadership training, that’s an endorsement of your potential; if not, well, take the hint.

Nawaz advises clients to be explicit about their ambitions for future promotions and to ask managers what it will take to advance. Her upward trajectory in a previous job stalled because she hadn’t groomed a replacement. Her boss wanted to know someone could fill her shoes before promoting her, so she made a point of helping colleagues and showcasing their abilities.

Another time she told a manager that she hoped he would advocate for her in the next promotion cycle. When he hesitated to back her, citing a perceived weakness in her skill set, she circled back with performance data to combat his doubts and got the promotion she targeted.

“If I hadn’t planted that seed in his mind, it wouldn’t have happened," she says.

Remember, everyone fails

Your boss’s résumé probably looks like one promotion after another. What you don’t see are the swings and misses.

Garry Ridge climbed the ladder at the WD-40 Company for 35 years, retiring as chief executive in 2022, but says it wasn’t a straight line to the top. He once eyed a position he thought he was perfect for, only to see someone else get the nod.

“Rather than focusing on what I didn’t get, I focused on what I could control—learning, growing and contributing at the highest level where I was," he says. “I sought out mentors, sharpened my skills and made sure that the next time an opportunity arose, I would be undeniably ready."

Write to Callum Borchers at callum.borchers@wsj.com