Snubbed for promotion - What would you do?

I found myself in a similar situation before, not in banking but at an established healthcare technology firm. This sort of company politics stuff happens in a lot of places. The organization has great employees but instead of promoting from within the upper level management just has a tunnel vision mindset that the talent they need is elsewhere. The only way out of that situation is to move to a different department or company. Do whatever will get you working with a new team that better appreciates you.

It's clear they don't see you fit for this "manager" role. I would start looking elsewhere while the market is hot.

Look elsewhere. Might take time, so don't just resign.

So you got f*cked. Congrats. I've seen people done in much worse than a snub. This is bound to happen a few times in your career and that's okay.

I tend to take more aggressive routes so my word certainly is not gospel.

Threaten to resign. Sit down w/ whomever made the decision to bring on the new guy and tell him you feel slighted by this move and you're beginning your search now. If you are as valuable as it sounds in this thread then they'll work something out. Doubtful they'll fire your cause they need you apparently to get this dude up to speed.

A masters w/ 5 yrs exp should not have analyst in their title.

Time to find a new job.

think of the people who are in prison, working a job they hate, or are without friends or family. Buddha perspective

It can take a while to find another position so I would start quickly before your bitterness negatively impacts your performance.

Chicken Pot Pie:

I am not really sure how to react, from my perspective...I spent considerable time working as the manger doing the job, while getting paid as an analyst. Now I've not only been relegated back to being an analyst, but there is no longer a clear path to being promoted until a new spot opens up (aka someone leaves). This feels like an insult as someone who's already been an analyst for 3.5 years and I'm not sure what to do. Stay here and spend another 1-2 years waiting? Leave to go somewhere else? Right before shit hits the fan, with hopes to get a title bump and a raise? Most recruiters seem to only target me for analyst positions, but you'd think as someone with a masters and almost 5-years of CRE experience, shouldn't be an analyst for more than half a decade just before getting promoted.

How would you react or what would you do? I was tempted to go elsewhere, but everyone I talk to wants me to stay cause they'd hate for the company to lose me.

First off, if your original manager hadn't left and you were still an analyst working for him today, would you feel differently than you do now? If your expectation was that you would be an analyst at this point all along, then I'm not sure how you're any worse off than expected a year ago. Still on the same path.

And as for recruiters... all they see is someone in an analyst role. Why should they offer you managerial positions? After all, your current company hasn't seen fit to. Not saying you aren't deserving, trying to be a Devil's Advocate.

And finally, and not deliberately trying to be a dick... are you sure you did a good job? It isn't out of the question, given the information you provided, that your bosses didn't think you executed on the job the way they were looking for and thus they sent you back down to the role you're good at.

That being said, you have plenty of experience and there is no reason to stay in a job you don't find reasonably fulfilling. If you feel like your talents aren't be appreciated, then definitely start job hunting on the sly. But if everyone is offering you the same kinds of positions, maybe your resume isn't as strong as you think it is?

Do you look really young?

To the OP - I think another key aspect of this is to take a step back and take an objective look at your performance as a Manager. Were you truly performing as a Manager is expected to within your organization? Or were you just getting them by until they found a solution? Especially while juggling two roles, it is possible that your performance in both dipped slightly - this isn't meant to be critical, just making sure you have looked at this from multiple angles.

I agree with all the above that it's probably time to start looking elsewhere, but when you have a conversation with upper management, I also think it would be good to find out why they did not see you as a fit for the job right now. It's possible that you get some constructive feedback which could help you get to that next level at your current company or your next.

Did you communicate to them that you wanted the position and were ready to take on all applicable responsibilities? If you didn't say anything that was a big mistake - squeaky wheel gets the grease...

Time to leave OP... Dust that resume/CV off and apply often.

I would leave as it’s clear there is no upward mobility

They didn't appreciate you enough to give you an offer to move up. What makes you think that they'll change their mind about that in a year or two?

Drop them once you find another job, not before. People who don't appreciate what you're doing aren't worth your time. This sounds like an office politics thing rather than a performance thing.

Also --- next time you take on a superior's responsibilities for a significant period of time you should require to be paid for the responsibilities that you take on. If you put on your resume the title of the job that you've been doing in addition to your analyst title, and describe the responsibilities that you took on in that manager role it will stand out more to recruiters.

You aren't just an analyst, so don't just put down analyst as your title. Do something like Analyst and the time period, and then the manager title for the time the manager role was filled by you, and make it clear on the resume that you were doing both jobs. If you were doing both jobs then it isn't lying.

Sometimes you just need some patience, it’s always a grind to manager level at most financial institutions, but the progression from there takes off if you are truly a capable person, and vice versa many stall at mgr level for a long time

I'm going to take a more contrarian approach to this one. First, I'm not really clear on the exact timelines of how long you were in this manager role. That said:

Chicken Pot Pie:

In the late fall of last year, my manager of 3 months was let go. I wasn't sure of the reason, just that my big boss asked me to cover my offices until they came to a solution.

OP literally said they needed cover until they found a new manager, whether internally or externally. Flub number one might have been not fully understanding the extent of the cover and what that meant for your career and promotion potential prior to accepting this responsibility. There was also no discussion of a pay raise while taking on greater responsibilities, so you kind of screwed yourself in that regards and stayed at the same baseline. But, I digress. Farther down in the post it's noted that they mentioned you were doing a great job and to keep up the good work. Again, I wouldn't immediately think this means you've got the slot for the manager role. Your firm isn't responsible for what you think you heard. Maybe you were doing a great job. Maybe they do see you as a manager. Did you discuss it?

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for promoting internally and rewarding those who work hard. And, if you feel slighted, by all means start looking elsewhere while you're gainfully employed. And maybe I'm not reading between the lines correctly, but it seems more like you're just sour you thought you had a manager role lined up when maybe you didn't really. Tell me I'm wrong and the tone might change. But it doesn't seem like anything was in writing, they didn't outright tell you it was yours and t doesn't seem like many other discussions were had either about how you were performing when you were filling in. You're the captain of your own ship. Take ownership of that. Remove real estate from the equation, this is a huge part of the corporate/office politics I personally hate, but is sooo important to master. You must look out for Number 1 at all times.

Think of it this way: you were an analyst filling in for a Manager and you feel slighted when you only got promoted to Senior Analyst and they hired someone externally. Is it normal for Analysts to get promoted straight to Manager? How many other Senior Analysts are at your firm that got passed over as well? Just like personal priorities, business priorities change too. Maybe they found a rock star who would take their business to the next level. Or, they felt you needed more time to attain manager qualities as myself and a few others have previously note.

Now, if you did have multiple conversations about how you were doing (as it isn't expressly stated) and you were promised the role, that's a different story. I think not, though. At the least, if you branch out and receive an offer on a new role, before you accept, consider speaking with your superiors about how you felt slighted and ask them what happened. If you don't like the response, take the offer and move on with your head high. If you like their response and see light at the end of the tunnel, you can not accept the offer, stay at your firm, and no one will be the wiser. I think this is really only reliable and valid if you receive an offer within the next few months. Otherwise, the longer it takes to have the discussion it becomes more of a moot point. The "hey boss, remember when you said I was on the fast track to manager 8 months ago? What happened there?" scenario will do you no good.

That's just my $0.02.

Did not read the rest of the thread so apologies if this is a repeat... Have you tried talking to someone internally about this? I get sometimes it is better to play things close to the vest, but perhaps, in this case, it is worth voicing your concerns with your boss's boss in an open-air conversation. No expectations obviously, but simply talking through your thought process with them and explaining why you came to your conclusion and subsequent disappointment.

Maybe they had their reason for not picking you, but I would want to know those reasons so I can asses whether they are fair reasons, fix them, and find my path to the next level.

Similarly, if they are not open in conversation and do not give you fair reasons as to why you weren't chosen - then maybe that is a sign and it is time to move on.