Thread: how to cope with peer pressure at work to apply to a higher position??

soo my current position/job in this company (corporate) has traditionally been as a stepping stone in a career to a certain higher position so to speak, bigger salary and of course bigger responsibilities.
thing is, I have only been here for 1.5 years and whenever there is a job opening to that other job position, co-workers tend to inquire if I have already applied etc, they say I should apply and things like that.

I dont mind currently working at this lower paid position so my go-to excuse so far has been that I've only been here for such a short time that I think I need more experience. I dont want to say that im not interested because that answer shows that I have no ambition so I dont want to display that image either.
so misc, when someone asks again, whats the safe excuse for not applying to said job, but not show lack of ambition either.

What is the real reason you don't want to move up? Afraid you won't do well? Don't want to work harder? Don't want more responsibility?

TBH, from the standpoint of a company executive, after a while I would have you pegged as someone with no ambition. Doesn't matter what your reason is.

Originally Posted by Drew23

What is the real reason you don't want to move up? Afraid you won't do well? Don't want to work harder? Don't want more responsibility?

TBH, from the standpoint of a company executive, after a while I would have you pegged as someone with no ambition. Doesn't matter what your reason is.

i forgot to mention that there are couple of other people in the company that have stayed on the same job as me for like 5 years now, so I wouldnt TOTALLY be the odd one out type of guy but still kind of..., but yeah even tho I would be higher paid, the end result would still be a zero-sum game due to new responsibilities and increased stress

there are a lot of people who stay at the entry level position forever. it's honestly a litttle pathetic. The added responsibility will just become second nature at some point and it will be just as easy as your current position. just do it OP.

Why do you not want to advance your career? Are you comfortable/happy in your current role? Nothing wrong with that to be honest, sometimes moving up causes a lot more stress and work and quality of life goes down.

Here have a look at this OP

Imposter Syndrome is a real thing. Even if you apply for the position and you don't get it or fail it will still be a learning experience for you. Do it.

You’re going to eventually have to tell them you’re not interested. Might as well do it sooner rather than later. Every time you tell them “I need more experience” you risk coming off as a slow learner and/or unsure of your abilities. If you do that for a while and still end up not pursuing a higher position then you’ll really appear unsure of yourself. If you’re honest they’ll at least know what they have in you and you’ll come off as someone who knows what he wants and how to get there. Not everyone wants to climb the corporate ladder or do all of the things it takes to do it. That being said, you should be pursuing better roles, whatever those may be, or else you’ll probably get burned out sooner or later. You should also look for ways to make yourself more valuable in your current role. All in all it sounds like a good position since obviously lots of people see potential in you.

You're never going to have "enough experience" for a position if you don't move up.

just apply. try not to care too much

your bosses are people just like you and will just pick the best candidate and have their own world of chit to deal with outside of work

My tech lead makes 3x what I do but does 10x more work. Pretty easy math on this one.

Also just LOL @ imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome isn't real, if you think you have it, you're just actually an imposter.