Career Expert Warns Against Ever Accepting A Promotion For A 9-5 Job
He claimed that there's no benefit to being promoted at a company that may not value your work ethic and commitment.
Ground Picture | Shutterstock In the corporate world, workers often strive to climb the ladder and receive promotions, raises, and any other acknowledgment that their contributions are appreciated.
However, a career expert named Aaron Knightley claimed that workers should strive for something more lucrative and worthwhile than a simple promotion.
He warned employees against ever accepting a promotion for a 9-5 job.
In Knightley's TikTok video, he strongly advised against the idea of promotions, especially for the standard 9-5 job, and that he would never accept or strive to get a promotion at work. He explained that a promotion isn't as glamorous as people might assume and instead, it's "shorter puppet strings."
"Someone's biting at your heel for your job role because you've gone into a job role now where there's far and few of them, so now you're on the chopping board, but also you're just deeper within the system," Knightley argued. "You're not paid accordingly."
Knightley continued, saying that if he were in a position where he was being offered a promotion, and someone was telling him that he would get paid on his next promotion anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 more in salary, then to him, it's not worth it.
He claimed that if you build your own business instead of accepting a promotion, you'll be able to pay yourself $5,000 to $10,000 a month if the company does really well.
"You want more responsibility? Go start a business," Knightley said, referring to the common excuse that people use to justify why they want a promotion. "That's real responsibility. Going for a promotion and taking on two, three, four, five extra roles on your task list ... that's not a promotion. That's not a responsibility."
Knightley added that climbing the corporate ladder isn't fulfilling because you're simply building someone else's dream and company when in turn, most CEOs and executives don't value or appreciate the hard work of the people that work underneath them.
It's valid to have apprehension about promotions and being a machine in corporate America because of how unforgiving it is, but it's also a bit presumptuous to assume that people should just start their own company.
About half of homeowners and renters said they have periodically struggled in 2024 to afford their mortgage payment or rent, according to a recent survey from online real estate broker Redfin.
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Just to keep up with their housing payments, some homeowners and renters admitted to selling their belongings, picking up overtime shifts, canceling vacations, working a second job, and even skipping meals.
Starting a company isn't just a little project that anyone can do. It takes resilience, dedication, and, most importantly, money. Considering that most working-class Americans are struggling to afford basic necessities, like rent and groceries, it's a bit of a stretch that the average person working a 9-5 job will be able to quit and start their own company/business at the drop of a hat.
On top of that, even if an individual were to start a company, it would take a while before they'd see any lucrative revenue coming in.
Many American workers have been vocal about their desire for a promotion or raise at work.
According to Workhuman, which polled 1,000 full-time U.S. employees in December 2022 about their hopes and expectations for 2023, workers admitted to paying less attention to the chaotic economic situation and more on factors they can control, like becoming more organized, setting healthier boundaries in the workplace and supplementing their income through side hustles.
Forty-eight percent of workers claimed they wanted to get promoted or receive a raise, about 4% of workers were optimistic that work-life balance would improve in 2023, and 29% of workers expected that employees would be more vocal about their needs in the workplace.
The average American worker at a 9-5 job truly does want a promotion and probably doesn't have the financial resources to start their own company.
So, for the time being, a steady and consistent job is just a bit more important than anything else, especially when taking into account the state of the economy and the cost of living.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.