11 months into my current Assistant Controller role (industry, fortune 500) and want to move to a new Controller role that opened up within a different internal accounting team. Little background- I’m overqualified for my current AC role, as I have been Controller and Sr Controller level previously elsewhere. Took this role to have a season of less stress, but being more experienced than even my own boss, I’ve been tasked with more and more work and realized fine I’ll just go be a Controller or Sr Controller again and at least get paid for my extra effort. Applied to some external positions and also internally to this other team’s open Controller position- higher title, little more money, I definitely qualify. Got immediate negative feedback. Manager said I have to be in my current role 12 months (lol ok so in 3 more weeks) and need to be in “good standing” in my current position in order to be “allowed” to interview internally and was told I am “not, not” currently in good standing but i’m not in good standing either (it was so contradictory and wishy washy) with no further explanation despite my direct attempts to question how to get into good standing or what caused me to not be currently. Basically just la la land fairy tale words that hold no real value, to get me to give up on the idea. I get it, they’re panicking, afraid to lose me, so they’re blocking me. Which actually gives me some leverage, because now I know how valuable I am to them in my current role (of course, I’m overqualified and underpaid, that’s a dream to them). What I don’t know is how to navigate this transfer request. Is the machine so big that I shouldn’t even try to fight it?