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It's the career boost you've dreamt of. You're invited into the boss's office and told you're about to be bumped up the corporate ladder. You'll be given more money, more scope and more opportunity. You'd be mad not to take it, right?

Well, maybe not. Not all promotions are what they're cracked up to be. Indeed, there can be times when turning down a more responsible job is the smart thing to do.

Executive coach Christopher Simpson, from PHR Consulting, says: "You should treat a promotion in the same manner that you would treat an external job [offer]. You need to say, 'What's important? What are my skills? What are my values? What are the strengths that I bring to the role?"'

Simpson says workers flattered by the offer of a promotion often fail to evaluate whether the new job is really a good fit. "We usually accept these roles because we've been seduced, or they pander to our ego," he says.

A valid reason for rejecting a promotion might be the desire for a more agreeable work-life balance. "If you accept a promotion, you have the increased time away from your family," Simpson says. "[Also] usually increased travel or workload and thereby increased stress levels. And you've got the normal sort of health issues that come up if you're working far too hard."

Take the case of Toby O'Bree. A 16-year veteran employee at Subaru Australia, he had some serious evaluating to do in 2005 when he was invited to apply for the newly created role of general manager of marketing. Then the national marketing manager, he ultimately opted not to go for the role.

"I thought, 'Do I want to take on extra responsibility at this point in my life as opposed to doing a few other things like being around for the family more?"' says O'Bree, now 49. "I've got teenage kids and there were many times when I wasn't around for them when they were younger. I didn't want to get into the position where I wasn't around for them when they were starting to make some of those big life choices. I also felt the organisation could probably benefit from having someone who brought in a new set of skills that would hopefully be complementary to mine, and in fact that's been the case."

Now, with the benefit of two years' hindsight, O'Bree says his decision was right.

"There weren't any regrets," he says. "I'm fortunate to have an employer who was very supportive of me. Some organisations might have said, 'Well, we really don't have room for someone in your role, we really want to give the new person a clean desk to work with.' But they were quite happy for me to remain in my role and to recruit someone for that broader role."

Career experts say it's also vital to be honest about your ability to meet the technical demands of a potential new role. After all, a skills deficiency is more likely to set you up for failure and longer-term career damage than it is to secure plaudits and recognition.

Emma Walsh, director of Changing Places HR Services, says being brutally candid at the outset is crucial.

"Anyone going into a job who doesn't feel they've got the skills or capabilities to at least adequately perform the role should by really upfront about that with their employer and say, 'This is where I see my potential shortcomings - how might we work around that?"' she says.

"If you can't work around it, it's probably better to say, 'It's not right for me now but what I will do is acquire extra capabilities or skills by doing a course or perhaps shadowing the person who does get the job so the next time the opportunity becomes available I'll be able to put myself forward more confidently."'

If you do end up saying, "Thanks, but no thanks," it shouldn't be cause for unnecessary angst, says Christopher Simpson.

"I think it's a smart thing to hold back and choose the next role based on its merits and not the thought that, if I don't take this they won't offer me anything else," he says. "For years they've talked about the career ladder. Now they're talking about the career lattice, so sometimes taking a job that's even slightly below the level you're on already, or taking something that's equivalent to it, [is required] to get the necessary skills to go up."