A Guide to Getting a Promotion
Words: Violet
Everyone wants a promotion – simple as that. You want to feel appreciated, be rewarded for what you’ve done so far, be given the opportunity to continue up the ladder, and ideally earn a bit of a pay rise whilst you’re at it, but the real question is how. How do you get promoted?
Whilst there is no one easy answer to this question, we’ve put together 10 tips that we feel will help you on your way to one…
1. Assess where you are now
One of the most common misconceptions about this topic is that a promotion naturally comes with time. Sadly, this is not the case. This is your starting point, think about what skills got you here in the first place and what made the company hire you. From here, everything else will come.
2. Work out where you want to go
Sadly it isn’t enough to just think; ‘I deserve a promotion’, without knowing where this promotion will take you, how your role will change and what new responsibilities you will take on, you need to understand and clearly demonstrate how you meet the requirements. In the same respect, do you want a promotion within your current job or are you looking for a position elsewhere in the company altogether? Be clear on what you want from the start so you can take the right action to help you get there.
3. Play to your skills
Your basic skills and qualities are what got you your current job, so work out how you can play on these and improve them further.
4. Keep Learning
Do not become complacent with what you are capable of – your current skills might have been right when you were hired 2 years ago, but is there a new skill you could learn that would earn you that promotion? If the answer is yes, then work out how to learn it – take a night course, online course, or do your own reading and research.
5. Communicate
No one will ever simply just give you a promotion. You need to let people know what you are doing at the moment, communicate with your boss, call meetings with them to discuss what you’ve been doing, come up with new strategies, look at how other companies are succeeding and how you might be able to apply this to your company. More often than not, your boss will have no idea about the small successes you have each week, so document them and send a monthly report informing them of what you’ve been doing.
6. Look the Part
If you’re really serious about getting a promotion, you need people to see that you are serious and this often means upping your game visually. Polished shoes, ironed shirts, and a groomed appearance are all subtle signs of a man on a mission to be noticed.
7. Get yourself known
Not just within your current role, but in other sectors of the company and outside of the company all together. Network at all opportunities, this way you become more than just another clog in the company machine, but a valuable ambassador worthy of a promotion.
8. Go above and Beyond
Think you already come in early and stay late? Think you’re the only one working weekends or giving up social commitments for your job? You are not. Whether you like it or not there are thousands of other men and women doing just the same, so go that extra mile (or two) and it won’t go unnoticed.
9. Start Mentoring your Successor
Too experienced for your current role, but equally too valuable for the company to loose you? This is so often the case for worthy candidates not receiving the promotion they deserve. Don’t just expect your company to find your replacement, start training up and mentoring someone below you who you think would make a worthy replacement.
10. Be the Man you’d want to work with yourself
From socialising with colleagues, to greeting the receptionists, no good deed goes unnoticed. Be kind, courteous and helpful to those around you. No one wants to promote the man who never smiles or grumbles about working late – it isn’t just those above you who have an influence on gaining that elusive promotion you’re after.
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