These tips for getting job promotions are written for employees, but they’re also helpful for managers and employers. They show how to approach promotion and career advancement positively and constructively. They can encourage employees to be more self-reliant, proactive, and ambitious.
Lots of employees want to get promoted. But there need to be more jobs for everyone wanting them.
So, try a different approach.
While waiting for your dream job, go out there and make something happen for yourself.
Take advantage of some fancy opportunity or vacancy. Applying for an internal job is basically like playing the lottery – just like getting a career in the first place. Why bother competing with others for the same position when you can create opportunities and take on more responsibility on your terms?
Pay, position, and job promotions are all about how well you do and how effective you are. The first three – income, place, and advertising – are hard to change. You can control the scale and effectiveness of what you do and how you work. Step up your game and be more effective at what you do, and everything else will naturally fall into place over time.
Instead of just sitting around and waiting for someone to hand you a new job and more responsibilities, start finding ways to make yourself more valuable and excellent in your organization while doing your current gig. By doing that, you’ll promote yourself – in a job
you’re obsessed with because you’ll have made it your own thing.
This means you have to put in some time and effort. Most people don’t do this because they don’t want to give their boss something for free, but think about it: It’s an investment you’ll be making primarily for yourself, for the extra experience and worth you’ll get – which will make you more valuable to your boss – and any other boss too.
When you’re picking new stuff to learn and improve on, it’s a good idea to let your boss know what you’re up to and why you’re doing it. So, when you’ve done some awesome stuff and shown that you’re way better at a higher level, you can ask for recognition, promotion, or reward. You’ve made it clear what you want, and now you’ve made a super convincing argument. Employers go all out to keep people who do this kind of thing. They’ll usually hook you up with better deals and promotions without you even having to ask because they don’t want to lose you.
So, take your time with a job opening. Instead, find your little space in the world, even if you don’t have some fancy title or official role. Start doing things that make a difference and aim for bigger, more important stuff. Be all strategic and productive and stuff. Anyone can do it; you don’t need a fancy promotion or a new job title beforehand.
Keep your boss in the loop about what you’re up to, especially if you need their permission or approval for new project ideas. And remember to be open to their advice, guidance, and support. Trust me, most bosses love helping people grow, so you’ll be a welcome change of pace.
If you spot an opportunity just lying there, grab it.
If you spot a responsibility hoover, jump in and fill it.
Most job promotions involve managing people. Make sure you start working on and showing off your incredible skills in that area: be known as someone who helps others – in any way you can. Coach, cheer on, thank, acknowledge, praise, give props, listen to, and always be cool to others. The main things that good managers have to do are coaching and developing their peeps and helping them do a better job. You can start doing that tomorrow if you still need to do it. Now, you’re starting to promote yourself.
If you’re in sales, account management, or any job that helps make more money or save costs, keep doing your thing until you need help. Then, it’s super easy to convince your boss to bring in a trainee to work with you. Now you’re in charge of training someone, and you’ve promoted yourself, even if it didn’t seem like there was a chance for that. It’s all because your workload got bigger!
Put in your time and effort to build up your rep as proactive, independent, mature, tolerant, productive, and self-motivated. Just be the person you want to be, and you’ll be recognized and rewarded.
So, when you do an excellent job and achieve great things, the best reward you get isn’t just the money or the promotion. It’s the experience and personal growth that you gain. Sure, financial bonuses and promotions usually come with success, but they’re not the most important things, you know? You might not believe it, but trust me, it’s true.
Just think about how you can help the organization improve in ways that you enjoy and are good at!
Find activities that give you the best bang for your buck – you’re a valuable asset in your company – use your time wisely.
Show that you’ve got great strategic judgment by handling your own time and priorities – if you can do this, it means you can take a bunch of other stuff, too, and people will think you’re capable of doing it.
Just pretend to be the person you want to be promoted to – start doing the things and acting the way that successful higher-ups do.
Make sure to get the green light from the boss before going ahead with any new ideas outside your responsibility. Think about it and ensure your boss gets why you want to do it and is on board.
Chat with your boss about some cool new ideas and projects. Let’s set some goals and boundaries. I can check in with you at critical points, no problem!
Get the green light to kickstart initiatives and projects – and pick things that show you can make extraordinary things happen for the organization.
Imagine you’re an outside provider hired to do new tasks whenever a fantastic opportunity arises. Please consider the organization your customer and give them your absolute best. Go above and beyond their expectations; they’ll do whatever it takes to keep you around.
Always stay positive and constructive, be valuable to the team, coach and help others, and lead by example.
Try out some new stuff, and don’t worry about getting something extra in return. Just let your boss know what you’re up to and that you’re cool with it because you’re investing in your future. Tell them you’re confident that if you achieve higher levels of success, a promotion will naturally come your way. Hopefully, it’ll happen with your current employer, but if not, no biggie, you’ll find another gig.
Just believe that you’ll get rewarded and promoted if you go above and beyond your job.
Go for more responsibility, learn new stuff, and have more incredible experiences. It’ll help you in the long run, not just with your current boss. If your boss doesn’t appreciate your hard work and potential to handle more significant things, someone else will. Be awesome and make a difference by helping others grow and succeed.
Doing all this will pressure your boss to promote you at some point – even if there’s no job opening.
As I said, your work life is more like a marathon than a sprint. Go ahead and invest in yourself. You will score a bigger reward and more critical responsibilities if you become more valuable.
What if your boss doesn’t let you contribute more? Find someone who does.
Or what if your boss doesn’t care about you coming up with excellent ideas to improve things? Find someone who does.
Or, imagine this: you’ve done some fantastic stuff and made a name for yourself, but your boss needs to appreciate and acknowledge your hard work and what you bring to the company. Is it time to find a new gig where they’ll recognize and reward you for all your awesomeness?
So, start acting all promoted and stuff now. I want to take on more responsibility. Help out others. Make the organization better. Go ahead and make a difference.
And somehow, you’ll get promoted.
