From taking on more responsibility, having a bigger impact on your company or team, to an increase in pay, there are many reasons to want a promotion. But how do you demonstrate that you are ready for a promotion? We’ve put together a few tips on how to get promoted at work.
- Discuss it with your manager
- Ask for feedback
- Learn from others
- Say yes to things
- Think about strategy
- Suggest new ideas
- Look outside of your department
1. Discuss it with your manager
One of the best things you can do to improve your chances of getting a promotion is to discuss it with your manager.
Your manager works with you every day, is likely to be at the level you are aiming to get to and may even have previously had your job. This puts them in the best position to know what you need to do to progress. It could be that your company has policies or protocols in place when it comes to promotions, so your manager will be able to outline these for you too.
Being honest with your manager about where you’d like to go next will mean you can work together to create an action plan to get promoted.
2. Ask for feedback
Asking for feedback allows you to identify your strengths and weaknesses. You can ask for feedback from anyone you work with, including co-workers, customers and clients.
Not only will the feedback you receive help you in your day-to-day tasks, but proactively asking for feedback shows initiative when it comes to improving the quality of your work – something that won’t go unnoticed.
3. Learn from others
Is there a particular job you would like to get promoted to? Or perhaps you are interested in being at a certain grade within your company? Another tip for how to get promoted is to learn from the people already in those positions.
This could be as simple as taking note of how they respond to emails or deal with specific situations. For example, how do they interact with an unhappy customer or a difficult email? These are the sorts of scenarios you will have to deal with as you get promoted.
You could also learn from others in a more formal way, such as asking if you can shadow them during a project or sit in on a meeting in order to increase your understanding.
Read our tips for learning at work.
4. Say yes to things
Even if it’s not in your job description, the best way to get wider experience within a company is to say yes to things.
This doesn’t mean taking on more tasks than you have time for, but if you have the capacity to work on other projects or support colleagues with something you haven’t been involved with previously – these are good opportunities to develop new skills and experience other parts of the business. It also shows enthusiasm and that you’re a good team player.
5. Think about strategy
As you move into more senior roles, you will be required to think about strategy. Strategy is how your own work, and the work of your team, contributes to overall aims and objectives. These could be department objectives or company-wide objectives. For example, taking on more clients, increasing revenue or improving customer feedback.
Ask your manager for a copy of your company’s strategy and for any targets that have been set. Then think about how your work ties into these and if there is anything you’re not doing that might help you achieve these goals.
Showing you are already thinking strategically, even if you are in a more junior role, is the sort of thing your manager will take note of when considering whether you are in a good position to be promoted.
6. Suggest new ideas
Another thing to consider when looking at how to get promoted is whether you can bring any new ideas to the table. It doesn’t matter how big or small an idea is – if you have one and you feel comfortable suggesting it, then go for it!
When it comes to more senior roles, companies are often looking for someone who can identify where things can be done more efficiently. Is there something your department does frequently that could be done more efficiently and free up staff time for other projects? Perhaps there is a piece of software that would make things easier? Or maybe there is a new trend within your industry in that you’d like to try?
There’s no harm in suggesting a new way of doing things, as the companies that do well are the ones that adapt their ways of working to improve their outputs.
7. Look outside of your department
Sometimes looking at the opportunities available in other departments is a good way to get a promotion. Even if you would like to stay with your current team, if there is no room for progression then it may become necessary to look elsewhere – otherwise you run the risk of getting stuck in a more junior role as those around you get promoted.
Check your company’s website to see if there are any current vacancies. If there are some available in another team at a higher level and you have the skills required for it, there is no harm in asking colleagues who work in that team what it’s like to see if it’s the sort of thing you would enjoy and do well at.
Need more advice on how to succeed at work? Take a look at our other articles on career development.
Last updated on 30 May 2024
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