How to Get Promoted in Your Job
Getting promoted doesn’t need to be as hard as you might think. Don’t get frustrated if you are feeling trapped in your current position. I’m hoping to give you some simple tips that will allow you to develop yourself professionally and move up in your company while doing so.
Do Your Job
This first step to being promoted should be pretty easy: Do your job. Of course, since we all have different jobs, the particulars of this will vary. However, there are some things that are universal that we should all be following. The first being that you should know your job. Make sure that you know everything that you need to in order to excel in your position. That can be as simple as knowing the special the of day, or as complicated as brain surgery. Whatever your job is, be knowledgeable about it. If you do not have all of the knowledge you need to do your job efficiently, then learn it. Whether that means to ask co-workers questions or taking some extra classes, it is well worth the effort.
Doing your job and everything that is expected of you is more than making sure your work is done well. You also have to think about how you are presenting yourself. Make sure that you are dressing appropriately for work. Again, this will vary depending on your work environment. Whatever you are wearing, it needs to be clean, neat, and wrinkle-free. Be sure that your hygiene is also impeccable (no one wants to work with the person with bad breath).
Another factor to doing your job well is to show up and be on time. Excessive tardiness or sick days will get you noticed, and not in a good way. And not being present will make doing your job pretty difficult. I know all of this seems pretty basic, but it needs to be said. If you are doing everything that I listed above, you are already 80% of the way to getting that promotion that you desire. Let’s get started on that other 20%.
Be Proactive
While it’s possible to get promoted just because you do your job well, relying on that alone is not the most efficient way to get there. Once you know that you are doing your job to the best of your ability, it may be time to take on some extra responsibilities. Reach out to your manager and ask if there is anything else that you can do to help out. This may get you that extra task that will get you noticed by higher ups in your company. Or, at the very least, it will show your manager that you are being proactive in helping out the team and business. That is a trait that anyone would want to have in an employee and it makes you a valued member of the team. Not to mention that the task that you volunteer for may help you develop a skill that may help you down the line in your career. Something as simple as planning an office party requires some degree of project management. And you can bring up these little tasks in your year-end review to show that you are going above and beyond wherever you can.
Be a Team Player
Attitude is everything, so make sure that you have a positive one. In any work environment, businesses want employees who are happy and engaged. Engagement in that workplace is good for business. When employee engagement is high, it means that people are happy with their jobs, productivity is up, and people feel a connection to their companies message or purpose. If you have a great attitude it will encourage those around you to also stay positive, even when they are not having the best day. Your company will want to promote you if they see you having this effect on people.
On the other hand, employees who are actively disengaged will have the opposite effect. They voice any complaint they have without offering or being open to solutions. Also, they are not being as productive as they should. They generally do the bare minimum at their job and that behavior can be infectious as well. It may seem harmless if you feel that the work is still being done, but it does make you stand out to your manager. It is not something you want to be known for.
Make Yourself Known
This tip applies most to individuals working in larger companies who want to be promoted. It does not benefit you to
sit in you designated space with your head down and only speak to the few people that happen to sit beside you. If you are going to move up in the company, you have to build your brand. That means that not only are you networking and making yourself known, but for the right reasons. This is where the previous steps are going to come into play.
You want to be known for being the person to go to when someone has a question. That is why it is important to be knowledgeable. You want to be known for being the person always goes the extra mile and is willing to help out. That is why it is important to volunteer to do extra projects with your manager. You want to be known as the person who always has a smile on their face. That is why it is important to have a great attitude. If you are doing all of these things, you will stand out in all of the right ways. Your manager may be pleased enough that they will be eager to brag about you to their co-workers as well. They may even brag to your future boss. All of these things would help your chances of being promoted
Ask for Feedback
The last thing that you will need to do regularly if you want to be promoted is to ask for feedback. Ask your manager how you are doing in your current role and what you can do to improve. You can never know if your are doing everything as well or as efficiently as possible unless you ask. There may be a huge flaw in your approach that would be overlooked unless you have a second pair of eyes. And no one knows your work better than your boss.
An added bonus to this step is that you will get to know where your manager thinks that you can improve. This gives you an advantage in things like year-end reviews when you can point to a specific action they asked you to take and can show how you implemented in your routine. The ability to correct mistakes and improve yourself is definitely one they will be looking for when they look to promote (and give out bonuses).
Keep these tips in mind the next time you are feeling discouraged about your upward potential: you can get promoted! There is always something you can be doing now to help your future. Please remember that the strategies discussed here are not set in stone since every company and the people working there are different. They are universal enough that everyone, in every career, can benefit from them.
Resources:
Here are the real reasons you’re not getting promoted at work
Five Ways to Improve Employee Engagement Now
9 Obvious Ways To Get Promoted
