Going for a Promotion

To progress in your career you need to move up the ranks and the most common way to do this is to go for a job promotion. Whether your company offers regular promotions or they only come up when someone leaves, you need to impress your boss to be in the running. Getting a promotion is about showing that you are worth it and outshining the competition. You need to work hard, be strategic and plan your arguments as to why it should be you.

Consistently Impress

Getting a promotion is about much more than just Impressing In An Interview or being the best on the day. Your boss will already have an impression of you and their opinion on the work that you do. To get a promotion you need to work consistently hard, make yourself known and be sure that your boss is aware of your achievements. The hard work starts months beforehand so you can build up a strong reputation.

Know Your Competition

When you are going for a promotion you need to be able to fight off your competition. Try to find out who is up against you or take an educated guess. Then study the way they work, their strengths and their weaknesses so that you outshine them. Work on the areas that they are better at and be ready to talk about why you have the Skills that they don’t.

Plan Your Attack

Your best approach to getting a promotion is to be strategic. Start working harder, making yourself known and letting your manager hear about you. Know who else is up for the promotion and plan how to outshine them. Finally, you need to know what to say in your interview. Understand what they are looking for, explain why you would be best, how you would work on any areas of weakness and what you can offer above other candidates.

What Next?

However much hard work and planning you put in, you can’t always judge what decision your boss will come to. If they decide that you are not right for the promotion, you need to know what your next move will be. Are you going to stay put and work towards the next promotion? If so, you need to get some feedback, work on your skills and show progress. If you want to leave, you need to be ready to stick to this decision and start looking for new roles. Whatever your decision, be clear about it and do it for the right reasons.

Coping with a Career Setback

If you do get knocked back for an internal position or promotion, it can be hard to stay motivated in your current role. For tips on staying positive and how to focus on moving forward with your career, read our article Dealing With Career Setbacks.