Climbing the corporate ladder and obtaining a promotion in today’s work environment is no easy task. Nearly everyone is trying to advance their careers, so how can you make yourself stand out and be considered for a promotion?
Promotion and interview expert Margaret Buj recently wrote an article for Career Rocketeer 12 Strategies to Help You Get Promoted. Here are some tips she provides for making yourself more eligible for a promotion:
Concentrate on doing the best you possibly can in your current position. Obviously if you aren’t excelling in one position, you aren’t going to be considered for a promotion to an even better position. Taking on extra assignments, arriving early and staying late are just a few of the things you can do to show how dedicated you are to the success of the company. When management is making a difficult promotion decision, the deciding factor may come down to small details like these.
Develop mentoring relationships. Whether your company has a formal mentoring program or not, building relationships with people who are successful in the organization is extremely important. In fact, a recent study found in four of five promotions, the employee received the promotion because an important person within the company recommended them.
Acquire new knowledge and skills. You should never stop learning. Learning new skills will make you more successful in the position you have now and will demonstrate how eager you are to excel. Pay close attention to trends in your industry but in other fields as well to make yourself even more marketable.
Build your network. Yes, I know you hear it all the time, but that’s because networking really is crucial! It doesn’t matter how qualified you may be, if nobody knows who you are they probably aren’t going to take a risk on you.
The more people that know you, the more opportunities there are for your name to be brought up. And don’t just build a network in one department of the organization. Get to know people in every area!
Create your own opportunities. If you have important skills that you could bring to an area of the organization that you think could use some extra TLC, write a job description for a new position in the company. Whether or not the company is interested, you’ll show that you are committed to the success of the organization and are willing to take initiative.
Read the rest of Buj’s promotion tips here.
Have you used any of these strategies to get a promotion? What has worked for you?
