For the past several months, you’ve taken your annual performance review and run with it. You’ve asked what you need to do to position yourself for a promotion, put in extra hours, and never given less than your best. Yet management hasn’t jumped at the chance to promote you yet. Why?
Managers know that what makes an employee stand out in his or her current job is only one of the factors that will help that employee thrive in a promotion. To climb the ladder – especially to a position of management – you’ll need to build a stronger case. Here are five ways to do just that:
- Talk about your work. Simply keeping your head down and doing your best is no longer enough to land a promotion in most companies. Managers are busy as well; to make sure they see what you’ve done, you may have to bring up your own work. Find ways to remind your boss about projects you’ve completed, as well as projects you’d like to take on.
- Offer solutions. When it comes to solving the problems you’re handed, no one in the department does it better. But are you offering solutions of your own? Recommending solutions to a problem demonstrates your value to the organization by showing that you have both the desire to get things right and the ability to think about what’s best for the company as a whole – not just your position or department.
- Work smarter, not harder. Hard work and excellence help anyone get ahead. But to position yourself for a promotion, you don’t just need to work hard. You also need to work hard on the right projects. Focus on handling or assisting with projects in the position you want to be promoted to and make sure you’re working with people who have the power to promote you – or at least to put in a good word with those who can.
- Make it look easy. Never let your supervisor doubt for a moment that you’ve mastered your current position. Work strategically so that you’re handling your own workload with ease, and then use your “spare time” to ask for more challenging work that appears in the position you’d like to be promoted to.
- Share your “outside” successes. Your current position may not give you many chances to demonstrate leadership or delegation abilities, but your hobbies or activities outside the office might do just that. If you’ve recently taken charge of your child’s Scout troop or you’ve just been elected to a leadership role in your professional association, share the good news with your boss. You’ll demonstrate personal passion, a consistent work ethic, and your ability to lead.
At Burnett’s Staffing, our experienced recruiters can help you find the upwardly mobile job you’re looking for, so you can dazzle your supervisors with your expertise. Contact us today to learn more.