How to Get a Promotion

I used to think that if you worked hard you would get a job promotion, boy was I wrong.  While working hard is definitely part of getting a job promotion, it is only one of several factors that will help you get a promotion.  Below are a list of things that have helped me get job promotions quickly in my career– at one organization I had three promotions in three years.  Now that I’m in a managerial position, I look for these things when considering someone for a promotion. 

This is a big one but one that will help you know where to focus your efforts.  Once you know what’s important to your boss and what your boss’ priorities are, and make those things important to you and your priorities.  For example, if your boss is an early riser and always gets to the office early, ensure that you arrive at work on time, or preferably earlier than your starting time.  You may not be a morning person and think that as long as you put your time in, it doesn’t matter what time you come in if you stay late, but it may matter to your boss, even if she doesn’t reprimand you for it.  If your boss puts a priority on work/life balance, don’t send her emails at 11:00 pm or on Sunday mornings as she may think you don’t value work/life balance or worse, don't know how to worry efficiently.  If you're boss likes spread sheets with lots of highlighting, take the time to ensure your spread sheets are up to her standards.  Aligning your priorities with your boss’ priorities makes you more relatable to your boss and we all like to surround ourselves with people we can relate too.

This is a simple one.  We want to work with people we like so be likeable.  It’s important that your boss likes you or you may never get a promotion regardless of how wonderful you are or how hard you work.    It’s also important that you have a good relationship with your colleagues since you never know who will be on a hiring committee or be your boss tomorrow.  Being likable, doesn’t mean you have to like everyone, it’s a matter of being pleasant to everyone, offering to pitch in and help colleagues when you can see that they’re swamped, offering to get a colleague a cup of coffee if you’re getting one, remembering close colleague’s birthdays and sending a simple birthday wish, filling the photocopier with paper when it runs out, etc.  All simple stuff, but it really will help you get a job promotion and make your workplace more pleasant in the meantime.

Closely observe the company culture of your workplace, the company values and the history of career paths.  How long does it take to get promoted?  Do these time lines work for you?  What do you have to do to get a promotion?  If it involves working 80 hours a week, be honest with yourself, does this fit in with what you want from your career?  How are the people who are higher than you?  Do they seem happy?  Stressed?  It’s much more difficult to get a job promotion if you just don’t “fit” with the company culture and chances are you won’t be happy either and you can’t do your best work in an organization where you are not happy.

 How you dress at work will likely impact your chances of getting a job promotion.  Regardless of the dress code of your company, always dress for the position you want, not the position you have.   This will show that you take your work seriously and higher ups do notice how you dress, for better or for worse.

 In order to get a job promotion, it’s not only important to do your current job well, but to do more than your current job to show that you are ready for additional responsibility.  Very few promotions are given by only doing your job well.  Think about your current duties and how you could take them to the next level.  If you can’t think of how to do this, think of some of the duties your boss does and see if you could take these on yourself.  For example if you schedule courses for the public, think of how you could schedule more effectively and increase profits in the process (and show your boss the spreadsheet of your calculations) or come up with ideas for new programs.  Ask your boss for more responsibilities as well since she may have some ideas of her own, but before doing so, take some initiative on your own to show how capable you are.  Don’t expect to be paid for these additional duties, that will come soon enough when you get a job promotion.

We all make mistakes but the key to getting a job promotion is taking responsibility for your mistakes.  When you make a mistake, tell your boss and also come to her with a plan of how you are going to fix it.  Don’t expect your boss to fix your mistakes or she won’t think you’re ready for the increased responsibility that a promotion brings. 

The same is true when you have a problem.  You might want your boss’ advice on how to solve it, but come to her with your solution first and then ask her what she thinks.  Even if she doesn’t agree with your solution and comes up with a better one, she will admire that you took the time to try and solve the problem yourself.  The more you do this, the better you will get at finding great solutions, showing that you are ready for a job promotion. 

In sum, make your boss’ life easier, not more difficult.  Be the employee she can depend on, who always meets deadlines, who responds to emails in a timely way, who she doesn’t have to worry about showing up late for work, who is pleasant and doesn’t waster her time complaining about how underutilized you are or how long it took to do research on a new opportunity,  who isn’t coming to her with more problems to solve, when likely she probably has enough of her own problems to solve without having to worry about how to solve yours or track down your work.  Do these things, and you will be well on your way to get a job promotion.