Do you love the company you work for, but feel like you’re ready for more responsibility, more challenges and higher pay? Maybe it’s time to ask for a promotion? The idea of having to stand up to your boss and ask for a promotion can be nerve-racking, but here are some steps that can help prepare you. Hopefully, once you’ve applied all of the strategies you’ll feel confident enough to ask for that promotion, or maybe even better… your boss will offer it!
1. Do your best
It’s important to lay a healthy foundation for any project and in this case, you must give at least 100% to your current position in order to receive excellent performance reviews, which are imperative to even be considered for a promotion.
2. Put in the time
Fast Company contributor Brian Tracy and author of Earn What You’re Really Worth, recently published 7 Steps To Getting Paid More And Promoted Faster and stated that it’s necessary to “develop a workaholic mentality. There is nothing that will bring you to the attention of the important people in your work life faster than for you to get a reputation as a hard, hard worker.” So, go the extra mile and arrive at work 15 minutes early tomorrow and stay a little later than usual!
2. Be a self-marketer
Find out how you can help your employer achieve goals. Your work and effort will speak for itself. John Lees, author of Take Control Of Your Career says,”self-marketing focuses on the needs of the buyer rather than the qualities and features of the product, and is not about projecting an ego.”
3. Learn new skills and share them
A number of online resources like Codeacademy, RubyMonk and Coursera, (which offers free online courses from prestigious universities like Princeton, Stanford and Penn) are just a few ways to learn new skills that help you become a more valuable employee.
Once you’ve learned your new skills, quantify them by taking Smarterer’s skill tests and post your scores to Linkedin or your personal website. If your boss is in your professional network, he or she is bound to see your new expert or master status. And of course, don’t be ashamed to apply those new skills directly in the workplace!
4. Find a mentor
Margaret Buj, a Career and Promotion Expert, and Career Rocketeer contributor recently wrote that “a strong relationship with a manager or someone higher up in your department can open a lot of doors for you. For one thing, you’ll likely learn a lot about the organization and about the jobs you might want to get in the future.” If you don’t already have a mentor, plan to develop this relationship over the next few weeks and learn as much as you can.
5. Take action
Analyze the needs of your organization and find out what you can do to fulfill those needs. Dr. Randall S. Hansen, founder of Quintessential Careers, suggests that “if you see an area that has been neglected — and you have key skills in that area – write a proposal for a new position…even if the company does not go for the new position, you have again shown your initiative, creativity, and value to the firm.”
If for some reason your request for a promotion is denied, there’s no need to dwell on it. Margaret Buj suggests that you ask when you can reapply for a promotion and ask what you’ll have to do to get it. Bottom line, don’t give up.
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