Work Smarter Not Harder, How to Get Promoted in Your Job?

When you start googling how to get a promotion in your career path, I assume that either you are extremely ambitious and strategic about your career path since the beginning of it, or you are facing stagnancy in your career development. And apparently, chances are higher when it comes to the latter assumption. 

So how long have you been staying in your current position? What are your goals in the long term? Are you satisfied with your job right now? Is it your dream job? And last but not least, why would you want a promotion? 

I'm sorry for bombarding you with so many questions at the beginning of the blog, but that's the point! Before starting the tips, you need to make up your mind on these questions and have a proper answer, which thereby my tips can help you better in job promotion.

So now people, if you are doing your dream job but you have been staying in the same position for more than 2 years and your long-term goal is more ambitious than your current career development speed, I would say it is high time you planned for getting yourself a job promotion. 

Now, without wasting more time wandering and rambling around, let's start with 8 small tips that will earn you huge career growth.

1. Promote yourself with more Values

Thinking in a business mindset, would you invest in something that you know it won't bring back some profit in the future? Of course, no! So how to get the company invest more in you? Make yourself valueable! So take actions right now by:

• Improving your skills to deliver increasingly better results for your company.

• Exposing yourself to a broader range of company activities that enable you to broaden your knowledge, skills, and experience and find new opportunities for career growth.

2. Take a look at the Experienced

Have you ever paid attention to those who got promoted in a few recent years and wondered why were them not you? I bet that if you are reading this for promotion tips, you did focus on them with a "me vs them" internal argument and think on the way home why didn't you get promotion.

It is important to have situational awareness in your workplace. Look at them and find the common traits, achievements and their successful habits. These observations aren't meant to make you green with envy with them, these small things will give you the guidance on how to get yourself promoted too. As each company appreciates different traits and values from the employees, it is never too late to watch the water level and get yourself better understandings about which area you should put effort in. 

3. Find your Mentor and get some Feedback: How to improve?

Sometimes it is hard to do it alone and it will never be a bad idea to ask for feedback from your manager. So all you need is how to do that right? Here are some steps:

• Present your case for promotion to your mentor in a professional manner
• Make yourself a SWOT Analysis: What are your job responsibilities, achievements, skills, experience, and knowledge? What are you lacking? What are your competitors and your opportunities?
• Show your manager your value. As I said above, your company will only invest in a valuable employee, so show them how you had benefited the organization, preferably with empirical examples.
• Show your desire to grow your career path. Sometimes, your company can't hear you until you speak it out
• Pay attention to your mentor's suggestions

4. Does your Effort catch your Boss's Attention?

Put yourself in a visible position. There is no point in working hard without being noticed, unless you are doing volunteering. If you want your boss to think that you deserve a promotion, your contributions to the company should be noticed. Some tips for you:

• Volunteer to participate in cross-department projects and company social events
• Check in with your managers on advices and feedback
• Don't hesitate to showcase your knowledge and abilities in staff meetings and performance reviews.

5. Don't Forget your Leadership Skill!

If you want to move to a higher position, leadership is a must-have skill. High chances are that you will need to manage a team more than just you as staff in the company when you get promotion. Thus, those who got promoted have one thing in common, which is leadership skill. Firstly, you need to perform excellently through your work performance, which thereby will gain you respect from your co-workers and appreciation from your boss. Moreover, when there are opportunities, don't hesitate to promote yourself to lead a team in a project. Constantly working on your leadership skills will make you a prime candidate for the next promotion.

6. Help your Boss: Solve Problems

Your boss has a lot of things to solve on hand, and your action of proposing solutions to these problems not only saves him/her time and effort but also get you noticed. Ideas for you proposal might be revenue growth initiatives, employees' productivity improvement, workplace safety issues, cost reduction, etc. By being in your boss's shoes and keeping your mind on how to improve the business, you can distinguish yourself and an excellent employee and show your leadership potential.

7. Did you do Networking? 

Not only do you need to communicate with your boss, but it is also important to develop strong relationship among your colleagues and within the organization. The decision of promoting you is from your boss only, and the input of your co-workers also matters. Always treat everyone with kindness and respect, then when it matters, they will be the ones who go to bat for you.

8. Stay Motivated and Continue, You're on the right track!

When you already apply all these tips, there are still chances that you won't get promoted in teh near future. As staff promotion does not always happen constantly, sometimes it might take several years to get yourself promoted. However, patience is the key. Being continuously motivated, humble but hard-working will make you nearer to your goals day by day. Everything is on the right track, don't worry! It might be a bit late, but hard work always pays off at the end of the day.

By Linh Tran.