How to get promoted in an organisation is not always easy, especially for the people who have been in the organisation a long time and feel they deserve to be promoted. People may have been promised a promotion as part of a performance review or during the recruitment & selection process and it hasn\’t materialized. And people may genuinely want to get to the top of their particular department or the actual organisation and there is no career path or opportunities for this to happen. Whichever one of the three situations above do not occur, the employee will leave the organisation and look to other organisations to meet their career needs.
How does one prepare for and then ensure promotion? They should look at their education, training, job knowledge & ability, project management activities and management & leadership skills.
Education
What we mean by education is courses delivered during the curriculum year i.e. start in September and end in June the following year and can be part-time or full-time. When has your last education been? For some or most of us it is our original third level education. If it has been a long time since completing a Degree or Masters in your chosen profession, look at the options of doing another one that\’s diverse, yet linked to your current ideal job / career or will be part of a new transition for you in the near future.
Training
Training, learning and / or development is your time, investment and energy spent upskilling during the course of your job / career to date. Have you been on many \’technical on-the-job\’ or personal development short one day, two day, week-long or weekend courses that look good on your CV and have the potential to get you promoted or at least demand a salary increase? It is really relevant and important that you stay up-to-date in your area of expertise by requesting to go on and participating in these hard and soft skills courses.
Job Knowledge & Ability
Job knowledge and the ability to do it are key. How well do you know your job? Could you present on it? Could you be asked any question on it and answer the question/s with knowledge, professionalism and passion? And if you didn\’t know the answer, could you handle yourself and give an answer that doesn\’t let you, your team or the organisation down? Knowledge is power and power is money. Seek to go beyond just what you need to know about your job. Get to know what your boss must know, what their boss must know and what their boss\’s boss must know. Become the expert, \’the person to go to\’ from now on.
Project Management Activities
Project management activities are key to every job and career. Consider completing a formal, accredited project management course, if you have not already done so. They look great on a CV and impress readers and interviewers. With a project management skills course done, coupled with project management experience, promotions are more likely. And by the way, offer to take on projects and / or become part of an important project team.
Management & Leadership Skills
Promotion activity more than likely needs you to have some form of people management and leadership skills and qualifications. The ability to manage and lead people towards common goals and objective is a fantastic skill to have and develop. If you want to get promoted, being able to speak to, manage and lead people is usually not far away, so upskill in this area if promotion is important to you and if you enjoy managing / leading people.