We all have different goals in our different lines of work, but getting promoted is a goal that we all share. The prestige, the improved pay, the personal satisfaction at recognition of your hard work — getting promoted is a huge boost, personally and professionally. So what can you do to boost your chances of getting promoted?
- Add Value to Your Team
Good employers are often willing to pay more for more and better talent. Self-improvement is one of the fastest tracks to promotion. See if you can add to your skill set by taking different courses pertinent to the skills demanded by your career, and then displaying those newfound abilities at work. Volunteering for extra projects, staying late, helping others, and generally going above and beyond the call of duty are all good ways to demonstrate that you add value to the team.
- Emulate Other Promoted Members
Who has been promoted in your company? What are they like, and what have they done? Businesses often are a “monkey see, monkey do” proposition, so find what works for others and emulate it.
- Be Positive
Nobody wants to work with someone who’s constantly dour. Of course, positivity doesn’t mean being over-the-top positive to the point where you seem fake. Still, a smile, clear enthusiasm, and an eagerness to engage with your teammates can go a long way. One good way to have this manifest is motivating others. Using your positivity to encourage and electrify others is the kind of personal and professional trait companies are eager to reward.
- Demonstrate Leadership Skills
The higher up the corporate ladder you climb, the more important leadership skills become. To start up the ladder, therefore, you need to demonstrate leadership potential. Taking responsibility, motivating others, setting a good example, helping out teammates who are struggling, staying late to do extra work, and other exemplary displays of leadership can help suggest that you’re promotion-worthy.
- Identify Points for Improvement
It’s extremely rare for baseball players to go straight to the big leagues because they’re almost never immediately big league-ready. Even the most talented players have to prove themselves and improve their raw talents by working their way up through the minor leagues. Promotion in the business sector works much the same way. Identifying weak points you can shore up and strengths you can make even stronger can help demonstrate that you have even more value to offer and the work ethic to do so, making you a good candidate for promotion.
Each of these traits can significantly improve your chances of getting promoted up through the ranks of your company.