Many of us, if not all of us, share the desire to reach our full potential and work our way up the business ladder. It is most definitely not ideal to all of us to stay stationary at work and never move our way along to greater success. Success at work counts for a variety of things and it can be determined by personal preference.
What does success mean to you?
If success means starting from the bottom and being acknowledged for your achievements until you reach the top, then you might need a small push on how you can get yourself to that point. Give yourself the boost you need with our breakdown of the four main tips to getting a promotion at work.
The Company
Before you even consider the idea of a promotion, you need to be in a business that allows you to progress. Some businesses don’t have advancement opportunities so that would guarantee you a permanent position in the role you already have. If you are in this kind of role and are not happy with the thought of being stationary, land yourself a job that will turn progressively into a moving career.
The company you are in should be in a high-growth industry that will be continuously developing and growing quickly in a positive financial position. The more your company expands, the better chance you have of upgrading your position. A well run business is the kind of business you want to be progressing in. If it is poorly ran then you are not only least likely to be promoted, but you will also not benefit as much from it.
One of the most important factors that count towards your promotion and success if your boss. Before you even go into a career, you should always analyze that your boss is one that is easy enough to approach and won’t make you feel like advancement is impossible.
Communication and Social
There is a small hope of promotion if you keep yourself to yourself and make no effort in building up a good network. Communication and maintaining good relationships are the key to a growing career, as it increases your reputation and your popularity, this is a huge advancement for anyone that works in a big business.
Begin with meeting new staff members and creating friendships with people that you work with. Once people start to recognize you and more people want to spare time to socialize with you, the bigger bosses will notice this and the other employees will build up a trust in you. The great thing about making these friendships is that people could rely on your help in certain tasks and projects that they have been assigned to. If your manager and director sees you being the people helper you will surely be taken into the good books.
Teamwork is a skill that all employees should possess. If you can show numerous and good examples of teamwork, you are heading in the perfect promotion direction. Creating a good image for yourself and making yourself stand out for this reason will catch attention in the best way possible.
One of the most useful methods of social and creating a better name for yourself is through social networks. Almost 96% of businesses now keep a Twitter profile, so if your company use social media, get involved! Making a Twitter account in light of your business will help a lot if you network properly and make people aware of the company without spamming. Keep in mind that how people perceive you is the one big thing that will impact your career progression.
Self Development
Nobody is perfect, but we can try to be our personal best. There’s always room for improvement and the sooner you realize this, the better. Developing your own skills and abilities will certainly expand your chances of promotion. There are many ways in which you can increase your skill set, including online courses that are available at small prices but still give you a worthy qualification.
If you research your job role and the potential role you want to take on, there could be a lot of new skills or qualifications that would benefit you and put you in a better position to take on that new role.
If you work in marketing for example, you could do an online course in your own time that develops your knowledge in this sector. Another way of improving is to learn another language. This is a brilliant quality to have because it could benefit your company massively if you can help communicate with foreign partners. It also means you could work as an interpreter in meetings, the more jobs you do the more experience you get!
In the process of self development, you need to make sure that you are confident and noticeable. A shy person is least likely to gain any attention or a promotion, as nobody will know how great you are!
Push Yourself
The process of getting promoted doesn’t mean sitting back and hoping it will just happen. You have to show you want it, so your next task is to become a workaholic!
If you want to be successful, you need to be passionate about what you do and therefore make work a big priority. I’m not suggesting becoming so obsessed with work that you make yourself ill, but full commitment is necessary to becoming successful. Work earlier and stay a bit later to make sure all your tasks are complete and that you are working in the mindset of improving the company. If there are tasks available, take them up. If you boss needs assistance, help them.
Try to avoid saying ‘no’ to anything that gets thrown at you. Being positive shows a very strong character and that’s exactly what you need to be. Always keep notes on any feedback you are given and use them as stimulus to improving yourself. Once you have started to do more for your business, keep files of achievement and make sure people acknowledge how well you have done.
When you want to succeed, make sure your manager knows. Don’t be afraid to bring up the topic of wanting to be promoted, every business manager will expect this and most of the time, they will respect that and tell you how to get there.
What other tips do you have to being promoted at work? Let us know in the comments.
About the Author
This blog was written by Rachel Jensen on behalf of We Are Adam, the HR, Marketing, Digital, and Sales recruitment specialists.