When you get promoted at work, you can be able to take on more complex responsibilities, and your paycheck will reflect this, at least let’s hope so. However, it’s common for employees to get passed over for a promotion in favor of a more experienced coworker. To avoid your boss passing you over, you need to perform well and make sure your manager knows of your performance. There are several steps you can take to go above and beyond to make yourself stand out for a possible promotion.
Take Advantage of Every Opportunity to Learn
Give yourself every opportunity to learn, both at work and outside work. You could attend professional events in your area, join a professional organization, or work toward an industry-specific certification. You could also take additional classes to expand your knowledge. Depending on the number of classes you end up taking, you may decide to go ahead and get your degree in a related field. No matter what you decide, scholarships can make it more affordable to get another degree. You can find scholarships for college students online to cover the expense,
Offer Even More Value
It’s important to consider the things your company is looking for from you. You potentially already get annual performance reviews where the company evaluates. However, consider taking it one step further and making an effort to add even more value wherever you can. Consider working on your skillset to do your work even better. Plus, make sure you exposed yourself to many different tasks. These help you expand your experience and knowledge. Exposing yourself to different opportunities is what can lead to career growth down the road.
Learn from Others’ Promotions
If others you work with earned promotions at some point at your company, look at their work and skills. Being aware of the situation is one of the best things you can to do avoid being passed over. Compare different coworkers who have moved up and see if they have common habits, personality traits, and accomplishments. You may notice that each has worked on developing their communication and leadership skills.
Other managers like to move people up who have strong social skills. They may like to see these employees making an effort to attend all company functions outside of work. If the same is true at your organization, you may need to start devoting more of your free time to company events as well.
Work on Getting Noticed
It is critical to work hard, but you could still find yourself getting passed over if your manager does not notice exactly how hard you are working. If you want to show yourself as deserving of a promotion, you need to ensure those responsible for promoting you know how hard you are working. While you shouldn’t start talking to your manager about how hard you are working, there are ways to be noticed without being obnoxious about it.
Look for chances to subtly show your knowledge, like during performance reviews or team meetings. During performance reviews, gather solid data about your performance that can be verified. You can also volunteer for other projects on top of your daily responsibilities. It’s also a good idea to check in with your boss to see if your performance meets their standards. Ask for feedback on areas you need to work on and make an effort to put their suggestions into practice.
Look for Problems and Solve Them
Moving up requires you to gain stronger leadership skills. You might find ways of becoming a role model and someone your coworkers look up to. You may educate yourself on the material you are working with and become a subject matter expert that others can come to when they have questions. Make sure your manager sees you are able to motivate the team and lead them by example. Being a role model also requires you to put your best effort forth, so you do well on every project the team does.
There are problems on every team in the workplace, so take initiative to find and solve these inefficiencies. See if any obstacles are standing in your team’s way of meeting your goals or that are costing money. Come up with a plan to address these issues and either implement it or run it by your manager first, depending on the scope of the issue. Either way, you’ll show your manager that you are a self-starter and ready for promotion.
