Get Yourself Promoted!
Taking control of your career: how to talk about career pathing & promotion
In the last article I focused on pay, but that was more about raises - promotions are something different and deserving of a more in-depth exploration. The two are similar in that both are critical in achieving career success and also in that most people suck at talking about this stuff and so end up just waiting around to be recognized and rewarded. Just crossing your fingers and hoping for the best is going to leave your career chugging along in the slow lane.
The theme here is about taking control of your career. Just putting your head down and doing good work isn’t enough. You’ll get rewarded, but almost certainly not as well as if you’re able to effectively advocate for yourself.
First, let’s define promotion. In this case, what I’m talking about is a linear promotion in the same type of job. You’re a software engineer level 1 and you want to get to level 2. What I’m not talking about is a brand new job, as in you’re a project manager but want to make a transition over to product management - at most companies that’s something you’re going to have to apply and interview for, not something your manager can simply promote you into.
At most companies, jobs have different levels that reflect some combination of employee skillset, responsibility, and seniority. If you want to accelerate your career, you want to move through those levels as quickly as possible, or at least as quickly as you’re comfortable with (not everyone wants to reach the highest level because the responsibilities associated with higher levels may not be what the person wants in their life - and that’s just fine).
There’s a pretty straightforward plan to angling for promotion. What you need to do is:
Understand what the skills/responsibilities of the next level are and how they differ from your current level.
Learn anything you need to in order to meet those skill requirements.
Demonstrate your mastery of those skills and responsibilities.
Get your manager on your side.
Let’s break these down a bit.
The first step is knowing what’s required of the next level. What skills, how do the responsibilities differ, is there any tenure requirement (some companies have hard tenure requirements, others have soft ones). Talk to your manager. Make sure they know what your career goals are, that you’re looking to the next level and want to understand what you need to do in order to get there. In an entry or lower-level role, it’s reasonable to bring this up around the 3-6 month mark - you’re not saying “promote me now,” but you’re communicating to your manager that you’re invested in the company and you want to build a career here - you’re sending a signal that this isn’t just a short-term job for you, that you want to be here for a long time. Managers love that. For a more senior level role, 6-12 months in role is appropriate before having this conversation (generally speaking, people spend longer in a role at higher levels, and you don’t want to seem like you have unreasonable expectations by broaching the topic too soon). A good conversation starter is simple and can be something like “I’ve been in this role for a little while and feel like I’m doing well, and I’d like to learn about what it takes to get to the next level. What do you want to see from someone you’re thinking about promoting? What skills do I need to learn, and how does the next level differ from what I’m doing today?”
Now that you know what’s required, it’s time to close any gaps in your skillset to show that you’re ready. Make sure that you and your manager are aligned in your assessment of skills - just thinking to yourself “oh I know how to do that” isn’t helpful if your manager either doesn’t know about that skill or disagrees with your assessment. If your manager indicates there are gaps they want to see you close before they consider you ready for promotion, ask them for their support in learning those skills - either via teaching you themselves if they’re capable, or recommending resources/connections who can help you learn.
On to step 3: you know what’s expected, and you have the required skills for the next level. It’s time to show it. It is almost always the case that showing what you can do beats telling people what you can do. Many companies also operate with the philosophy of “by the time we promote you into a new level, you should have been operating at that level for a while.” While this is kind of bullshit (expecting you to operate at level X while paying you at level X-1), it’s reality - it’s one of the crummier parts of corporate culture at many companies but it’s something you have to deal with if you want to advance your career. Ask your manager for opportunities and projects to showcase the skills and responsibilities associated with the next level. This is a key time where just sitting around and waiting isn’t in your best interest: look for ways you can demonstrate your proficiency and reliability.
Finally, make sure your manager is on your side. What’s critical here is recognizing the position they’re in and not backing them into a corner. In most companies, the promotion decision is not theirs alone. There may be maximum percentage of employees who can be promoted in any given cycle and there are likely other layers of approvals needed. Your job is to make it as easy as possible for them to put you up for promotion with a robust case of why it’s deserved - but don’t create an ultimatum (or even the perception of one). You want to convey that you’re excited for the possibility of promotion, that you feel ready for it, and you want to have demonstrated exactly how and why you’re ready for it.
I can’t guarantee this will always work and get you promoted exactly as fast as you want to be. But what I can guarantee you is that this strategy will, at the very least, get you information. You’ll learn about the company and how it thinks about promotions, and you’ll learn if your manager is the kind of leader who wants to invest in their peoples’ growth and who will be an advocate for you. Sometimes, what you’ll learn from this process is “maybe this company/role isn’t right for me.” And that’s okay, because if that’s the outcome, at least you’ll have learned it more quickly than by just waiting around for an extra year or two and hoping.
Hope-based career management is generally going to be ineffective. Take charge of your career, of your success, and you’ll find it coming to you faster.