Fast Track Your Career -- 5 Tips to Get Promoted

Most people are looking to advance their career, the faster the better.

Before I get started on my tips to get that next promotion, I want to caution people against being too aggressive to grow too quickly. Sometimes we don’t know what we don’t know and only time and observation will reveal some of those factors. You may think you want that job but only after staying put a few more months, you may realize that’s not the direction you want to go in. But that aside, here are my surefire tips for advancement:

1) Act professionally at all times. Make sure you are dressed for the job you want, not the job you have. You should look to your boss or your boss’ boss to gauge how to dress, not your peers. Be on time, be reliable. Don’t gossip or whine or complain. If you have genuine greivances, work on presenting those in the most diplomatic fashion to the people who can actually change things such as your boss.

2) Develop a mentoring relationship. Do you see someone who seems to be in the boss’ favor? Align yourself with that person and try to learn as much as possible from them. Most people are flattered to share their knowledge with an eager student...but be sincere. You don’t want to come across as an opportunistic competitor. That could backfire on you if your “mentor” suddenly feels threatened by you. Stay humble and be sure to express appreciation.

3) Be a team player and build your network. If most of your teammates see you as a helpful, valuable asset, they will be your biggest cheerleaders when it comes to opportunities. If the boss is constantly hearing about how helpful you’ve been, that will go a long way.

4) Ask for more responsibilities. If you hear the boss saying something like, “we really need to start tracking that information” or “I wish I had a report that showed me XYZ information” see if you can volunteer for such a project. Even if you don’t overhear such talk, look for opportunities where you can increase some level of efficiency or productivity and take some action. This will show you are proactive and looking at the big picture.

5) Practice self-promotion. While you don’t want to come across as too pushy, there’s nothing wrong with letting the boss know that you are interested in the next step up at the company and tell them why you’d be a good candidate. For example, “I’d really like to be a project manager. I can see that this job really requires someone with great follow up and organizational skills both of which I think I have.” And ask what they think you can do to help get you closer to that goal. Maybe you need some training on a particular software you aren’t aware of...by learning these details, you’ll be one step ahead.

Bottom line: if you look and act professionally, you are reliable, hard working, willing to learn and a helpful team player, you’ll probably get noticed.

Good luck and thanks for visiting livemorenow.net