How to ask for a promotion

One of the most invaluable skills I learned in my previous career was how to go about asking for a promotion.

You could wait for your company to simply recognise and promote you for great work, but I think that approach takes you out of the driver’s seat of your own career and that learning how to effectively advocate for your own career growth is such an important skill.

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to career growth and gaining a promotion, but this is what has worked for me and for my clients:

💡 1. Gain clarity on what you want so you can convey this to your manager. Ask yourself: What aspects of my job do I enjoy and want to do more of? What would I like to do less of? What’s the logical next step upwards in my current role? Would I want to do that job? If the answer is no, if your company could create a new unique role for you what would you be doing? How would creating that role benefit the company?

💡 2. Time your conversation accordingly. Get a sense of your company’s peak periods and plan to have a conversation about your growth outside of those peak periods.

💡3. Create a business case for your proposed promotion. What are your company’s key business objectives/priorities if you don’t already know? Gain specific examples and metrics around how your personal contribution has supported those key business objectives and how your promotion would continue to support those key objectives.

💡 4. Make it easy for key decision makers to say yes. Be clear on what you want and how you see this promotion being implemented. People could argue that this information should be up to your manager to decide/implement, but let’s face it. Your manager is probably very busy and the easier you lay out the facts/the plan, the more readily they can make decisions around what’s possible and the faster the plan can be implemented.

I love this aspect of my career coaching work and have a proven track record for helping people increase career satisfaction, get promoted and earn more money.

If you’re curious about how I can support you through your career growth, I would love to have a chat.

You can book a free consultation with me through the button below.