"i am pissed off! i got passed over for promotion. what the hell man, i work long hours, i work hard. i am a good employee. why don't they promote me?"sound familiar?
its the time of year when people are looking for jobs, or promotions or taking stock of their lives, and the topic of 'improving one's situation' is usually high on the list of things to think about at the beginning of the year.
here are some perspectives on (self) promotion from a unker who has been there and done that.
firstly, just working hard and turning up everday is not a guarantee of being promoted. working hard and turning up are pre-requisites for promotion. heck, these are pre-requisites for keeping your jobs.
secondly, if one is serious about promotion, one must be active and practise 'self-promotion'. make sure the powers that be know what you do and how you are contributing to the success of the business (or govt department, or school, whatever, fill in the blank)
here are some pointers that might help germinate some ideas on self-promotion for promotion!
1. Simply put, PROMOTE YOURSELF!i think its an asian cultural thing. we tend to downplay our successes and usually have nothing to say when people ask us what our strengths are. but when they ask about weaknesses, there will be a 10 page laundry list!
sometimes, you have to tell them what they need to know because they don't see it for themselves. tell them how good you are and that you intend to get promoted. make your intentions known.
talk about your strengths and achievements when opportunities present themselves.
for example, you walk into the lift and the department head is in there already. you have about 30 seconds to make small talk - make big talk. say something like, hi boss, good morning. did you see the market share report we received on monday? my department has increased share 3 points year on year while cutting our budget by 50%. thank you for supporting project X. that really helped us make that happen.
ball-licking? you betcha!
2. Tell your boss what you are going to do and don't just do what your boss asks you to do!of course, you have to do the stuff that you are hired to do on a day-to-day basis. i mean set objectives or goals and put projects in place to achieve them. that is a great way to show the bosses what you are made of. and don't set sissy objective like 'i will turn up by 9 am every day and only leave at 9 pm'. be specific and brave. take a risk. make it something like 'i will execute project a & b to answer question x & y, which are the two most important obstacles preventing us from taking more market share from competitor q and r'.
set the objective and get the agreement from the bosses that that is what you will focus on. then, get the job done!
3. Overachievebe it in the goals you have set yourself, or the targets set by the boss, always strive to overachieve. just meeting them is fine, but overachieving them will give you more stuff to talk about when doing self-promotion (see point number 1)!
this can also be in the form of taking on more responsibility beyond your job scope. volunteer for cross department projects (and in some cases, initiate cross department projects that will place you in the driving seat, and give you visibility across the organization)
to be continued...
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