Five Reasons Why You Aren’t Getting Promoted
Do you ever feel like you are not getting the recognition you deserve and the promotion you feel should be yours? Read through the reasons that you may be getting overlooked and not getting promoted. If you identify with one of them, don’t worry, you can fix it!
No one knows what you are working on
Are you one of those employees that takes on a lot of tasks but doesn’t like to make a big deal about it? This is hurting you. You need to let the right people know what you are working on and the amount of tasks you are responsible for. Even if you think your boss knows, you need to make sure it’s on their radar. And your boss isn’t the only one who should know. Unfortunately there are managers out there that don’t give team members the credit they deserve. Network with senior managers in your department and others at your company.
You rely on other people to advocate for you
As I mentioned in the last section, other people don’t always have your best interests at heart. You need to advocate for yourself! Did you recently work on a big project that saved the company money? Ask to present it in the next department meeting. So many people think that if they just come in and do a great job, it will be recognized and they will get a deserved promotion. The world doesn’t work that way. Even though it may be appreciated, people at your company aren’t going to bring up promotion in most cases.
You keep your career goals to yourself
You know how you have those objective setting meetings with your manager at the beginning of every year? In that meeting you told your manager your goal was to get promoted this year right? Well let’s hope so! How are they to know what you want if you don’t tell them? Don’t worry, just tell them in your next one-on-one meeting. If you don’t have meetings with your manger now, please set them up. You should have their attention for at least thirty minutes once a month.
You do the bare minimum
I see this so often where people think they should be promoted because they do their job well. From your employer’s perspective, you doing your job well is exactly what they hired you for. If you want to be promoted, find ways to go above and beyond your peers. Are their projects you can work on? Processes you can improve? Ask your manager how you can help them and how you can take on more responsibility. Showing that initiative and delivering will help you get the level of attention you need to make it to the next level on the career ladder.
You don’t get along with people
To be promoted, you need to work well with others. If you are constantly disagreeing or shooting down other people’s ideas, you probably aren’t very popular on your team. Make an effort to listen to what people are saying and offer your feedback in a professional way. Pay attention to how you deliver the message and make sure it doesn’t sound condescending. Also, make sure to give people a win from time to time. Maybe you don’t agree exactly with something they said but if it is 90% there, let it go!
Getting promoted requires a plan AND action
Getting promoted is what most ambitious employees want. The way to make it happen is to have a plan that includes these steps and then put that plan into action.
Main photo credit: Got Credit
