Do You Want to be Promoted? Prepare in Advance.

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I know, I know. It doesn’t seem likely that many of us will be selected for a promotion in the current economic climate, but now is a great time to prepare to advance your career. There are a number of ways for employees to prepare for promotion, including:

Create a career path for yourself. This tip requires some level of research to determine what skills and competencies are required for upper-level positions in your career. Seek out job descriptions and other online resources to determine the skills most needed and any minimum requirements. Make a checklist to keep track of different skill sets you need to develop.

Develop yourself. There are a number of ways to develop yourself for future career growth. While formal classroom instruction is the most common approach, it is not the only approach, especially now that tutorials and development tools are available online, sometimes free of charge. Of course, you will have to commit to learning on your own time and resources. But the payoff would be worth it in the long run.

Network. Long ago, networking was identified as one of the most underutilized resources to advance your career. Join professional clubs or associations to meet others in your career field. Find discussion forums or bloggers relative to your field and get involved.   Fortunately, networking can be online or in person without compromising the overall benefit of this job growth strategy.

Find a mentor. A mentor is someone in your chosen field who is an established and a seasoned professional willing to offer guidance, support and coaching for someone who is up and coming in their career field. When mentors share their valuable, first hand experience, employees gain the benefit of growing in the industry as a result of someone else’s knowledge and experience. When you select a good mentor, often times the relationship sustains well past the work assignments. Be careful to select someone who is committed and trustworthy.

Uncover new challenges or opportunities in your organization. Once you identify a problem, challenge or opportunity within your organization, provide yourself as the needed solution. Notify your supervisor or governmental leadership to highlight your skill sets and how they can be utilized as an answer or solution to lower costs or improve efficiencies within the organization.

Be proactive. Step outside the box and ask for additional responsibilities or assignments. This will get you needed visibility for upward mobility. Even if your effort does not result in a promotion, you get to demonstrate your value to the organization during a time of downsizing and mass layoffs.

Attitude. You must demonstrate a positive attitude regardless of pay and recognition, if you want to get ahead. Be a positive change agent for your organization to gain the respect of colleagues and leadership. This is easier said than done. Encourage yourself by remembering the workforce environment will rebound eventually. It may not be today or tomorrow, but borrowing from biblical text: “the race is not given to the swift or the strong but those that endure to the end.”

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