How to Present Your OWN Promotion
It takes practice to learn how to present your own promotion. Organizations post their job openings all the time. But how do you know when you’re ready for a promotion? How do you present your resume and have the conversation with your boss? There are several ways you can present a new job opportunity that includes yourself as the ideal candidate or apply for a higher level job that results in a promotion. Below are a few ideas to help you take a chance and be ready when those doors open for you.
As a life-long learner, seek new opportunities to learn new skills.
Become a lifelong learner and seek opportunities to learn new skills—consistently. This includes a move to a different job to acquire new experience. The StrengthsFinder 2.0 assessment explains that “learners thrive in the journey of learning.” Learners don’t just learn to be the “know it all” in the room. They learn because they are passionate about the act of learning. Learners also enjoy sharing their new acquired knowledge with others and inspire learning to those around them.
Identify a need within your organization.
The first step in presenting your own promotion to your manager is to identify a real need in your company. Look around and find gaps. Find what’s missing in your department or any other area of the organization and ask yourself if you may be interested in pursuing such an opportunity. If the answer is no, then propose the idea to someone in that area to improve their department or process. Or help them create a position with the purpose of improving your organization as a whole. Doing so, will give you visibility within your organization which can help you get promoted later.
Create Job Description with what you believe would be the duties.
If you are interested in pursuing the proposed job, then move to the next step which is to create a Job Description for the position. Describe the primary functions of the job as best you can and conduct some research on the responsibilities as well as pay scale.
An example of when I created a job description was when I was expecting my second child. I saw a need for a Customer Service Representative in the Treasury Management department. As a next step, I created the draft of the Job Description, presented it to my boss, and told him “I’m your perfect candidate.” He was pleased that I had the idea, went through the work to create the Job Description, and that I had the courage to present myself for my own promotion. Guess what? I got promoted! The key is to take the initiative to start something as I explained in a previous blog How to Lead When You’re Not in Leadership.
Update your Resume to match the job you’re proposing.
One way to be ready when doors open is to always update your resume every time you get a new responsibility in your current job. In the event you find yourself looking for a job unexpectedly, your resume is ready. It is also a good idea to update your LinkedIn profile with new job functions that may be significant when looking for other opportunities.
Present the idea to your immediate boss.
As I shared in my blog How to Increase Your Visibility in Your Organization without Self-Promoting, when the institution I worked for decided to be the first to offer online banking, I jumped to the opportunity to present an idea to my boss in Private Banking. The idea was to sell this new product to all Private Banking clients of the bank.
There was a need for an expert to sell this new product. I then created the job description for the proposed position, updated my resume, and presented the idea to my manager. She in turn presented it to the senior leadership and they approved the new position. I got a promotion and had the most fun I’ve ever had in a banking job! The job included visiting Private Banking clients at their homes and offices to sign them up on online banking and taught them how to pay their bills. To this day, I still have friendships formed with my clients from almost 30 years ago!
Develop relationships with other department leaders so they know your skills when opportunities open up.
When the best strategies I practiced during my banking career was to develop relationships with other department leaders. It is not only a great opportunity to create new friendships in the workplace, but it allows the department heads of those areas to get to know you.
Taking the step to ask for a promotion or apply for a job that is above you to move up in your career takes courage. I hope these strategies on how to present your own promotion inspired you take the initiative to go for it!