I have been with my current position for 5 years. Think I deserve a promotion based on what I have done but not sure how to bring it up. The manager is fairly new to the management role. I brought it up once and looks like he didn’t know how to respond and never got back to me.
Any sugestions? Thank you in advance.
Find a new job.
I think you need to have 2 things in order.
What sort of promotion are you looking for. If there is a specific title or role, be explicit about that. If this is about increased duties, be specific about that. Obviously, this is ultimately about pay, but you don’t necessarily want to frame it like that. Frame this as an avenue to career development, with a specific emphasis on how the new role will fit in with your desired track.
You need to have your case well crafted, with specific actions you took and results you generated. You are trying to justify whatever it is you asked for in #1 above.
Once you lay out your case and are rejected, take Geo’s advice.
This is the best way to figure out what’s your worth on the market. If you believe you deserve a promotion, let’s see what the shops down the street think.
In other words… your value is determined what others will pay. like any piece of art.
^ That’s right. If the company wanted to promote him, they’d have done so. Begging for it doesn’t show your worth. An offer from the shop next door does. Making a case to your boss for promotion won’t get you a bump up. He knows what you do. Telling him what you do is a waste of everyone’s time. And you shouldn’t do it looking for a counter offer. You should just go to the new shop.
That’s what I’m trying to figure out. Do people just get promoted or you have to ask for it?
I also have heard that you will never get promoted unless you ask for it. Is that true?
I’m still not seeing a lot opportunities out there. I’m trying to move out of operations and be in the research field.
I haven’t been actively searching for a job yet. Basically just looking internally. Registered for Level III next June, so still want to get this thing done first.
However I was told that it’s hard to find a right position if you already are a charterholder but don’t have related experience. I should find a position before I passed Level III.
Any comments?
All the inputs from you guys are great. I appreciate it.
Well, you won’t be a charterholder without related experience, right?
IMHO, if you were presented with the opportunity to go to a job and get “related experience” then your time would be better spent there, as opposed to waiting until you finish L3.
You can also ask your supervisor what will it takes to get promoted at your shop. You’ve been here X years and performed Y and Z tasks that add value to the company and they’ve loaded A B and C new responsibilities on you. You haven’t seen a promotion yet and you want to know what’s expected from you in order to move to the next level in your career.
This sets the case for promoting you now, with concrete accomplishements and specified additional responsibilities you’ve taken on. That might be enough.
However, if that’s not enough, it sets the stage where you can craft a kind of contract with your supervisor where if you meet certain targets, you can expect a promotion. It comes across less like a demand because it shows you’re willing to work for your promotion, and don’t expect one just handed to you. (Though see how they react to the first part, before offering to work more, you might just get one handed to you after all.)
It also tells them that if they don’t attend to that need, you’ll likely start looking elsewhere. If you actually are providing value to them, that will get them to think seriously about promoting you, particularly since a promotion is often easier and cheaper and easier than a plain compensation hike.
Related experience means the experience in the field that I’m trying to get in.I’m in the industry, but in the back office.
I’m trying to get a job in the research field, but it seems hard. They like hire either fresh graduates or people with related experience. Not sure how much of help it will be even if I obtain the charter.
Thank you Chad. That’s great advice. I’ll give it a shot.
“How do you mention promotion to your manager ?”
If you think you deserve a promotion and the employer is not interested / concerned enough to give it due consideration, then mentioning that you will start to look elsewhere seldom works (often taken as a hollow threat only!). Good employers (i.e. professionally run organisations) do know who deserves and needs to be promoted without any threats from their employer (and if they need to be told then they are simply not good enough to deserve your dedicated hard work and golden hours of your life!). To such ‘indifferent’ bosses you don’t mention ‘promotion’ you mention ‘the better offer’ you are thinking to consider (no need to mention the reason, they normally understand). If they really want you, they will be worried more than you and mention alternatives. But to do so do get an offer first. It is the right time you think of it.
In truly professionally run organisation pay hike/ promotion is not a matter of whimsical favour or threat-mitigation but a result of planned employee development and growth process, they believe in worker’s motivation, just reward and compensation as a policy and follow it. Working for them does not land you in such dilemma. It may be in your favour to search for an offer in such organisation, starting now. Even if you don’t get an offer by the time you get the Charter, you need not be discouraged by what you have been told. Charter is not an obstruction (nor a booster) to getting the choice opening, your lack of experience in ‘research’ is. So keeping this weakness in mind (but not letting it overwhelm you) prepare yourself to exploit your strength of experience in operations – projecting and using it as a stepping stone for entering research field – charter or no charter. A good option will be to start with actually doing some research related work by yourself and high light it while seeking an opening, at least you will feel comfortable in the interviews discussing ‘doing’ research and related issues besides proving your genuine interest. There are a few threads where knowledgeable people of AF have suggested how to go about doing it. Hope it helps.
Yeah, that’s what I’ve always done.
As far as TITLES, employers will give you one if you walk around the office all day doing politics and building a case, for months, or even years. But that’s stupid. Same for as WORK and RESPONSIBILITY, they will gladly give you more. But MONEY? They don’t want to give that up unless backed into a corner.
All the BIG pay bumps I’ve had over the last 12 years came from switching to the shop across town. Also as part of the deal ask for “a review after 6 months, if goals are met, it is an automatic additional bump”. I’ve done that. So it’s a double bump with the new job. But after that you are locked in…
Just my experience.