How to position yourself for a promotion early on in your career

In some professions and at certain companies, career tracks are so clear. Take medicine, for example. Aspiring doctors go from student to resident to fellow to doctor. But in other industries, such as tech, there are opportunities to move up, down and laterally. There isn't one defined path to take.

While it's liberating to have many options to explore, it can also feel like you don't have a sense of direction. That can be a worrying feeling for those of us who are just starting out.

"I think the reason so many people get wigged out early in their career when there's not that obvious next step is because up until that point there had been an obvious next step," says Elizabeth Lotardo, VP of client services at McLeod & More, Inc. "All of a sudden, you're thrown in the sea with a thousand people working with this company and you're like, 'Now what? Is it just this until forever?'"

I won't lie and say that I haven't asked myself that exact question: "Is it just this until forever?" In college, many of us set our sights on securing a full-time job. When our next step after reaching that milestone isn't obvious, Lotardo says "the onus is so much more on the individual to determine what the next step is."

So, how do we get a sense of where we can move within an organization? Lotardo recommends understanding the trends around who is getting promoted: "You can start to see, is it obtainable and is it ethical? What do I have to do to fall into that category of people who are getting promoted? How can I mirror the behaviors of the people before me who have made the moves that I now want to make?”

Picking up on a company's "unspoken rules" can give us a clearer picture of possible career tracks to pursue. Once we understand where we can move to and identify where we want to go, Lotardo says the next step is to position ourselves for a promotion.

I spoke to Lotardo, who has a LinkedIn Learning course on this topic, to learn more about what we need to do to earn a promotion — and how to ask for one if it's not awarded. Below are excerpts from our conversation (some quotes were edited for length and clarity):

How do you position yourself for a promotion, rather than having to ask?

There are a few parts to this. The first we talk about in the course is identifying promotable conditions. These are things like your performance in your current role. If you're struggling, you're probably not going to get promoted. Your relationship with your boss. If they really don't favor you, you're probably not going to get promoted. The financials of the company. The historical trends of people in your role. If no one ever moves out of or up from that role, are you going to be the first? Probably not. None of those factors are necessarily deal breakers. You can get promoted in a company that is struggling financially. You can get promoted if you've made some mistakes in your role, but they're all things to consider and they build this picture of promotable conditions. Provided the promotable conditions are good and you think your odds are pretty decent, you want to position yourself in terms of the impact you're having, not necessarily what you did.

You mentioned a company's financial position as a promotable condition to consider. How does asking for a promotion change during uncertain economic times?

It is not something you should hold off on, but it is something that's probably going to be more difficult if your organization is subject to this economic weirdness. That said, in the overall landscape, there are tons of companies thriving. If you have, for example, great customer-retention skills, you should be asking for a promotion now because that's what your organization is probably focusing on. If you have great innovation skills and you want to build the next breakthrough product, you can still ask for a promotion. You're probably going to have to build a case around how it is going to prevent the company from losing market share. It's all about making yourself fit the environment of your organization.

If you're not awarded a promotion, how do you ask for one?

You want to be really clear in your ask. A promotion means different things to different people. Sometimes bosses will think a promotion means just a pay raise. If that's what you're after, ask specifically for a pay raise. Some think it's more responsibility with no pay raise. If that's not cool with you, be really upfront around that. The more clear you are on what you're looking for — whether it's a change in responsibility, whether it's the ability to lead direct reports, whether it's just more money — the more likely you are to get it. Your boss can't read your mind and if the situation is not perfectly spelled out for you, it's your job to spell out what you're looking for.

Can you negotiate a promotion?

Absolutely. Don't be discouraged if you do have to negotiate. If you’re experiencing pushback on your ask, think in advance about what you’re willing to bend on. Would you take more money if you didn't get a better job title? Would you take more responsibility if you didn't get more money? Being clear about your priorities makes you more powerful in the moment, so you're not sitting there looking at your feet agreeing to things that in hindsight you didn't want to agree to. That doesn't mean things won't catch you off guard. It doesn't mean you're not allowed to change your mind. But the more you think in advance, the more conversationally fluid you're going to be when your manager says, 'Well, maybe not this, but would you be willing to accept this?'

Are there mistakes to avoid when asking for a promotion?

The biggest mistake ambitious, high-performing people make when they want to get promoted is saying 'yes' to everything. Taking on every single project, taking every single meeting, going the extra mile on literally everything possible. It's well-intended, but they burn out or their performance suffers. The other thing that holds a lot of young people back is business acumen. When you're after a promotion, you need to know where in the organization you fit and how the business you're in makes money. You need to have a deep understanding of the customer base, even if you aren't customer facing. You need to know what's going on in your industry. When you're asking for a promotion, the temptation is to focus on the performance of the job that you have at the moment. It's only one part of the equation.

What do you do if your promotion is turned down?

Have some clear next steps. Are you going to ask again in three months? Were you told 'not right now,' or were you told 'no'? If you were told 'no,' why is that? Are there some things in your performance you need to shore up? Is there some experience you need to get? If the answer is just 'no,' that's when you need to start considering, 'What's my next play? Is that here or is that somewhere else?' If you’re told 'no,' it's OK to ask 'what can I do in the meantime? What experience are you looking for? What would get me to that next step?' If there's no answer to that, then that should tell you everything you need to know.

??What's your advice on earning a promotion? Share in the comments.

?? Always be a student

As Lotardo says, you need to be clear on your ask when going after a promotion. If one of your must-haves is a pay raise, check out this LinkedIn Learning course. It covers everything from researching your market value to avoiding common negotiation traps. You can watch the course below or by clicking here.

?? College corner?

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