What does it take to get promoted in a job?

What does it take to get promoted in a job?

Imagine you start a new job; you try to settle in the new role and start learning skills required for the role. You slowly master responsibilities required for your job; you get good feedback on your performance and good ratings during appraisal. But then you reach a plateau and start wondering what should I do to get promoted?

The problem is that the skills and experience learned in your current job may not be enough for success in the next level role. To get promoted you need to show that you are prepared for the next level role. So, how do you overcome this challenge? simple, you have to understand what skills and experience are required for next level role and slowly accumulate those skills and experience informally whenever the opportunity presents itself.

You have to start taking more responsibilities off your boss’s shoulder and undertake projects where you can gain skills and experience that prepares you for the next level role. You fulfill those responsibilities satisfactorily and take more responsibilities. If you do this correctly, you will reach a point when you are already performing more than 75% of the responsibilities required for the next level role. Once you do that you have effectively promoted yourself already then all it takes is formal recognition by your manager and HR systems. This will also give your manager the confidence to promote you and will make the transition into the new role smooth for you.

Remember, you get promoted for your potential and not for performance alone.