How do I get a promotion? Here are 6 ways!

Many see a job promotion as a milestone to one’s career progression.

However, getting a promotion is not easy when faced with many other capable competitors at work.

These six ways serve to help develop one’s competitive edge and stand a higher chance of getting a successful promotion at work.

1) Set goals

2) Lifelong learning

3) Showcase yourself

4) Be an asset

5) Build network

6) Be a leader

1) Set goals

There are 5 questions to think about when setting effective goals

i) What’s your goal in this job?

ii) What role would you like to be in two years from today?

iii) What are the competencies of your next role that distinguish it from your current job?

iv) Which of those competencies can you demonstrate now?

v) What brand will you need to build now, in order to get there?

To help you answer the questions better;

i) Do not fear that goals are difficult to reach. Instead, goal-setting gives one a certain direction to work towards.

ii) With goals, one can plan and take concrete steps to make progress. Plans include;

- Participating in high visibility projects that help to showcase your competencies for the next role you are working hard for

- Pick up certain skill sets to prepare yourself for the next role

- Identify correct people to help you acquire information and skill sets that you need

iii) During updates or times when you are with your colleagues and superiors, speak about what you are working on and emphasize the next-level competencies that you are deploying. This allows people to know what you are doing so your efforts are recognised.

Quick Tip

Know what you want. Then, let others know what you want.

2) Lifelong learning

i) We need to show our superiors and colleagues that we are committed to continuously improve and develop our skills by finding learning opportunities, both within the office and outside of it.

ii) Take part in online courses, monthly webinars or attend networking events.

iii) Identify new things to learn and be aware of by;

- Being curious of what other departments are doing

- Volunteering to help out other departments in their projects

Quick Tip

Stay ahead of the curve. Anticipate the next turn.

3) Showcase yourself

i) Document your achievements to make sure your efforts can be tracked. Record significant projects.

ii) When showcasing yourself, focus on how you contributed as an individual to achieve the projects’ success.

iii) Do not stop at just documenting. Remember to share the records with your superiors so that your ability and hard work can be seen. This ensures that when choosing employees to be promoted, superiors consider both your past and current achievements. Your performance is therefore fairly and accurately evaluated.

Quick Tip

Record your achievements. Ensure they are seen.

4) Be an asset

i) Develop your personal unique selling point such that you serve an indispensable role to the company. This can be achieved by possessing professional, relevant skills set that not many people have or e the best at a certain sill. This way, you are value-adding to your company.

ii) At the same time, be a collaborative team player. Instead of waiting for your team members to ask for help, be proactive at offering help by making use of your skills. This allows your team to witness your worth.

iii) In time, your value will be recognised by the management team to be reliable and trusted.

Quick Tip

Be the ‘go-to’ person in your team. Be the person no one wants to lose.

5) Build network

i) Take advantage of every networking opportunity within or outside your department or company. With network comes support, help, guidance and encouragement in times of need.

ii) Take the initiative to be an active member of your organisation and to engage with your colleagues. This can be done by;

- Strike light conversation that builds relationship like praising someone's outfit when they take time and effort to dress

- Solve problems for colleagues by offering assistance

- Help volunteer to plan for events

- Keep a simple box of nice cookies or biscuits so people can drop by to have a chat and you can offer them

Quick Tip

Be connected. Be engaged. “The most successful people in the world look for networks; everyone else looks for work.” Robert Kiyosaki

6) Be a leader

i) Do not be afraid to step up and take charge. Instead, volunteer yourself to lead and to mentor.

ii) While leading, make sure to display leadership qualities such as;

- Passion in ensuring the project is carried out smoothly

- Decisiveness in ensuring the decisions are made with certainty

- Confidence in ensuring the decisions made will achieve good result

- Logical to ensure proper reasoning are in place

iii) With the above, you will be recognised and remembered as a reliable decision maker and as a leader

Quick Tip

Most leaders don’t set out to be a leader – they set out to make a difference. It is rarely about the role, and always about the goal.

Testimonials

Mr Shesh is an extremely talented leader and a man of depth.

I have worked with him since 2007 and have watched him head several well-known companies in the OSV sector in which he presided over well-planned growth and successful turning-around.

He is a man of vision with the determination and capability to form/galvanise a capable team to deliver the vision.

Besides being a businessman, he is also an accomplished engineer (fellow of SNAMES) and also an author of short stories on everyday life.

Yujin chia, Vice President, Jurong Port

Shesh moved into the ceo’s role (in Miclyn Express Offshore) during the worst offshore oil & gas market downturn in history and was instrumental in guiding the Group through this business cycle with a very clear strategy on cost reduction whilst at the same time improving operational excellence and generally making the business capability more robust.

I believe the key to his success was Shesh’s ability to obtain buy-in from all employees within the company and to be very dogged about company and personal goal setting and unwavering in his support for all employees to achieve these goals.

In addition to ensuring the resilience of the company during the industry downturn, Shesh continued to keep senior management focused on redefining our core business segments in order that fleet renewal related capital investments or divestures and potential M&A transactions would be more strategic and better place us for exponential growth for a future industry upward cycle.

I feel that Shesh would have a positive impact on any organisation (including goal setting) within a short amount of time based on what I have experienced working with him at MEO and his legacy that continues.

Brad Morphew, Business Head, Eastern Hemisphere, Miclyn Express Offshore

I found Mr. Venkatraman Sheshashayee on LinkedIn.

It was amazing to see his profile, and I connected with him immediately. This happened 4 months after I changed my previous job. Earlier I worked for 15 years with Siemens Healthineers, Bangalore. Since the time I changed the job last year (2019), there were some issues at my work place and I needed guidance. It was my privilege connecting with Mr. Shesh. I sent a simple message asking for help explaining my situation at a high level. To my surprise, he shared his contact number immediately and I got an opportunity to interact with an exceptional advisor. The discussion went for 40 minutes in the first call itself. Here are the amazing qualities of Mr. Shesh I noticed:

- Active Listening

- Patience

- Understanding the situation and my feelings by asking more and more questions

- Giving fantastic suggestions to come out of the situation

- Follow up [This is extraordinary... I never thought I would get a call from him asking if I needed more help. I guess I got a call from him again after a month.]

I can never forget the way he ended the call saying "Please execute all this with dedication".  I followed his suggestions exactly the way he guided me and I can confidently say that I have crossed all the challenges in my work life with his guidance. 

Sometimes I still feel surprised how LinkedIn helped me by showing Mr. Shesh's profile at the right time. While writing this, I have become inarticulate to express my gratitude to Mr. Shesh for all his guidance and support [to just a Linked-In Contact]. Thank you so much, Mr. Shesh for all your support!

lakshmi vasantha, Technical Product Manager, Symplr

Speak to Shesh today by clicking here!