>> Bag that Promotion

Want to skip a few rungs on the career ladder? Don’t wait for Fortune to come knocking at your door, make it happen! Here are some proactive ways to get that spacious corner office you’ve been eyeing with your own coffee machine, personal assistant, benefits and bragging rights …all a part of your promotion of course!

• Take pride in your work. Make it your own. Be dedicated to doing a good job on every assignment. Bring something new and interesting to the table at all times when ideas and solutions are called for. Put in a few extra hours if it’s required to get the work done. Consistent good performance will definitely get you some recognition.
  
  
• Keep yourself updated in terms of your knowledge and skills. Stay abreast of the latest developments and trends in your field of expertise. Enroll yourself in programs and courses which can help you learn more. The more capable you are, the more valuable you are to an organization.
  
  
• Take on more responsibilities and make good of them. Show your willingness to learn by volunteering to do additional tasks. Don’t wait to be asked. When higher ups realize that you are interested in doing more and you can handle the extra workload they’ll see the potential in you and might consider you for positions of greater responsibility.
  
  
• A sure shot way to be in the running for a promotion is to solve a task or a problem which either has been pending or hasn’t been solved for quite some time. Even if you can’t solve it, you’re efforts at attempting it won’t go unnoticed.
  
  
• Don’t be a braggart but don’t be too modest either. Find a balance between the two and during your performance reviews let your boss know what all you have done and accomplished and how you’re work has made a difference to the company.
  
  
• Be a team player. Be loyal to your group mates. Encourage and support them in their work. Share the credit on group tasks. Don’t be a know-it-all who stabs people in the back to get ahead of the pack. You want your colleagues to be happy for you when you get a promotion, not talk flak behind your back. Besides you wouldn’t really be happy with you’re new position if you got it by walking all over your peers.
  
  
• Network your way to a higher position. Establish contacts with people you meet at office/business functions, alumni meets and in your everyday life. Drop them an email or a phone call once in a while. Make the most of social networking sites. Treat every one as a potential contact who can help you make your next career move. As they say, only 40% of all jobs are ever advertised—the rest are made known through word of mouth.
  
  
• Don’t be a pushover. Know when it’s time to move on. If the work you’re doing, no matter how good, isn’t getting you the recognition you deserve then leave, particularly if you know that there is no room for advancement at your current workplace.
  
  

Lastly, remind yourself that your efforts won’t pay off overnight. You’ll have to demonstrate your abilities over a period of time before a promotion may be on the cards. So be patient and if even after all this the spacious corner office still eludes you, then don’t forget—there’s always next time!