Career Advice on How to Get a Promotion

A recent issue of Bloomberg Business Week had an article called “Get a Raise – Guaranteed.”  While some of it was tongue in cheek, some of it was actually some good career success advice.  The article listed eight things to do to get a raise or a promotion:

1. Spread flattering gossip about yourself.
2. Don’t dress like a moron.
3. Pick your icebreaker wisely.
4. Chart your value.
5. Don’t smell like a snook.
6. Choose the right time.
7. Go for the sob story.
8. Think like a hostage negotiator.

Some of these eight piece of career success advice are clearly meant to be a joke.  Some, like number 8, make a good point that is hidden in the headline.  Here’s what it has to say, “Once he or she (your boss) thinks you have their (sic) interests in mind, it’s time to begin making demands.”  This echoes the career advice in Tweet 135 in my book Success Tweets.  “Be a consensus builder.  Focus on where you agree with others.  It will be easier to resolve differences and create agreement.”  Starting from a place of agreement, being on the same side always makes negotiations go a little smoother and can help you get the promotion that will put you on the road to career success.

My best career advice on getting a raise or promotion is simple common sense – become an outstanding performer.  To become an outstanding performer you need to do five things:

• Get and stay competent in your field.  Become a lifelong learner.
• Understand the numbers.  Develop a good working knowledge of budgets and P&L statements.
• Create positive personal impact.  Become an in demand person in your company.
• Become a dynamic communicator – in conversation, writing and presenting.
• Build and maintain strong, mutually beneficial relationships with the important people in your life.

The Bloomberg Business Week article on how to get a raise focused primarily on what I call creating positive personal impact.  Lydia Ramsey and I will be releasing a new book this month called Success Tweets for Creating Positive Personal Impact.  In this book, we will focus on 15 keys for creating positive personal impact.

1. Basic Ideas
2. Personal Branding
3. Dressing for Success
4. Business Meal Etiquette
5. Building Strong Relationships
6. Networking Etiquette
7. Business Cards
8. Email Etiquette
9. Telephone Courtesy
10. Successful Social Media
11. Meeting Manners
12. Business Introductions
13. The Business Handshake
14. Customer Courtesy
15. International Business

All 15 of these keys are important career advice.  You need to build your skills in each of them.  In the days to come, I will be sharing the common sense tweets Lydia and I have come up with to help you create positive personal impact – an important life and career success competency.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  If you want to get a raise or promotion, you need to become an outstanding performer.  To become an outstanding performer, you need to do five things.  1) Get and stay competent in your field.  Become a lifelong learner.  2) Understand the numbers.  Develop a good working knowledge of budgets and P&L statements.  3) Create positive personal impact.  Become an in demand person in your company. 4) Become a dynamic communicator – in conversation, writing and presenting.  5) Build and maintain strong, mutually beneficial relationships with the important people in your life.  Lydia Ramsey and I are releasing a new book this month.  It’s called Success Tweets for Creating Positive Personal Impact.  In this book we’ll show you 15 ways to creating positive personal impact.  1) Basic Ideas, 2) Personal Branding, 3) Dressing for Success, 4) Business Meal Etiquette, 5) Building Strong Relationships, 6) Networking Etiquette, 7) Business Cards, 8) Email Etiquette, 9) Telephone Courtesy, 10) Social Media Success, 11) Meeting Manners, 12) Business Introductions, 13) Business Handshakes, 14) Customer Courtesy, 15) International Business Etiquette.  Master all 15 of these common sense skills and you’ll be on your way to  creating the life and career success you want and deserve.

That’s my career advice on how to get a raise or a promotion.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained.  It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.