January 2, 2008 at 1:39 am
Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Job Outlook for 2008
January 2, 2008 at 10:43 am
Just curious Steve, but just how did you "work that much harder for promotions"? Did you propose a quid pro quo? Or hope your effort got noticed?
January 2, 2008 at 11:08 am
Working for promotions has been in a couple ways. This is probably another whole editorial ;), but I'll give a few examples.
If I wanted a manager's job, I'd look for ways to help a manager out and learn their job. Propose a budget, help them get their budget done, add in some responsibilities for management to show them I can do the job. This sometimes has gotten me a promotion where I worked, other times it's helped me to get a job elsewhere.
If I wanted a technical promotion, then it depends. Some places defined what was needed for the next level. It might include certification, which meant a significant period studying on my own. It might be that I wanted to be in another department. I had a "side project" that I hacked at for one department when I was a sysadmin. I wanted to get into programming, so I really dug into it, got a lot of work done, and even though the corporate programmers complained about department apps, I would show them what I'd done, ask opinions, ask what I could to do make it conform to their standards, give them the source code updates for their VSS, and let them (and their manager) know that I wanted to move to that department. It worked.
One thing I've done is make sure that managers or directors knew that I wanted to get promoted. I'd ask them what they wanted me to do, and then find ways to show them I was going beyond what was expected. Find ways to help out, don't complain, or even take on jobs that no one wanted to do, to get them done and show I was willing to work for the company.
Of course when I was happy where I was, I was less likely to volunteer for extra work, complain a bit, even avoid work where possible. That didn't work at Peoplesoft. I dodged two promotions before I got stuck managing people 🙁
January 2, 2008 at 11:24 am
Except for the PeopleSoft comment, what you did sounded like what everyone should be doing anyway when they are working for someone else.
And for the self employed, that's how you stay self employed!
You should always do more than what is expected. Maybe that's not how it works in office politics in larger corporations but that is one reason I have stayed away from them.
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