How To Understand Your Company’s Promotion Process (Episode 2)

Companies have different processes for promotions and it’s important to take the time to understand your company’s promotion process. 

In episode 1 of ‘How to get a promotion without leaving your current company’ we talked about how to assess where you are in your career.

In this episode, we cover the next step which is how to understand your company’s promotion process.

Podcast Transcript 

Hello There and welcome to the second episode of How to get a promotion without leaving your current company! In the first episode, we talked about assessing where you are, understanding how your performance is measured, and how you can get to the next level.

Today we’ll talk about step 2 which is understanding your company’s promotion process. So onto step 2, Understanding your company’s promotion process. Why should you take the time to understand your company’s promotion process?

Companies have different processes for promotions. You might work at a company where the only people that are involved in the promotion process are you and your manager.

If your manager says you can be promoted then that’s it. You could also be at a company where it’s your manager and a whole heap of people that you may not even interact with regularly that make the decision. 

That’s why you need to understand what the promotion process is at your company – who will be involved? Who are the key players?

What do they assess during the promotion process? Do you need to write a document for your promotion? Does your manager need to write it? Do you both need to write it?

Understanding is crucial so that you can be prepared in the right way and make the best use of your time. You don’t want to start preparing and then later find out the way you’ve been doing it is wrong and you’ve wasted your time. 

There are a couple of ways you can find this out. First, look through your company portal or intranet to find any documentation or training on the promotion process.

Also, reach out to your manager and HR to find out. Secondly, speak to people who have been promoted. Ask them what the process was like for them – What they had to prepare and any tips they have on navigating the process. Don’t be shy to ask – people are usually willing to help and share their advice. If you don’t ask, you don’t get!

Document whatever you find out. Create a file and start collating what you’ve learned about the process. If there is no formal documentation on the process, write down what you’ve discussed with HR and your manager.

Send it in an email to them and ask them to fill in any gaps. That way you have a documented record of what needs to be done. So you don’t hear any stories later.

And that’s how you understand your company’s promotion process. In the next episode of how to get a promotion without leaving your current company, I’ll cover how to create your promotion plan.

I also want to know – in your experience so far – do you think companies have transparent promotion processes? Make sure you subscribe using the form on theworldinherwords.com to get an email when the next episode drops. Take care for now!  

Listen to episode 3 here.