Please upgrade your web browser

These pages are built with modern web browsers in mind, and are not optimized for Internet Explorer 8 or below. Please try using another web browser, such as Internet Explorer 9, Internet Explorer 10, Internet Explorer 11, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Apple Safari.

Getting Promoted: It is not only about the job skills!

Career Advancement

Some of you might not know that promotions are not offered on the basis of job skills only. A lot of people are good at their jobs, but still don’t get ahead. If you want to be the one selected for advancement, you need to learn to create a personal brand of yours inside the company that distinguishes you from others. You have to start your personal brand from creating powerful resume along with other tips and tricks shared below to get ahead of other co-workers.

Listen before you speak

Each company executive is different and unique. Before throwing information about yourself just listen, discover and try to understand him/her and what their interests are. If you mark these things carefully, you will automatically discover ways to attract them to you.

Write good resume

Good resume is the key to success. Especially if you are on the very begining of your career. If you have already got some work experience in your study years it will affect your career well. Your student resume must be written very carefully.

Communicate well

Try to engage the executives in conversations of their interests, show interest in the conversation and try to be natural. This will make them feel more comfortable to be around you. Don’t worry interesting them with your job skills; just try to attract them to conversations.

Explore their interests

As you have more and more conversations with the executives, you will slowly come to know what they want and what matters to them. Just heighten the conversation to understand them more. This can be a crucial thing in increasing their interest in continuing to talk to you, gradually opening more paths to build a healthy work relationship with them!

Speak less and keep it to the point

It is very important for you to understand how much should you talk. When having a conversation with a senior person in the organization, never speak more than about a paragraph of information without taking a break. Keep the topic to the point and don’t exaggerate too much about a thing. Keep it to the point, as simple as that. Eventually this method will give them a chance to speak, understand, and process information. This will at the end of the day help you keep them engaged in the conversation with you.

Keep the conversation focused to them

No matter how much the executive likes you, he/she will like himself/herself more. It is a part of human nature. It is sensible to talk about them than yourself. Keep the 90% of the subject matter of the conversation focused on the executive, talking about her projects and interests. Doing this you will inevitably find opportunities to get information about you from her, about what the executive thinks about you, sort of a formal connection between you and the executive.

Relate well

It is very important to keep a proper relationship and a connection with the seniors in the company. By creating proper improvised and spontaneous conversations, you will be building a healthy work relationship with the executive. Eventually following the above steps, you will see the relationships grow over time.

These things will surely make you a strong contender in the race. It all depends on your skills to improvise when you are given the chances!

If you have comments or feedback about any article, please email your thoughts to info@acp-advisornet.org.

About the Author

Write an Article

We welcome articles on any subject that might help our veterans. Articles are especially useful in place of frequently similar responses, and can be linked in your replies.

Add an article