Steve Hall ⋅ Beaverton, OR ⋅ 18 years experience

A quote from Arthur Ashe comes to mind. Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.

Start where you are: evaluate yourself and the company you are with.

I have often found that others see me much differently that I can see myself, both my good and my bad traits. Accordingly, I suggest that you ask everyone you know their honest opinion and be open to their candid feedback. Open ended questions, what do you think I would be good at? How do you think I can advance in my career? What's holding me back? What opportunities for advancement do you see for me? What skills do I need to improve upon to be considered? Be open minded, you may not hear only positive viewpoints. I would include my current manager at my current company.

Use what you have...

The baby boomers are retiring at a very fast rate. Just stating an interest may open some doors, as perhaps your company does not believe you are interested in promotions.
I also suggest that you evaluate the company you are at. Are they profitable and growing. If so there are likely to be opportunities. If they are flat or shrinking, there could still be opportunity provided someone else leaves. An unbiased evaluation of the company is needed to make the decision on whether to remain there or find another opportunity. You may want to set a time frame for advancement (one you keep to yourself) and discuss the fact that you are looking for opportunity within your current company. If they do not offer something within your time frame it may be best to then start looking outside of the organization.

Do what you can... Build the skills that are needed, ask for stretch assignments, read books and other material, become an expert. Be the most qualified person, the most committed person, the go to person. Get noticed, build a reputation as a reliable problem solver. There will always be problems to solve.

Dan Wessel ⋅ Woodbridge, VA Federal Government ⋅ 5 years experience

Advancement in the civilian world is a lot harder than it is in the military. In the military you always have someone ensuring that you meet all the requirements for the next rank, and so long as you put in the effort to be good at your job promotions will come on a timeline. Not so in the civilian world.

In the military you do not "apply" or leave your service to pick up the next rank. You also don't have to worry about someone from outside of your service coming in from nowhere to suddenly get the position you wanted. This all happens in the civilian world.

Your company may promote supervisors internally, but only selects people who have a credential they earned on their own time. It may only hire management externally. It may only promote family members of the owner for management. So how do you get ahead in the civilian world?

1) Find out what you need. If you know the job you want, ask people currently in that position/the HR department responsible for what they want in a candidate. Don't meet those requirements? Do what you need to and get the necessary credentials.
2) Be willing to move companies. You said that your last opportunity would have required you to move across the country? Depending on the jobs you want that might be your only option. I have a relative who is an executive at a major auto company and had to move to a new part of the country when he got promoted (every 5 years or so for over 30 years). He was willing to do it, and now his family lives a very comfortable lifestyle far beyond what he could have provided unless he agreed to move.
3) Get a mentor to help you. ACP has a mentor program, utilize it! If not, try finding someone in your industry and ask them to mentor you. Make sure that s/he has enough experience to know what s/he is talking about, and listen to him/her!

My final piece of advice (specifically for you) is to find a corporate recruiter. You have a very interesting and unique set of skills. It might be difficult to find the jobs you want on your own, but by reaching out to a corporate recruiting firm and telling them where you want to go they might be able to help.

I hope that this helps!

Karina Figueira ⋅ Oxon Hill, MD Marriott International ⋅ 10 years experience

Allan, where do you work/what industry and what role?
Most large organizations have a career development plan and a "transfer" process where you can apply for different roles. Does your company offer educational assistance or training? Maybe you need to add skills in order to be considered for future roles. Your annual reviews should be a good formal outlet for career progression discussion. If you have mid-term reviews or other formal performance discussion meetings take advantage of it.
If you don't want to move, chances are that you have to wait for people in your division/area/office to move out, so you could possibly get a promotion. If you are able to change line of work, you could find more options within the same organization (example, manager in HR moving into management in accounting).
Military progression and ranking is almost a reactive process, you do what the manual tells you or what you must do to stay in the military, outside military and government is much different and starts with you and your managers or HR when available.
Start asking questions. Show that you want to learn, grown and stay with your current employer. I think that is the first step. Also, do your homework on possible positions you have interest and start talking.
Have a great week, Karina.