I want that job promotion—how do I get it? How do I prove my worth?

• Working to get that job promotion can be an intimidating and challenging feat; however, you can take it upon yourself to prove you are deserving.
• First, promise yourself you’ll work smarter not harder; in other words, don’t put in longer hours, but be more efficient, more productive with your time instead.
• Also, take initiative: don’t just sit around when there’s a problem to fix—take it upon yourself to analyze that problem and come up with a solution.
• Additionally, put measures in place to avoid stall out: consider challenging yourself to do a better job and take on new tasks.
• Furthermore, impress your boss by becoming the go-to person for a certain area in the company and offer your expertise to your coworkers.
• Finally, continue going that extra mile; stand out by being exceedingly awesome, and show your boss that you deserve that job promotion.

Margaret is loathed by everyone at the office—especially Andrew, her longtime assistant. She flaunts her superiority, puts her needs above everyone else’s, and disregards Andrew’s hard work. That is, until her position as chief-editor at the company is threatened, due to her expired visa. Finally, Andrew’s dreams are in reach. Margaret promises to publish his book and even promote him to editor… so long as he marries her and the two succeed in defying immigration services. To Margaret’s surprise, Andrew agrees, and the two embark on a dubious mission to get what they both want most: Margaret, to stay in the country and keep her job, and Andrew, to finally get that promotion.

That’s a tall order for a job promotion, huh? Don’t worry, while any promotion typically requires commitment and hard work, this isn’t even close to a realistic look at what it takes to get it. Instead, it’s the plot of a movie, The Proposal. The good news is after considering the obstacles in Andrew’s way, your being promoted looks like a piece of cake… right? Right! The first step is to believe in yourself so you can go on to prove yourself to your boss(es). Now, once you’ve adopted this determined attitude, the following tips will help you prove your worth and accomplish your ultimate mission of getting that promotion:

1) Work smarter not harder.
Brett Downes at Ghost Marketing says the key is to work smarter not harder (or longer). “By doing more hours, it can show you are less efficient, and in some cases being an obvious sycophant to the boss,” he explains. “If you can get your job done well and on time, that is much more favorable than just being a workhorse. And if you do need more time to get a job done, do it covertly on your lunchtime or at home—if you can pass this off as being done in worktime, you will be seen as superman or super girl,” he adds.

2) Take initiative.
Also, take initiative at work. Don’t always wait to be told what to do—if you see something that needs serious improvement, and you’re able to take on the task, figure out what needs to be done! “To get a job promotion, you must show that you are invaluable to the company and that you are invested in its success. One way to do this is to notice a problem in the way the work is done and suggest a way to improve it,” Caleb Backe, health and wellness expert, explains. “Taking the initiative on the issue and seeing the project through will show that you are a go-getter and ready to tackle challenges, something that will impress your boss.”

3) Avoid stall out.
If you want that job promotion, you’ll also have to avoid stall out. To accomplish this feat, continue to challenge yourself. Dr. Kim Turnage and Larry Sternberg, JD, co-authors and Talent Plus, Inc. senior leaders explain in their book Managing to Make a Difference: “You want to be a rising star in your company. To keep growing on a steep trajectory and avoid getting stalled out, find ways to start taking on some of the responsibilities of the next level and see how they fit with your strengths before you ask for that promotion,” they wrote. “Here’s a checklist of things you can be doing to ‘try on’ the next level and see how it fits:

• • • Ask questions that push your team beyond the status quo.
    • Constantly learn and talk with your manager about how new ideas connect to bigger picture goals.
    • Manage change and conflict to keep everyone on track and achieving goals.
    • Take on projects that stretch you into new areas of learning and responsibility.
    • Lead a team of your coworkers in a project that improves results for your team as a whole.

4) Become the “go-to.”
You can also impress your boss by becoming proficient in another area of work and offering your expertise. “Keep an eye out for areas in your company that give you the means to become an expert,” says Steve Pritchard, HR Consultant for ANGLO Liners. “Make yourself the go-to person for a certain aspect of your company’s process or work, this will become obvious to your managers and show them that you have taken the time to thoroughly research and learn about this section. It could be that they create a role specifically for you based on your newly-created expertise. Obviously, this will require hard work and plenty of swatting up, but it will be worth it if it means you set yourself ahead of the competition for the next office promotion.”

5) Go above and beyond.
Finally, just continue to go that extra mile. “If you want to get a promotion, you need to be overachieving on a regular basis,” Maxim Volkov—a writer at Zety, a career advice site—explains. “Companies have always valued top performers so if you can make a difference to a company’s bottom line, this will make you stand out and increase your chances of getting a promotion. Consider: if you could approach your manager and tell them something along the lines of, I finished this online training/attended a workshop about this and this and I used this knowledge to optimize and improve on the day-to-day processes of our department… that would be a huge plus.”

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