Are you an experienced professional looking to make your next step on the career ladder in Zambia? Perhaps you have just started your first job and are already thinking about what you need to do to progress?
5 ways to improve your chances of promotion
Go Zambia Jobs have produced a list of 5 ways that you can improve your chances of getting a promotion and climbing up that career ladder.
1. Plan for Promotion. The earlier you work out what promotion means in terms of the skills, qualifications and experience required – the earlier you can start working towards that goal. A good place to find information on the skills, qualifications and experience required is in job advertisements. Have a look at some job advertisements at the career level you would like to attain and note down what employers require at this level. You can also learn more about different careers by talking with colleagues and through attendance at social and networking events.
2. Learn to Impress. Promotion often entails the achievement of certain skills and/or academic qualifications. Whether you want to be a Construction Manager or a Financial Director is is likely that you will need to study in order to gain the skills required to do the job. Find out want skills and academic qualifications are required and work hard to attain them.
3. Be a Model Employee. You may be eager to climb the career ladder but remember the best way to get up the career ladder is to excel at your current job. Organisations will often identify employees with the potential for promotion based upon how they perform in their current job – so ensure that you perform to the best of your ability. Be punctual, dependable and enthusiastic. Show initiative and try to develop good working relationships with others in the organisation.
4. Build the Business Case. Whilst in your current job note down your key achievements and successes as they happen. This will help you to develop a strong argument if you need to approach your employer regarding promotion (hopefully if you have followed steps 1-3 the employer will promote you before you approach them!). You may be required to explain why you think that you should be promoted and the reasons why this would benefit your organisation. Be prepared for this by building a business case showing how you fit the skills required for the role and highlighting your key achievements in your current role.
5. Manage Rejection. Even if you have developed a strong business case, been a model employee and gained the qualifications and experience required for the role you may be turned down for a promotion. There are a number of reasons why this may be the case and understanding these reasons will help plan your next steps. It may be that your organisation has identified some gaps in your skills, if this is the case find out what they are and if you think they exist as well. You may be able to convince your organisation that these gaps do not exist or you may able to agree a plan to develop skills to fill these gaps. It may also be the case that your organisation is unable to promote you due to economic circumstances. Again, find out what the reasons are and try to find whether a solution can be found.
So that concludes the Go Zambia Jobs list of 5 ways to get a promotion. By planning for promotion, learning to impress, being a model employee, building the business case and managing rejection you can help you can feel more confident about what you need to do to climb the career ladder and gain promotion.
Comments
If you have any comments about this article please do so below. You can also shares your tips and experience below.
Further Information
To find more of the latest educational articles visit: Learning
Search for Jobs
To search for the latest jobs in Zambia visit: www.gozambiajobs.com/jobs