Going for promotion

If you would like a more challenging job and want to enhance your career, you may be considering a promotion. Before applying for one, consider your current position and ask yourself:

• what experience do I have?
• what are my strengths and weaknesses?
• what skills and qualities do I have?
• where am I in my career?
• what brought me here?

Next think about where you want to be and how you intend on getting there. Your answers will help you put your aspirations in to context and allow you to be realistic in terms of achieving your goals. When you know where you want to be, research your options thoroughly and devise a development action plan.

If you wish to seek a promotion with your current employer, have a discussion with your line manager or human resources department about the options open to you and how they can help. You may not get a promotion straight away but by being proactive it shows that you are interested in promotion and may establish a course for further discussions.

Until you receive a promotion, there are a number of things you can do to raise your profile. These include:

• generating ideas to improve things; 
• getting involved with projects;
• using your initiative; 
• doing work from the next level up;
• undertaking additional training;
• networking within your organisation as well as further afield.

Once you have received an interview for a promotion, there are a number of things that you will need to do to prepare for this.