Tag Archives: get promoted

The trick to working less hours and getting promoted

Posted on August 4, 2015 | Leave a comment

You don’t double your productivity by doubling your hours. Working lots and lots of hours may get you a promotion and a raise.  It may also get you burned out and fired.

A coupla months in the laboratory can save a coupla hours in the library. (Westheimer’s Discovery)

What you really need to do is double your productivity. Here is how to do it.

A friend sold me a chainsaw cheap.  She was doing me a favor.  She admitted that it ran, but it did not cut well at all.  I took the chainsaw home and reversed the chain.  It works great now. I could have just run the chainsaw more and eventually cut through any log (maybe). A little while ago my son decided to cut some monstrous tree roots with the chainsaw.  Suddenly it wouldn’t cut anymore.  The dirt on the roots had horribly dulled the chain.  I took it into my basement and spent half an hour sharpening it.  Now it cuts again.  But, I could have just worked a lot more hours cutting logs with a dull chainsaw.

The career trash heap is littered with the bodies of people who thought 20 MORE hours a week at work would get them promoted. While they were slaving away, someone else reversed the chain or sharpened the saw.  The thinker and planner got promoted.

You need to do your basic job well.  Other than your basic job, what will set you apart?  What will make you the best?  What will make you the natural leader?

How for YOU to get a promotion or raise

Your boss wants to look good and get a raise and promotion.  What can you do to help him? Is your working more hours the only thing that will make him look better?

Your company wants to make more money, spend less, and keep the customers happier.  Can you do something a little better while you are doing your basic job? Can you get involved in highly visible projects?  How can you set yourself apart?

In addition to being better, you have to get noticed, respected, and appreciated. Give your boss a weekly, monthly and quarterly report of exactly what you did better.  Then in your next annual review, you have ammunition.  And if you go job hunting, you have proof.

Take a careful look at your job.  Can you reverse the chainsaw chain somewhere?  Can you just sharpen the saw?  What do you need to do that will move you forward the fastest?  Is just putting in more hours really the most important thing you can do?

Ask your boss how HE is evaluated.  Now ask yourself how can you help HIM get a better evaluation?  Sharpen your chainsaw, don’t just work more hours.

Something To Do Today

Ask your boss how HE is evaluated.  How can you help him get a better evaluation?

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Tomorrow:    Confronting your boss

Later:              How to leave your job

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Focus, Raises, Time management

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Getting past a glass ceiling

Posted on August 3, 2015 | Leave a comment

True story: She can’t get a promotion.  Not even a bigger title.  The “Good Old Boys” all admit she is doing a great job.  She saves the company literally 5 to 50 times her salary every year.  She will never be promoted.  It is because she is a woman.  I know her.  I know her company.  There is no way up.  Even shooting her boss will only get a different man promoted ahead of her.

She can make her own life a living hell by suing the company.  She’ll lose even if she wins.  They would figure out a reason to fire her in a few years and then she’d have a hard time finding a job.

There are two ways to deal with a glass ceiling.

  1. Go around it.
  2. Get a new job.

Go around it

To go around the glass ceiling you need a mentor.  It is doubtful that your own boss will really help since he isn’t helping you now.  Invite someone 2 or 3 levels above you to lunch.  At lunch, don’t condemn your boss. Ask for help to grow.  Write down the advice you get.  Set up an appointment to have lunch again in 3 to 6 months.  Go over your progress with the person.  Report on how you have improved.

Scared?  Do you have to go to the owner, CEO or chairman of the board?  Do it anyway.  What have you got to lose?  You may be surprised that the person that far above you really wants to help winners like you succeed.  And if they refuse to help, try method 2.

If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read, “President Can’t Swim”.  (Johnson)

Get a new job

Keep your old job as you search for a new one.  Chronicle your accomplishments in a job journal.  Report to your boss every week on your progress at work even if he doesn’t want to see it.  Take the reports and put your greatest accomplishments in your resume.

Network, contact recruiters, apply to good jobs at good companies.  Set criteria for moving and when you find the job, move.

Something To Do Today

Seriously ask yourself, why haven’t I been promoted this week?  Why haven’t I gotten a raise or a bonus this week?

Now write down in your job journal what you can do to get a promotion, raise or bonus as quickly as possible.

Will that make you happy?  Is that what you really want?  If yes, go do it.  If no, better figure out what you really should be doing.  There is no time like the present to change your life.  You get to be happier longer if you change today.

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Later:  The hours game

Confronting your boss

How to leave your job

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Posted in Accomplishments, Attitude, Perseverance, Promotions, Quitting or Fired, Raises

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Use these 4 guerilla tactics to get promoted or a raise

Posted on January 8, 2013 | Leave a comment

Getting a raise or getting promoted is hard if no one notices what you do.  Guerilla tactics for quick advancements have to get you noticed in a nice way.  First a story, then the tactics.

Bill was one of the original guerilla advertisers.  Two decades ago he had a product that no one had in a PC.  Now every PC has one.  His company went from obscurity to a major buyout.  A lot of that happened because Bill and his partner figured out how to take the spotlight and become the talk of the town.  They also had very good technology.

We have been in contact for 4 or 5 years now.  His fortunes changed dramatically.  The buyout is over.  The money went into investments that didn’t work out. He spent the last couple few years learning new skills.  He started over at entry level and rose to team lead quickly.  Now he has broken into the big time. Again. When he was broke.  Again.

It is easy to break into the big time if you have a lot of money.  People come to you.  Bill wasn’t in that position. So what could he do?

We ended up talking about his original guerilla marketing.  At that time they had no budget for marketing.  He had to get the spotlight to shine on their product without paying for it.  So they did talk shows, magazine articles, press releases, trade association presentations and keynote addresses.  They even put together almost complete reviews of their products so that magazine writers wouldn’t have to work hard.

Bill did that same type of thing again.  He is attracte the change he wanted to see in his life.   He isn’t chasing change, he puts on pheromones and lets change chase him.

All successful employers are stalking men who will do the unusual, men who think, men who attract attention by performing more than is expected of them. (Charles M. Schwab)

You can do the same type of guerilla self-promotion.  You can attract change.  Here’s how:

  1. Write your own reviews
  2. Become an expert
  3. Become KNOWN as an expert
  4. Get published

First off, be sure and write your own reviews for your boss.  On a weekly monthly, quarterly and annual basis you need to give your boss a glowing review.  A simple report stating the wonderful things you did each week will help him.  He can’t pay attention to everything you do.  That weekly report and more summaries will make sure that he knows how much you are worth.  Write your own reviews.

You can become an expert.  Start studying the area you want to be an expert in.  One hour a day will make you a reference source in a month.  In 3 months you will be an expert.

Find out how you can become known as the expert.  Offer to teach a class, write a memo or attend a planning meeting.  Brief the managers above you in your area of expertise.  You can do it informally.  Talk to them before a meeting starts. The others coming to the meeting will hear some of it.  Catch him in the hall and give him a one minute tidbit.

You can also write articles about what you have learned.  Offer them to the office newsletter editor.  Don’t be afraid, offer them to the local newspaper, online magazines and trade magazines.  Publishers desperately need interesting articles.  When you get published make sure and give all your bosses a copy of the article.

My son was published in online programming magazines before he left for college.  They needed good articles and didn’t care about his youth and lack of experience.

Figure out how to become an expert and you will be surprised how quickly your prospects change.  You can become a technical consultant or a manager.

Put on the pheromones of knowledge and the aura of expertise. Attract change in your career.

Something to do today

Figure out what is worth becoming an expert about.  Ask your bosses and other experts in your field where they see it going.  You’ll be surprised how many people you are in awe of will talk with you about where they see the brightest future.

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Later:               Google to disaster

That loud sucking sound

How to tell who is great

55 gallon oil drums on the horizon

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Posted in Accomplishments, Promotions, Raises

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How to get promoted past that roadblock

Posted on November 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

It isn’t the incompetent who destroy an organization.  It is those who have achieved something and want to rest upon their achievements who are forever clogging things up. (Charles Sorenson)

You have to kill your boss, or the senior technician to get a promotion.  They have the job you want and are not leaving.  They don’t want a promotion.  They are fat and happy.  They are like a big wad of hair and grease in the sink trap.  They clog up the career track for everyone else.  So, where is the Drano?  How do you get them out of your way?

First be sure they are the biggest problem.  It is embarrassing when you have complained for 5 years about your boss being in your way, only to have him leave and a coworker is promoted in his place.

You need to have a list of standout accomplishments that prove you are perfect for the job you want.  That way you can get the job in your current company OR the next one.

Become the obvious candidate.  Ask your boss to help you get promoted.  Also ask HR (Human Resources) and your boss’s boss.  Find someone who will champion your cause and be your mentor.  A mentor helps you prepare to advance and gives you visibility outside your team.  Your mentor will help you to find high visibility assignments where you can prove your worth.

In a job journal write a weekly list of your accomplishments and projects.  Use that list in your annual reviews.  Also submit a weekly, monthly and quarterly list of accomplishments to your boss.  Make sure he knows how much you contribute.

You can also look for a new job.  If you have a list of undeniable accomplishments you will be a good hire for another company.

The same things that prepare you for a promotion in your company will make you a better job candidate.

Something to do today

Write down your career goals.  It doesn’t matter if they change tomorrow.  Know where you want to go today.

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Later:              Clogging things up yourself

Row away

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Posted in Accomplishments, Promotions

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