Breaking Down a Promotion Strategy Step By Step

Does this sound familiar:

You have been working hard for two years to prove your worth and get a promotion. You’ve been waiting patiently for a role to open up and finally… It happened.

It's the perfect opportunity and you are excited to go for it.

You brush up on your resume and you apply.

It feels like you have that promotion in the bag.

After all, you worked hard, you have the skills, and you know the company.

Who could do a better job than you?

You hit send and feel like finally things are going your way.

A day goes by, a week and you haven’t heard back.

You tell yourself they are probably busy sorting candidates.

They’ll get to your application soon.

But they don’t.

Three weeks later you get the generic “we moved forward with another candidate” email and you feel frustrated and confused. 

You have no idea what went wrong.

The harsh truth is that you made one crucial mistake. 

You left this promotion to chance. You applied and waited for luck to do the rest.

Landing a promotion, especially at the executive level, requires a well-thought-out strategy, not luck.

And that’s what we are going to go over today.

Think of it as a sneak peek into my personal strategy (and my coaching program) 🙂

Breaking Down a Winning Promotion Strategy

Context:

A role opened up and you want to apply.

It would be a level up, but outside of your current organization.

You feel like you have the skills and the experience to get the promotion.

The knee jerk reaction:

Apply for the role and hope for the best

Why it doesn’t work:

You are not creating leverage

You compete with everyone

You get lost in the shuffle

What to do instead:

Orchestrate a perfect storm to position yourself as the best (and only) candidate.

THE PLAYBOOK:

Step #1: Get details about the role. What is the biggest problem you'll be solving?

Step #2: Understand who will be on the hiring committee. Those are your decision-makers.

Step #3: Use the insights you gain to position yourself as the best fit to solve the problem. 

Step #4:  Identify obstacles and find ways to mitigate them.

What could stand in your way of getting that promotion?

• Your manager may not want you to leave

• More experienced external/internal candidates

• The decision makers associate you with your current role, they can't envision you at the next level (you are not perceived as ready)

Step #5: Talk to HR and share your interest. Your goal is to get them excited to support you.

→ Highlight your strength over the competition

→ Demonstrate how you'll solve their biggest problem

→ Ask to have an informal chat with the hiring manager

Step #6: Talk to the hiring manager. Your goal is not to answer interview questions. Your goal is to make it clear you are the BEST solution to their problem:

→ Remind them how you solved problems before

→ Highlight your advantage over external candidates

→ Share your vision for the role and how you'll solve their problem

Step #7: Get your manager's support.

Help them see how your growth will eventually benefit them.

If your manager is worried about you leveling up and leaving them with a gap, help them fill that gap.

→ Identify and train a replacement for your job so they have nothing to worry about

Step #8: Get the hiring committee to sing your praise.

Social proof is how we buy, and getting a promotion is basically you selling yourself. Who would the company prefer to hire: someone with a great resume, or the candidate who has the entire executive team vouching for them? 

This is how you get your stakeholders to advocate for you:

→ Go on a roadshow to transform how stakeholders perceive you.

→ Talk to the decision makers one-on-one. Remind them who you are, and show who you can be.

→ Tell them you want to role and get their feedback. 

→ Get them excited about your ability to solve their problems and ask for their support

Step #9: Apply and interview

It's just a formality at this point.

Why does it work?

The best person doesn’t always get the job. You can be amazing on paper, and still be passed over.

The person who gets the promotion is the one the company - hiring manager and the relevant stakeholders - believes will solve their problems.

 This entire process is orchestrated to do just that.

Anyone can apply. But that means you compete with everyone.

Following this promotion strategy guarantees you rise above the noise (and the competition) and create leverage. 

Your next steps

You can apply and see what happens… or spend two weeks following this strategy to level up and save yourself another year of waiting.  

Better yet, start applying this strategy before the opportunity presents itself, so you have leverage before you even need it.

That's how you work smarter, not harder.

I believe in you and I’m rooting for you.

Maya ❤️