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Career advice

Getting ahead

You want your work to lead somewhere, and you'd like to know how that happens where you are.

What to understand about getting ahead at work

Moving up is rarely a prize that arrives for good work. It's usually a decision a few people make, often when you aren't in the room, about whether you already look like someone at the next level and whether the company needs one. They decide from what they've seen and what they can repeat to each other. That's why the same strong year can read as ready in one place and go unnoticed in another. Good work matters a great deal. It tends to be where the case starts, not the case itself.

The room to move is mostly in finding out instead of guessing. What does the next level ask for here, in the words your manager would use? Which parts are you already doing, and what is the one gap worth closing, not the five you could list? From there you can choose work that lets you practice that gap where people can watch. The aim isn't to promote yourself. It's to make it easy for someone who rates your work to say one specific sentence about it.

The hard part is that you can do all of this and still wait. There may be no opening, no budget this cycle, or a manager without much pull, and that is the company deciding for the company, not a verdict on you. It's also worth asking whether you want the next step or mostly the proof that you could get it. A bigger job often means less of the work that got you noticed. Getting better where you are, with no new title, is a real answer for plenty of people.

What people often get wrong about getting promoted

  • You might think“If I keep my head down and do great work, the promotion will come.”
    More oftenGreat work is usually what gets you considered, and it rarely settles the question. The people deciding tend to be looking for signs of the next job, and more of the current one, however good, mostly confirms you're well placed where you are. It helps to learn what they'd want to see while there's still time to show it.One thing to try: Learn what the next level expects →
  • You might think“If I were ready, my manager would have said something.”
    More oftenMany managers wait to be asked. They're busy with their own goals, and someone who hasn't raised it often gets read as happy where they are. Saying what you'd like, early and without a demand attached, gives them the chance to help.One thing to try: Speak up before it's decided →
  • You might think“The people who get ahead here are the ones who play politics, and that isn't me.”
    More oftenSome of it is politics. A good deal of what looks like it from a distance is plainer: knowing what your manager and the people around them are trying to get done, and being useful to that. You can do it without pretending to be anyone else, and it often makes your own work easier for others to speak up for.One thing to try: Learn your manager's goals →

Things to do when you don't know what the next level takes

“I couldn't tell you what they'd need to see from me.”

Each of these swaps a guess for something a person or a document at your company has said. Start with the one that asks, then work out where you stand against the answer.

Things to do when your work isn't reaching the people who decide

“I do a lot that nobody past my own team knows about.”

Small, regular ways to leave a trail. None of them asks you to boast. They mostly ask you to write things down while you still remember them, including the helping and unblocking that rarely makes it into a write-up.

Dealing with something else at work?

Things to do when you want to grow into something bigger

“I'm good at this job. I'd like to be getting good at the next one.”

Growth at work mostly comes from doing something slightly beyond you, with someone aware that you're trying. These help you choose the stretch, ask for it, and keep a little time that belongs to your own learning.

Things to do when you think you're already doing the bigger job

“My job grew a while ago. The title didn't.”

For the point where the question is no longer how to get there but how to raise it. They work best in this order: learn how the decision is made, check your story for holes, then ask.

  1. Step 1: Understand how ratings get decidedThe meeting that shapes your rating, and what it needs from you15 minutes
  2. Step 2: Staff promotion packetsSpot what's missing from your promotion story while you can still fix it · Essay by Will Larson4 minutes
  3. Step 3: Ask for a level check when your job growsWhen the job outgrows the title, it's fair to ask about itAbout 15 minutes
  4. Step 4: Find a sponsor, not just a mentorThe people deciding your next move often meet in rooms you're not inAbout 30 minutes

Things to do when you're not sure up is where you want to go

“Everyone assumes I want my boss's job. Do I?”

Ahead can mean a different shape of job as easily as a higher one. These start from what you like about the work you have, and look sideways as well as up.

What getting ahead depends on

  • Company size

    Large companies tend to have written levels, a set time of year and a group that decides, so the path is slow but readable. Small ones often have no ladder at all. The job grows underneath you and the title follows late, if someone thinks to ask.

  • Whether the company is growing

    Growth creates new roles for people to step into. Where headcount is flat, moving up can mean waiting for someone above you to leave, however ready you are.

  • Your manager's standing

    Your manager usually carries your case into a room of their peers. One who is trusted there and prepares well can do a lot with a solid year. One who is new, stretched or out of favor may struggle with a great one.

  • Your field

    Some kinds of work have a respected senior path for people who don't manage. In others the only step up is running a team, which changes what getting ahead would cost you.

  • How long you've been there

    Time builds a track record, and it also fixes a picture. People who met you as the new person can keep seeing that version long after you've outgrown it.

How getting ahead changes through your career

  1. Starting out

    It's mostly about becoming someone people can hand things to without worrying. Reputations form quickly in a first job, and a lot of the rules aren't written anywhere, so asking how things work here is worth more than guessing well.

  2. A few years in

    The shift is from finishing tasks to owning how something turns out. This is often the first time being good stops being enough by itself, and the first time the question of managing comes up.

  3. Senior

    There are fewer places above you and more people who could fill them. What gets weighed is less your own output and more what happens through other people, and having someone senior who will speak for you starts to matter a good deal.

  4. Later on

    The ladder narrows, and for many people ahead stops meaning up. It can mean choosing the problems you want, teaching what you know, or trading some scope for work and a life you like better.

Promotion terms worth knowing

Level
The rung your job sits on in the company's own scheme. It usually sets a pay range and what's expected of you, and it may or may not match your title.
Career ladder
The company's written description of each level. Also called a career framework. Some companies have a detailed one, some have none.
Scope
How much you're trusted to look after: the size of the problem, how many people it touches, how much of it you decide alone.
Calibration
The meeting where managers compare their people against each other so that ratings and promotions come out roughly even across teams.
Promotion packet
The written case for moving someone up a level, usually put together by the manager with help from the person.
Sponsor
Someone with influence who puts your name forward when you aren't there. A mentor gives you advice. A sponsor spends some of their own standing on you.
Stretch assignment
Work a little beyond what you've done before, taken on partly so you can learn it.
Glue work
The helping, organizing and unblocking that keeps a team moving and tends to go unrecorded.

When you have more time

Questions people ask about getting ahead at work

I was passed over for a promotion I expected. What now?

Give the sting a few days, then ask why as a real question: what would have made it a yes, and by when could that be true? The answer tends to show whether you're facing a gap you can close or a wait with no end date. Either one is worth knowing before you decide anything.

My manager says I'm doing great, but nothing changes. Is it them or the company?

Often it's neither being unfair. Your manager may have less say than you'd think, or there may be no room this round. Ask how the decision gets made and who else is part of it, and consider getting to know one of those people, with your manager aware that you are.

Ask for a skip-level conversation →

I just started. Is it too early to think about this?

Too early to ask for a title, probably. Not too early to learn how people here get trusted with more, which is easiest to ask about while you're still new and nobody expects you to know.

Learn the unwritten rules →

Would a degree or a certificate help me move up?

Sometimes it's the thing that opens the door, and often it isn't what was holding you back. Before paying, ask the people who would decide whether it would change how they see you. Their answer is usually clearer than the course brochure.

Decide whether a course is worth it →

Is it quicker to change companies?

It can be. Plenty of people get their level change by moving. The trade is that you arrive with no track record and nobody who has watched you work, so the first stretch is spent rebuilding what you already had. One honest conversation where you are is usually worth having first.

Weigh whether to stay or go →

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