No, you don’t deserve that promotion
B&G Career Development Notes
“And no, all those qualifications you worked so hard for don’t make you the best person for the job.”
Nine years ago, I wrote an article on CV drafting which I ended with these statements: “Your CV needs to, very quickly and succinctly, tell the reader why they must meet you. It needs to demonstrate why you are the solution to their problem.”
The second sentence contains the crux of hiring that so many seem to miss: every appointment, be it an internal promotion or external hire, is made to solve a problem.
When you put yourself forward for a new job, your number one mission is to convince the key decision makers that picking you will be the best – and simplest – solution to their problem.
To do this, you’ve got to figure out what the real problem is that they are trying to solve. I place emphasis on “real” because, very often in people matters, the sticking point often differs from what is advertised and may require some digging below the surface. Fail to do this and you will find yourself working very hard to demonstrate skills or highlight aspects of your track record that matter very little to the hiring managers or promotion panels.
Ask yourself: “what keeps my bosses awake at night?” Better yet, ask your bosses.
The best salespeople excel at viewing situations from the clients’ perspective and then demonstrating how their products or services provide excellent fixes. And yes, shooting for promotion is most definitely a sales exercise. An exercise usually won by the most effective salesperson.
No, you’re not going to be given the Senior Director job because you’ve been a Director for longer than the other candidates. You’re not even going to get it because your delivery track record as a Director is superior to those of your rivals for promotion. If the deliverables and challenges facing a Senior Director are significantly different to those facing a Director, the job will be awarded to the candidate who best demonstrates an understanding of the new challenges and most confidently conveys the ability to handle them.
“But my firm doesn’t use formal interview or selection processes to decide promotions, so there’s no opportunity to sell myself.”
Wrong.
While such arrangements eschew the formal presentation and Q&A formats, they provide the opportunity for a lengthy audition and the occasional dress rehearsal. The time between your decision to go for it and the time your bosses make their decision is the time for you to demonstrate your understanding that excelling at the next job requires a different combination of skills than those needed to excel at your current role. Actively seek opportunities to show that you already possess that combination.
We are in December. The month when many of you take stock of your career and recalibrate for the year ahead. If you are reading this, I presume you are ambitious and thinking about climbing up the ladder.
Understand and remember this: as the stakes get higher, promotion considerations are rarely about which candidate is most deserving (whatever that even means) but about the candidate that is perceived to be the most likely to solve the key problem.
So, for that job you are angling after, ask yourself these questions:
- What is the real problem that the successful candidate has to resolve?
- Who is/are the current owner(s) of the problem?
- How do I demonstrate to them that I can solve this problem and do it with a lot less fuss than my rivals for the job.
I have helped scores of professionals overcome their internal and external barriers to promotion. Drop me a line here if you’d like me to help you too.
Good luck!
