The Best Plan to
Get the Position You Want

You enjoy what you are doing and do a great job, but you would like to move on for more responsibility, gain influence or increase your compensation. Whether your position is retail sales, corporate development or committee chair, the key to ensuring promotion is to develop the skills and qualifications to perform in the position you seek while mastering your current position. Learn about the position to which you would like to be promoted, acquire the required skills and knowledge and work with a mentor.

Your mentor should be someone who has been with the organization long enough to be able to give you advice about being promoted and on how to meet your goals in the organization. Someone who has come up through the ranks over time can speak from experience. Your mentor should be someone respected by the leadership of the organization. Once you have identified a prospective mentor, and you may identify more than one, ask if she is available and interested. If time permits, meet two to four times a month. Come to the meetings prepared with thoughtful questions to make the most of the time you both spend learning from each other. It takes time and effort to cultivate this important relationship, so your patience is essential.

For the details read the Spring 2008 issue of Positively