Three Ways to Approach Asking For a Promotion

Asking for a promotion at work is hard – especially if you’ve never done it before. For many people, recognising your own worth and expressing it to others can feel arrogant. This is only made worse for those who are early in their career and can’t fall back on years of experience.

If any of that feels familiar, then you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll be breaking down how to request a pay rise with three simple techniques so you can get the career promotion you deserve.

1. Prepare Your Words

No matter how you choose to ask for a promotion at work, it never hurts to prepare your words ahead of time. Not only can preparing your words help you deal with nerves and stop you from putting a foot in your mouth but it can also give you the chance to make the best possible case for yourself.

When you ask for a promotion, you’re going into a negotiation. While some bosses may be happy to promote based on experience and skill alone, the sad reality is that all too many companies will not promote internally unless they feel a real need to. Now is your chance to demonstrate that need.

For the most part, this is about proving what you specifically do for the company and how promoting you would be in their interests in the long run. Make sure to consider:

• Unique, company-specific skills/knowledge it would take a long time for someone else to learn
• Specific instances where you’re ideas and decisions made a big difference to the company
• Why promoting you will empower you to do even better things for the company
• Your plans in the event that you’re looked over for promotion

If you’re worried about sounding arrogant or overstepping the mark, then by preparing this information ahead of time, you can review everything you’re planning to say and verify that it’s accurate. Remember to only make arguments that are clearly based on your everyday experience and, if you’re in any doubt, ask yourself whether a co-worker would be willing to back you up.

Saying “I’m the best and the whole team would fail without me” is, of course, a bad idea. Instead, what you want to say is “my work is vital to our joint success and my colleagues all agree”. So long as your co-workers really are willing to back you up, then that’s the most powerful case you can make.

2. Suggest An Opportunity 

It’s important to remember that many bosses would love to give their team members a promotion if they had the chance. The problem is that to promote you, they have to make a case to the higher ups.

Sometimes there’s an opening and that represents the perfect opportunity to put your name forward. That said, it’s not uncommon for people to get stuck in junior or entry level jobs because, although they’re good at what they do and nobody wants to lose them, there just isn’t an opening above them.

The usual solution to this problem is just to move companies and while the culture of job swapping is stronger than ever, it’s not the only answer. Successful companies are always growing and sometimes that growth comes from within.

This is another case where it’s easy to feel uncomfortable about putting yourself forward, but if your company really would benefit from another team and you think you’re the perfect person to lead that team, then now is the time to say. Doing so shows that you’re proactive and willing to present new ideas while also not being afraid to say what you think would be best.

In many cases, it’s unlikely that your boss will be able to make that opportunity for you, but many is not the same as none. When all’s said and done, if you don’t make that push, nobody is going to do it for you.

3. Find Another Job Offer

Of course, the absolute best way to get a promotion is – as with most things in life – not to need one.

We said before that asking for a promotion is a negotiation and there’s no better bargaining chip than threatening to leave your company for a better opportunity. Having another job offer in the wings can really force your company’s hand, making them decide whether they value you enough to pay you the money you’re worth.

Not that you should ever make idle threats. If you’re going in with another job offer in hand, then it should be a job offer that you’re at least willing to take. Otherwise this could seriously damage your credibility or force you to take on a role you never actually wanted.

Final Thoughts

Learning how to request a pay rise is one of those workplace skills that’s always a challenge but there’s a lot you can do to make life easier. By taking the time to prepare and making sure to really know your worth – not to mention bringing as much bargaining material as you can – you’ll be able to create your own opportunities and climb out of that dead end role for good.