How to negotiate a promotion

Life’s everyday expenses can stack up quickly and if your current wage isn’t cutting it, you could find your savings account diminishing quickly — and that’s where negotiating for a promotion can come in handy.

Australia’s unemployment rate dropped in July, according to Roy Morgan Research.

“In July Australian unemployment fell to 1.265 million Australians (10.2 percent, down 0.4 percent since June) and under-employment fell to 1.079 million (8.7 percent, down 0.8 percent). This is the first time unemployment has fallen in July since 2009,” said Gary Morgan, Roy Morgan Research Executive Chairman. 

“However, despite a fall in unemployment being good news, there was also a substantial contraction in the Australian workforce,” Morgan noted.

Get ahead by stepping up

While unemployment rates have dropped, workforce contraction may still keep Australians on their toes.

For those looking to rise through the ranks at work, there are some tips to keep in mind. With promotions come more responsibility and potentially a pay rise — great news if you’ve been relying on your credit cards a bit too much.

In order to get ahead, you have to step up. You need to be proactive and make your intentions to advance known to key decision makers. Staying silent in the hope a promotion might fall into your lap is nothing more than wishful thinking.

Ask at the right time

While it’s important to take initiative and express your wishes to accelerate your career, you need to ask for a promotion at the right time.

Attempting to negotiate a promotion when your boss is in crisis mode, clients are playing havoc or employees have just been laid off is not the smartest move. 

Consider your particular workplace, too. In some cases, promotions may be considered at quarterly or six-monthly intervals. In other instances, the timeframes for getting promoted may be more fluid. 

Either way, be sure to ask in the appropriate setting, when your boss or human resources manager will be receptive to your request. Ask for a meeting so you can explain your point of view without being interrupted. 

Take on challenges

If you want to be seriously considered for a promotion, you’ll need to demonstrate your ability to take on a bigger workload, trickier clients or more risk, whatever industry you may be in. Perhaps you want to shift into a managerial role, in which case your interaction with other staff members will be highly relevant.

Take on challenges when you’re gearing up for a promotion to show you can handle extra responsibility, and demonstrate instances of where you’ve achieved good results.

Offering tangible evidence of your achievements will give your boss better reason to consider promoting you.

Consider counter-offers

The role you desire might be offered to someone else. While this is disappointing, don’t consider your attempts to get promoted futile.

If you’re given a counter-offer — for instance, the ability to move into a new role or get a promotion review in three months’ time, don’t turn down such an offer.

By considering counter-offers, you’re showing flexibility.

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