What Companies Look Out For When Promoting Employees

Managers look out for plenty of skills within their employees when considering who should be promoted. Here are some points which managers place in high regard when considering which employees to push up for promotions.

Technical Expertise

One of the most important factors may be your ability and the drive to contribute to the company’s progress (be it revenue, leads, improved company culture, higher IT productivity), and this signals to the management that you are someone who achieves more for the company and deserves to have a higher stake in the firm.

Tip: Identify which Technical Expertise your company prioritises, and work towards improving & getting better at it in order to stand out from the crowd.

Initiative

Managers supervise several team members and have limited time on their schedules. Hence, a team member that requires minimal guidance, takes initiative by thinking ahead to foresee challenges, and comes to their managers with solutions instead of problems will score good points in their managers' books. Therefore, taking initiative, timeliness and maintaining high standards of work are important.

Tip: Look out for upcoming projects/work that your organization might be starting on, and ask if you could contribute to it in a way that suits your strengths.

People Skills

Managers look out for team-players who have excellent stakeholder management skills. As you move up the ranks, not only will you need to work well with your peers, you also have to be able to manage relationships with both management as well as junior members of the team. Ideally, when you take on a senior role, you will need to be confident in your own work and be able to lead and guide the team to deliver more efficiently and effectively. If you are great at your craft but unable to get along with people around you or prefer to work alone, you might be more suited for a specialist role.

Tip: Ask your colleagues or friends about their unbiased opinion on your people skills. This way, you can get a more rounded understanding of your personality, and see what role fits you better.

Culture

Organizations these days place heavy emphasis on their working culture, and managers are also looking out for employees who are great fit with the company's culture, not only for recruitment, but also for promotion. As a senior role would naturally require you to lead other employees, managers usually look out for individuals that best reflect & embody the company's culture for the role.

Tip: See what common values that your managers/supervisors posses, or what values your organization emphasises on, and try to develop them in yourself.

Ultimately, there will be many factors that come into play when considering someone for a promotion. However, we believe these factors are important criterias for senior roles in general and it is good for individuals to look out for & fit these criterias!