Blog post By Paula Chiocchi on 2019-01-02
As I talk to young professionals about their email marketing initiatives, I often learn that their ultimate goal is to use their successful campaigns as a springboard into higher level marketing positions. This is completely understandable – who wouldn’t want to be recognized and rewarded for a job well done?
Yet just as often, I see marketers not get promoted to higher positions and become disappointed, frustrated or disillusioned. I’ve written previously about how to leverage email marketing success to get promoted. Here are six more tips for marketers to use to advance their careers in 2019:
- Get leadership buy in: Talk to your boss about your career aspirations and ask what achievements it would take for him or her to recommend you for a promotion. While this advice might seem intuitive, sometimes employees will put in the extra work to achieve success only to hope their managers will recognize their accomplishments and act on them accordingly. But keep in mind that most business leaders are very busy professionals and may have their own career aspirations they’re working on, so they may not notice when your successes are achieved. Having a conversation may also provide insight as to the company’s ability to support your advancement – they may not have the need for more managers, directors or VPs. It will also allow you to ensure that your desire for career growth is fully supported by those who have the most power to make your wishes come true.
- Make a plan: Once your manager offers their support, you’ll want to collaborate together on a plan towards getting you where you want to go. This will almost certainly include performing your duties at an outstanding level, meeting certain measurable objectives, contributing to your company’s overall success, assisting others in your department to become successful themselves and perhaps improving results, saving the company money, or overcoming a challenge for the business. Be sure to make the plan realistic, measurable and achievable, and remember that you are working on it together with your manager – don’t go rogue – or you may find that the support you want for your promotion won’t be there when the time comes.
- Be patient: The stereotypical Millennial, at least in the eyes of many older workers, wants to be rewarded early and often without putting in the requisite work and achievement before earning advancement. By recognizing this perception, younger professionals can plan ahead by not coming across as too impatient or pushy: instead be prepared to “pay your dues” and trust the promotion process. It’s important to first successfully perform the role you were hired to do for at least a year or two before looking ahead to the next level.
- Control what you can: While young professionals may or may not be able to control the myriad company, market and economic dynamics to achieve their objectives, there is much they can control that is often overlooked or undervalued – at least in the eyes of their managers. Show up to work on time (or even early) and be prepared to stay late. Manage your time and hit project deadlines. Be organized, friendly, supportive and caring to everyone in your department. All professionals have the ability to achieve these objectives.
- Host productive meetings: When hosting a meeting, be sure it starts and ends on time, includes the right participants and states a clear agenda and desired outcome. Don’t show up empty handed – prepare some materials, spreadsheets or PowerPoint content with the challenge, possible approaches and your initial potential solutions to get things started. Don’t hold meetings that meander, unnecessarily repeat or have a lot of now shows – that’s a clear indication your meeting is not adding value.
- Recognize the big picture: Be sure you fully understand what your company does and the value it provides its customers. (I’m sometimes surprised by the number of people who don’t know this.) Be aware of how your company is performing, succeeding or failing. (If the latter, your promotion may be put on hold.) Be clear on your role, where it fits in the overall organization, and how it provides value to your company – and enables it to become successful. In doing this, you’ll be thinking like a manager before you even become one yourself.
Advancing your career takes hard work, success, supportive management, and often a bit of fortune and luck. If you follow the tips above, good things are sure to happen.
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