How to Get Promoted or Get a Better Job

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OOPS! The right file is now uploaded. Sorry, everyone! I uploaded the next episode for my other podcast, The Money Minister, but now the right episode for Management Material is up. 
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Let’s talk about how to get promoted. 

Yes, I know we’re in a down market. When there’s a down market, there are reorganizations and layoffs. There’s a lot of job instability. If you’re concerned about getting laid off, listen to the last episode. This episode is about getting promoted. 

Promotions can still happen in a down market. You can still get that next job that you want. Let’s get to how.

I have a promotion framework. It’s literally worked for every single career coaching client that I’ve had. It works for promotions within the company and getting a better job outside of the company. Do you know why? Because this framework will PROVE with PROJECTS that you have the transferable skills for that next big promotion.

Every promotion starts with a person. You have to PROVE to a PERSON that you deserve the PROMOTION. So how do you do that?

Listen to the podcast to find out how!

Book a complimentary management coaching conversation at https://calendly.com/catherine-vanderlaan/free-60-minute-leadership-consultation

Email me at [e-mail] to ask a question or get in touch.

Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/managementmaterialcoaching

Find out more about Management and Leadership Coaching at https://managementmaterialcoaching.com/

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Every promotion starts with a person, and I'm
not talking about you.
I am talking about the personthat you are trying to influence
.
Who do you need to catch theattention of?
Who are you trying to prove tothat you are the person for the
next position.
Welcome to management material.

(00:28):
My name is Catherine Vanderlaan.
I started my career at thebottom as an assistant and
worked my way up to become theboss's boss in eight years.
And, man, I love management.
If there's anything I'velearned, it's that what got you
to where you are now won't getyou to where you want to be.
Welcome to management material,episode 51, how to Get Promoted

(00:54):
or Get a Better Job.
Now let's talk about how to getpromoted.
Yes, I know we're in a downmarket.
When there's a down market,there are reorganizations and
layoffs.
There's a lot of jobinstability.
If you're concerned aboutgetting laid off, listen to the
last episode.
That episode was about how tosurvive a layoff, how to get

(01:15):
through a layoff, how to not getlaid off.
This episode is about gettingpromoted.
Promotions can still happen ina down market.
Really they can happen.
They're usually quiet.
They're quiet promotionsbecause nobody wants to be that
person who is resented becausethey got a promotion when other
people got laid off.
Yeah, you don't want to be thatperson, but they do still

(01:36):
happen.
You can still get that next jobthat you want.
Let's get to how.
This podcast episode is abouthow I have a promotion framework
.
It's worked literally for everysingle career coaching client
that I've ever had, whether itwas before I started formally
career coaching and I wascoaching different assistants
and project managers anddifferent people trying to get a

(01:58):
better job or a different job.
It has worked.
After I formally started careercoaching, I just took it with
me because it worked for dozensof people before.
Now it's worked for hundreds ofpeople.
It has worked and I want toshare it with you.
It works for promotions withinthe company and for promotions
outside of the company whenyou're trying to get a better

(02:18):
job.
Do you know why?
Because this framework proveswith projects that you have the
transferable skills for thatnext big promotion.
No-transcript starts with aperson, and I'm not talking
about you.
I am talking about the personthat you are trying to influence

(02:39):
.
You prove with project that youhave the transferable skills to
a person.
You have to prove to a personthat you deserve the promotion.
That's a lot of peas.
You know it's a lot to say, solet's just talk about how you do
that.
You start with the person.
So who do you need to catch theattention of?

(03:00):
Who are you trying to prove tothat you are the person for that
next position?
Who hires for the positionyou're looking for?
If it's a few people, list themout.
I know when I was looking for adirector type position, I had a
few people I wanted to impress.
They were all vice presidentsbecause I wanted to be the next
shoe in for the directorposition.

(03:20):
I wanted to be the obviouschoice for the next associate
director position.
So I had those three to fourpeople to impress three vice
presidents and one senior vicepresident.
So I listed them out and I didthis for myself.
I do it for myself every singletime.
Next, list out the skills thosepeople are looking for for that

(03:40):
next position.
So you have the people now.
List out the skills thatthey're looking for.
So if you've been coaching withme at all, you know each skill
is listed right in the jobdescription.
Pull them out, write them down,then check off the ones that
you already can prove that youhave and circle the ones that
you cannot prove that you have,that you cannot talk about well

(04:03):
in an interview, that you can'tput on your resume because of a
project.
Circle the ones that you needto have for that job, that
promotion that you're going for.
All right, you have the people,you have the skills that you
need to have.
Now comes the fun part.
You get to think of projectsthat will prove to the person
you're trying to influence thatyou have the transferable skills

(04:23):
you need to do the job.
That was a big mouthful.
Let's really break it down here.
Say you want to be a marketingmanager or senior marketing?
Oh, a marketing director, let'sgo with that.
So you want to be a marketingdirector, but right now you are
a senior marketing manager.
Great, there are some skillsmarketing directors have that
senior marketing managers maynot have, like strategic

(04:45):
analysis across the portfolio ofthe whole company.
What is going to make thecompany the most money?
So you go through, find thoseskills that the director needs
to have, the marketing directorneeds to have, that you don't
have.
Circle them and then think ofprojects that will prove to
whoever's hiring for thosepositions that you have the

(05:07):
transferable skills you need todo the job.
If it's leadership, if it'spresentation skills, if it is
strategic analysis, if it's dataanalysis, if it's SQL, whatever
it is, put it down and thenthink of projects that will
prove with a presentationthere's a lot of peas in this
one that you have the skills.
It should be something thathelps the person you're trying

(05:28):
to impress and give yourselfsome options, because in the
next step so you're in stepnumber three, thinking about
projects in the next step you'regoing to create a timeline.
When are you going to reach outto the person you're trying to
impress?
How?
How will you settle on anappropriate project for that
person?
It has to help that person, somaybe discuss it with them

(05:49):
before you do it.
When do you want to finish theproject and have the proof that
you're the right person for thenext promotion, and how are you
going to present around it?
How are you going to beexcellent out loud?
Let me give you a betterexample.
I had a product assistant whowanted to be a product manager
At our company.
There was almost next to nochance that she could jump from
assistant to product manager.

(06:09):
I had only seen it once and itwas very difficult for that one
person.
So we went through thisexercise, this exact exercise.
She listed out we made columnsfor person, skill, project
timeline, all of those things,and if you've been in coaching
with me before, you have seenthe framework.
She listed out the people thatshe wanted to get to her side.

(06:30):
They were directors, otherproduct managers and the VP in
our department Great.
Then we listed the skills sheneeded to build proof around.
She had to manage a budget.
She had to be seen as a leader,a thought leader.
She had to present a strategy.
She had to show competence inthe processes and in data
analysis.
These were the things she couldnot prove that she could do in

(06:53):
an applied way for that position.
Some of these skills shealready knew how to do, but
again, she couldn't prove it.
That's been really frustrating,isn't it?
I'm sure it is really.
It was frustrating for her andif you have something like that,
I'm sure it's frustrating foryou.
Well, she had to build thatpublic proof.
I talk about building publicproof in the episode called Be
Excellent Outloud.

(07:13):
That's also part of mypromotion framework, part of my
course, actually, about gettinga better job.
Then we talked about a timeline.
She didn't want to start away,right, she didn't want to start
right away and she kept saying,well, maybe I'll reach out next
week, maybe I'll do it someother.
And I pushed her to startsooner rather than later.
She wanted next week, nextmonth, when her current project

(07:34):
was over.
No, I said this week, tomorrow,today.
So she focused, she prioritizedand she succeeded.
She got that job within fourmonths.
Now that might seem like a longtime, but hey, if she hadn't
taken any action, she wouldn'thave gotten any job within four
months.
When we talked about thepromotion, when we did this
exercise, there wasn't even ajob open.

(07:55):
She strategized like this,built the proof and when that
job was open, she was considereda shoe-in for the position.
Everybody knew she was going toget it.
Oh, the job opened up.
Well, of course, you put thatwoman into it, of course.
Now, when I'm coaching aroundthis, I hear a lot of people
telling me that they can't dothis for a number of reasons.

(08:17):
There are always reasons theycan't do this.
Their workload is too heavy,they can't handle any more
projects.
They don't know who toinfluence.
Who am I supposed to beinfluencing and how do I
influence them?
I'm a nobody.
Nobody knows my name.
I don't do presentations.
How do I just start doingpresentations?
How do I just start doing extraprojects?
Or maybe they're not allowed totake on random other projects?

(08:39):
I hear that a lot.
I can't do a project.
That's outside my position.
The rules in my company don'tlet me do anything outside of my
job description.
Well, guys, that's a load ofcrap.
Managers think outside the box.
They know the box, they see thecorners and then they reject
the box.
Okay, that box has sides to itthat shouldn't be there, right?

(09:01):
So managers see the box andthey say really, you want me to
just kind of play in there?
Be real folks.
When they say think outside thebox, I mean demolish that
stupid thing.
All rules are made by people.
All rules and people change.
People can be reasoned with.
People want their lives to beeasier.
That's key.
People want their lives to beeasier.

(09:23):
Think like a lazy person.
Everybody bemoans the managerand bemoans the departments that
are lazy.
Well, use that to youradvantage.
If you want to get into adepartment, if you want to make
a difference, if you want to bea manager, think like a lazy
person.
How can you make your jobeasier?
How can you make that person'sjob easier.

(09:44):
Well, there's your project.
Is it building the skills thatyou need for the next promotion?
Make someone's job a lot easier.
That's your project, super easy.
Here's the bottom line.
You need proof that you canexcel in the next role.
You need everyone and theirmother to know you're better

(10:04):
than your current job and canprovide better value when you're
promoted Managers.
Well, if they like their jobsand they like the company
they're in, managers hate itwhen someone isn't living up to
their value potential, and thatincludes you.
So show how much value you canbring the company by proving it

(10:25):
with projects that help theright people who can get you
promoted.
Think about their job, what isgoing to help them?
And build your skills at thesame time.
Guys, it's just as a littleencouragement, because it can
seem a little dejecting to hearall this like do more, do
something else.
Prove that you have the skills.
Guys, one of my jobs wascreated for me.
Yeah, I said that.

(10:46):
One of my jobs was created forme.
It didn't exist until I showedthat it should exist.
So when you go out of your wayto prove that you deserve a
promotion and the good peoplearound you see that they will
think of you first when theposition comes around and if you
get so well known and, by theway, I'm an introvert and I have

(11:09):
to go out of my way to getknown around the company because
my natural instinct is to stayby myself I want to be by myself
, I want to just do dataanalysis, I want to stay behind
the scenes and not talk toanybody.
That's not exactly true.
I like talking one-on-one, Ilike talking to different groups
, I like it when I have a role,and so what I did was I created

(11:32):
a role and I volunteered to getup in front of people, and now I
love public speaking, I lovecoaching groups, I love training
people and I'm an introvert.
I just need to recharge at theend of the day.
But when I see everyone'sprogress and I see them growing
and flourishing and this is keyactually enjoying their jobs

(11:55):
because they got to the placethey want to be, well man, I
love that.
I love that.
So, if you're an introvert,think of projects that are not
just going to prove that youhave the skills for the next
promotion, but also bring outyour passion.
In my Get a Better Job, in myBeta Test of the Course that I'm
relaunching now that I've movedto California and all of that

(12:17):
is behind us, thank God, and weare unpacked and everything.
Well, mostly we still have afew boxes left.
Anyway, now that I'mrelaunching that Beta Test, the
very first lesson is aboutstrategizing around your career
and getting to a position thatbrings out your passion.
A lot of pees in the first twoepisodes, and so go from this

(12:37):
episode, from this one aboutstrategizing, getting to a
better role, getting to yournext promotion.
Go, find the people that youneed to influence to get that
next role.
Go find the skills that youneed to prove that you have to
get to that next role.
Figure out the projects.
Reach out to those people witha timeline and some ideas, maybe

(12:57):
discuss it with them first,right, and then you will be a
shoe-in.
Go execute, it's all in theexecution.
Go do it and you will beconsidered management material.
You will be a leader.
You will be someone who isproactive.
Hey, who doesn't want to hiresomeone who's proactive?
I looked for that on my teamevery single time.

(13:17):
I don't care if it was anassistant position or something
else.
If I could see that the personwas proactive, smart and a
problem solver.
I knew that they could betrained and they could do the
position if they wanted to.
So go, go, put this into actionand get a better job.
All right, I will see you inthe next episode and I hope to

(13:38):
see you.
I think down below in thedescription is a way to contact
me if you'd like some careercoaching or if you would like to
join the beta test of my Get aBetter Job, previously called
the promotion handbook, get aBetter Job course that is being
created right now I'm releasingwell, I can kind of consider
them chapters, but lesson afterlesson and in the beta test, you

(13:58):
get to provide me some feedbackand tell me how it went, what
is going well, what can bechanged, all of those different
things.
So go ahead down there andcontact me, sign up for the beta
test and let's get this thingoff the ground.
I want to help you get a betterjob.
All right, I'll talk to yousoon.
Go get that promotion guys.

(14:18):
Thank you for listening toManagement Material.
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iTunes.
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let me know what else you wantto hear about I'm an open book.
I can't wait to see you in thenext episode.