How Do I Convince My Boss That I Am Ready For My Next Role?

By Perminus Wainaina

Hi. My name is Richard. I have been working for the same organization for 4 years now, as an accounts assistant. In the 4 years I have been in the accounting department, I have gotten new supervisors who end up leaving, for one reason or the other. Last month, a new accounting supervisor was hired and two weeks later, she was fired. I would like to show that I am a good candidate for the same role, especially because I know the company better. How do I go about it? How do I convince my boss that I am ready for this promotion?

You, like Richard, may be ready to take that next step in your career, although you don’t have any management experience—yet.

You know that you would be a great boss. But how can you get your boss to give you a shot when you don’t have any direct supervisory experience?

1. Emphasize your transferrable skills

Being promoted involves much more than overseeing junior staff. In your new position, you may need to train and coach, give presentations, develop and interpret policies or processes, recruit and interview, create schedules or timelines and even oversee projects from start to finish.

Chances are, as someone who has been on the team, you have probably had exposure to a few of these responsibilities. All you need to do therefore, is explain on your CV and to your boss, how your experience translates into a leadership role.

If you’ve assisted with new hire onboarding, presented at a company training or planned and executed an event from start to finish, you’ve already got some legitimate management-level experience under your belt.

Highlighting these skills and projects on your CV and being prepared to talk about them in your next interview will help your boss see your true potential.

2. Highlight your expertise in the job, team or department

As a junior tea member in your department, you most likely have the industry expertise and wisdom needed for that promotion you are eyeing.

Understanding the ins and outs of your current position, the dynamic of your team and the nature of your industry will come in handy when you get promoted.  

As such, ensure that your expertise is clearly featured on your CV. Include a list of your most relevant skills, highlighting the total years of experience you bring to the table and mention the industry you have expertise in.

3. Invest in learning

If you are not sure what transferrable skills you possess, consider taking up a leadership course that will give you good leverage with your boss.

Your boss will likely be impressed that you took the initiative to sharpen your skills, and it’s a great way to show your commitment. You can include this course on your CV.

4. Show great personal initiative

There’s nothing that annoys a boss more than someone who constantly needs to be told what to do especially for the most obvious things!

Don’t wait for your boss to keep asking you to submit a long overdue report or bring in a certain number of clients every day.

Show initiative. Do what you are supposed to. Make their work easy.

As you take initiative, also show that you are a problem solver. In other words, learn how to offer more solutions.

5. Speak up

Are you the kind of person who attends meetings with your boss but never contributes in the meeting?

If so, what stops you from speaking up? Is it that you assume your ideas are not good enough or everyone else has said what you wanted to?

Truth is, those who get the promotion, are those who have mastered the art of speaking up.

Not because they are the smartest or their ideas and solutions are the best, but because regardless of how “poor” their ideas may sound, they speak up.

And these are the people the boss will approach more often than not. They know the kind of information the boss is looking for and so they go ahead and offer ideas.

Eventually, the boss will consider their ideas and before you know it, they are now team leaders!

So if you finally want to get noticed and promoted, start speaking up especially in meetings. Don’t worry that what you say will be dismissed, just say it!

Conclusion

If you can take the time for these kinds of preparations beforehand, you’ll be setting yourself up for success in the long run. Even if one particular request for a promotion doesn’t go as planned, sticking to a professional approach that takes into account proper preparation will only serve you well as you progress through each step in your professional career.

Perminus Wainaina is the C.E.O and Managing Partner at Corporate Staffing Services, a leading HR & Recruitment consultancy firm based in Westlands.