The time is here! You’re tired of doing work that you can do in your sleep and start thinking about taking the next step. There are 2 ways to do that. If you want to leave your current employer you can start in the Dream Career Magnet with me. If you want to stay at your current employer, it’s time to have a conversation with your manager. But how do you do that? How do you schedule that? What do you say? And how are you going to make sure that they hand you the opportunity to do it? Let’s talk about it!

Schedule the meeting

Before you go and schedule the meeting, you want to make sure that you give yourself enough time to prepare. Try to schedule it a few days later, depending on your own schedule and what’s possible of course. But you want to give yourself 2 evenings to prepare for this. More about the preparation in the next paragraph. So think what suits you and take a look at both of your calendars.

Found a date and time? Schedule an hour for this meeting. You probably won’t need a full hour, but then you’re sure that you can at least finish it, and extra bonus time never killed anyone. 

Then your invite message. You don’t have to go into so many details here. You don’t have to say that you want to walk about a promotion. Just let them know that you would like to have a conversation. The first thing that goes through a manager’s mind when they receive that is that you might want to leave the company. Which is good, because it puts them in the exact right place that you want them in: being afraid that you’re going to leave. Can you imagine their relief when you say that you just want a promotion?

Gather some proof

After you’ve scheduled the meeting, you can start preparing. If you listened to my advice, you have two evenings to prepare. On the first evening you’re going to gather some proof. Think about things such as what you’ve achieved over the years that you’ve been at the company, what shows that you’re ready for a promotion. Maybe you’ve already trained others that are in the same role as you that recently joined the company? 

Think about the promotion that you want to go for. What is needed in that role? Are you already doing small parts of it? For example thinking about new ideas, or maybe gather information so that the ones that are in that role can do their job better? Things that show that you’re ready for that role.

Take a look at your calendar of the past year. Are there other things that you can use to your advantage in this conversation about your promotion? Other extra things that you’ve done? Write it all down. If you can gather some reports with data that shows what you’ve been doing more than others, print that out and bring it with you to the meeting.

And above all of this. Know what you want! How do you see the future? What role would you like to do. How would you do that role? What would you do differently than others? And what is your goal in a few years?

Practice in front of the mirror

On evening two it’s time to put it all together in a pitch. How do you want to start? What do you want to say? I have an outline for you that typically works best:

1. Start with a little smalltalk about how they are, certain things that are going on in the business, maybe a specific project. Ask how that’s going.
2. Then start with the facts. You’ve been working at the company for that many years and during those years you’ve grown and have done some amazing things for the company.
3. Tell everything that you’ve found the evening before. Go from one to the other. Make sure to speak about what you’ve achieved and what the advantage has been for the company.
4. That being said, end with that you have goals to grow and that you’re ready for the next step and a promotion.

This is your pitch. Practice it in front of the mirror so that you can make sure that you can say it all in the way that you want without forgetting any important things. When you feel like you got it, then stop practicing. Too much practice can cause a blackout during the real thing.

Set your day up for success

On the day of your meeting, set your day up for success. Make sure that you get enough sleep, and wake up early with enough time for everything. You don’t want to be rushing on this day. If you always start your day with meditation, then meditate! Do everything you need to do to kickstart your day!

Dress the part. Dress like you already got the promotion and are working in that role. Does that mean that you’re dressed a little more business than usual? Then do that. You want to make your manager already see you in that role when you’re going to ask for it.

Get promoted!

It’s time, baby! The meeting is here! Make sure that you bring a glass of water with you, in case your throat gets dry. Put on your best smile and go inside.

Start the meeting with the pitch that you prepared. After that, be quiet. Don’t fill the silence. Wait until they respond. Don’t be nervous. It’s just a conversation that you’re having with your manager. You have nothing to lose. And if they say no? You can either find yourself in their feedback, or you’re going to look for your promotion elsewhere. Together with me. Inside the Dream Career Magnet. Because that was the other option, remember?

Good luck! You got this!

That’s all for me this week.

Remember: chase your dreams, be fierce and never settle!