The Promotion S Curve

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It’s possible to climb the ladder faster than you think. For most entry level jobs, I believe that you should only be in that role between 1-2 years. If you stay shorter than 1 year, you may appear uncommitted. Stay longer than two years and you’re likely to get bored and your productivity will decrease.

There are five primary stages to the promotion s curve. They are:

  1. Training
  2. Building
  3. Growth
  4. Mastery
  5. Stagnation

The best way to get promoted is to always jump to the new job before you reach the stagnation phase. You’re chances of getting promoted are highest during the growth and mastery phases. Promotions become less and less likely the longer you stay in the stagnation phase.

Picture an S curve. When you start in a new job, you start at the bottom left on a nearly horizontal line. For the first couple months you will struggle just to wrap your head around what you need to be doing. You’ll have a mountain of names, projects, and processes to learn. After a few months though it will start to click and you’ll find yourself being able to start adding real value to the organization.

As your learning curve starts to move more towards vertical, life gets exciting. During the growth phase, you’ll be of most worth to your team and you’ll learn the most. Because your previous job is still fresh in your mind, you’ll be able to make new connections and come up with innovative new solutions. Your excitement will be contagious as you feel yourself developing each day.

The excitement phase can last anywhere from 12-18 months depending on the level of complexity and variety in your job. At some point you’ll enter the mastery stage. You’ll notice that people will start coming to you first when they have a question. You might also perhaps find yourself in a team lead role.

Your chances of promotion will be highest during the mastery phase. If you do it right, you’ll find ways to delegate the more repetitive aspects of your job to others while you focus on more complex problems. This is good for you as well as your business. It is at this phase when you want to be actively looking for new opportunities and marketing your WSPs to leadership.

If you wait too long, the organizational politics, limitations of resources, and the repetitiveness of the job will start to get to you. As soon as this happens your productivity will start to drop as you become increasingly more jaded and bored. If this happens you will become a burden to your team. Management will also start to notice. If this happens, you’ll become less and less desirable as a candidate for a promotion.

Also the longer you stay in a job, the more that particular position becomes part of your identity. It will be harder to leave because you’ll get comfortable. The organization also won’t want you to leave because you’ll have a mountain of organizational knowledge in your head that they won’t want to lose.

Is it impossible to move after you hit the stagnation phase? No, but it just becomes increasingly difficult.

What stage are you in? What stage would you like to be in? If you’re ready to take the next step in your career, let’s get in touch and start making a plan to help you achieve your next promotion.

Wildly Successful Projects = Promotions

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For most jobs these days you are probably competing with anywhere from 20-100+ other candidates. Even if you’re only competing against five other people, you still need to find a way to stand out from the crowd.

The best way to do this is demonstrating to your interviewer examples of your wildly successful projects. The term “wildly successful project” (WSP) comes from the book Paid to Think. Essentially widely successful projects are those that your boss’s boss knows about. If it didn’t get on his radar, it means it probably wasn’t important enough to get passed up the chain.

This is my favorite wildly successful project… 🙂
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Completing a wildly successful project is a game changing event for both you and your organization. It goes way beyond the responsibilities of your day-to-day work. If you’re looking for a promotion, the best way to do this is to get as many WSPs under your belt, on your résumé, and in your portfolio as possible.

Knocking out consecutive WSPs is evidence that you are qualified to solve problems that are bigger than those detailed in your current job description. If you’re showing that you’re already solving your boss’s big problems it makes it a lot easier for them to officially change your job title.

Let’s get together and talk about what your next WSP could be, how to execute it, and how to best represent it in an interview.

Five Things an Interview Panel Won’t Tell You

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Over the past few years I have conducted hundreds of interviews. This includes face-to-face, phone, and even skype. Being on the interviewing side of the table gives you a whole new awareness of what interviewers are expecting to hear from an applicant. Here are a few things I’ve learned.

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Here are five things an interviewer typically won’t tell you:

  1. There usually isn’t much of a plan going into the interview. Interviewers are typically managers who have lots of meetings. They are often coming to your interview from another meeting. Their head isn’t in the game, and they’re likely not too prepared. What this means for you is that they are going to throw out a bunch of random questions. By quickly presenting your portfolio at the beginning your bring focus to the interview and control the conversation.
  2. Please keep your answers short. Most candidates are nervous to some degree. Being nervous usually causes them to ramble. Interviewers get bored easy, so rambling doesn’t help you. As a general rule, keep your answers to 60 seconds or less unless otherwise indicated. If they want to know more they can always ask a follow up question.
  3. Tell me a story. Please don’t just tell me that you have a dynamic personality or that you’re good at working in teams. Everybody says that. Prove it to me by telling me a short and engaging story. Get to the meat.
  4. Don’t ask what the day in the life of position x looks like. Again, everybody asks that. You look pretty average when you look that question. Instead ask something more focused that shows that you’ve already researched the company and the job.
  5. Don’t ask when they’re going to make a decision. The hiring process typically requires many interviews and approvals from management. Regardless of what an interviewer tells you, it probably won’t be accurate. Asking only sets you up for disappointment and makes them feel guilty. Instead, just tell them that you’re very interested in the opportunity and that you’ll wait to hear back from them.

There are lots of other nuances to the interviewing process. Let’s get together and talk about what other things we can do to help you get ready for your next big interview.

The Power of the Portfolio

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Whenever I first mention the word portfolio, most people quickly think of a photography or art portfolio. It’s a similar concept, but different style. The purpose of the portfolio is to quickly show your interview panel examples of projects you’ve done throughout your career. These pictures become evidence of your skills and qualifications. They carry a lot more weight than bullet points on your resume.

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5 Tips for Your Portfolio

  1. Portfolios, just like resumes, need to be targeted to the specific position. Each job posting will include hints about what interviewers are looking for. Create a base portfolio and then add and subtract as appropriate.
  2. Use as few words as possible. Your portfolio should not make sense without your commentary. This allows you to be the focus of the interview rather than your portfolio.
  3. Show examples of your best work, but not all of your work. Each example should be awesome. Including a lot of average examples makes you appear like an average applicant.
  4. Keep it short. You should be able to present your whole portfolio in under five minutes. You need to give your interviewers enough time to be able to ask questions.
  5. Print multiple copies of the portfolio. It’s often awkward to try to pull out a computer and/or connect to a projector in an interview, especially if the interviewers are not expecting it. Printing copies also allows them to take your work with them after you leave.

buy-portfolioBottom line: people are visual. Pictures make your achievements feel more concrete to a hiring manager than bullet points on your resume ever could. A portfolio sets you apart from the pack. If you’re interested in having me create a portfolio for you, let’s get in touch. You can give me a call or send me a text at 801-419-2013.

Build Careers, Build People

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One of my favorite things about my day job is that I get to build people every day. There are few things more satisfying than helping someone take the next big step in their career. This could be securing a big promotion, receiving a new leadership assignment, or taking a risk that pays off in a big way.

Hope is key. Hope comes when someone outside yourself tells you that you are capable of more. I believe we are not captive to our past. We are only captive to our own self doubt. Career coaching is how you get around that.

It is possible to accelerate your career in a big way. I know that because I’ve done it. In the past five years, I have received seven promotions. In just the last twelve months I’ve helped facilitate 24 promotions for people on my team. A handful of these people even received two promotions in the same year. It’s possible, and I can show you how to do it.

Here is what I can offer you:
1. Instill in you a belief that you are capable of the next leap in your career.
2. Identify with you what that next step is.
3. Find and target specific opportunities.
4. Update and upgrade your résumé.
5. Build a career portfolio to help you have an engaging job interview.
6. Coach you on interviewing tactics to help you confidently answer tough questions.
7. Help you write a solid thank you letter.
8. Get off to a great start in your new career.

We spend more time at our jobs than anything else that we do in our lives. If you’re satisfied at work, that satisfaction will spread into every other aspect of your life. Why continue wasting your time stuck in the same place? Today is the day to turn your day job into a fulfilling career. If you’re interested in getting started, let’s get in touch. My email is lindsay.jacob@gmail.com