by Gail Kerry

Created on: January 16, 2009   Last Updated: February 11, 2010

Job promotions come when they are deserved and when an employee is bold enough to promote themselves and ask for one. It may come as a surprise to learn that most employees don't ask for promotions even when they are well deserved. Many hard working people fall prey to the assumption that their supervisor will take notice of their outstanding achievements and reward them with salary increases or promotions accordingly. Recent studies show that women are even less apt than men to ask for higher salaries. Could it be that somehow they have a lower sense of self esteem and therefore they don't feel that they deserve to be compensated as much? In any case, many employees don't seem to understand that managers are often overworked and can easily overlook an employee's recent accomplishments if they are supervising many individuals. Supervisors have little time to keep track of work that is going well because their job also includes fixing problems that are not going well. Unfortunately, many hard working people do nothing to promote themselves or their accomplishments and they become frustrated and annoyed when nothing happens.

Even if your profession is engineering, accounting or some other non-marketing field, you still need to understand a few basic marketing concepts if you want to get ahead. Try to think like a manufacturer who is about to launch a great product - you! Would you simply lay this product out on shelves and anticipate that people will purchase it? That would be silly. No one would know anything about the product or its need or benefits. The first thing you would do is create a marketing plan that focuses on promoting yourself. One major component of your "getting ahead" plan would be to focus on getting the message out about how essential and terrific you are to your vendors, peers, customers and your boss. Of course, this is assuming that the product (you, in this case), actually works! Your first dilemma in implementing this plan is that you can't walk around the office telling everyone how great you are as that would be considered boorish and would certainly defeat your purpose. You can ensure that the message gets out, however, with subtlety, finesse and a little discreet and indirect self promotion. Employees who move quickly up the ranks seldom toot their own horn, they learn how to let others do this for them!

What if you have done a superb job and you've gotten the message out? Then it's time to go ask for

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