Your next promotion: How do you get there?

In general, we all love promotions. They tend to arrive with a boost in reputation, whilst an obvious pay rise as well.

Unfortunately, it's a bit of a rat race. Everyone is playing the game, so to speak, and there are only a limited number of new positions available.

Of course, on the positive side, companies in general will prefer to dish out internal promotions - as it saves them a lot of cash when it comes to recruiting. It means that promotions are always going to be possible regardless of where you work, but you have to know the system.

Through today's post, we will take a look at some of the best changes you can implement in a bid to increase the chances of your next promotion.

Work on your personal brand

Over the last few years there really has been an emphasis on the term "personal brand". In short, this is the way you come across to other people.

This includes everything from your appearance, right the way to how you communicate with others. For example, in relation to the former, this might mean changing the way that you dress. Or, in a bid to boost your inner-confidence, some people even turn to a facelift to help them along.

Become a go-to person for a subject area

In truth, this can relate to the previous point that we covered. To develop your reputation within your company, try and become a go-to person for a specific topic. This will mean that you need to become a knowledge sponge; you'll need to soak up any additional knowledge wherever possible so that you know more than anything about a given topic in your company. In short, you are working at becoming irreplaceable.

How do you perform the above? Go to industry conferences, training courses and anything else that you know can boost how much you know on a given area.

Ask for more responsibility

One thing that tends to occur with a promotion is an increase in responsibility. This might mean managing people, or it might mean managing more projects. Well, a way to show senior management that you are up to the challenge is to ask for more responsibility before you get promoted.

Admittedly, this is unlikely to be fruitful when it comes to people management - as you are unlikely to be given people management responsibilities without being given a promotion. However, you may be given more projects, and this is just as important when it comes to proving a point.

Analyze your company - who else gets promoted?

As we all know, offices can be quite political. In some cases, it's not necessarily the most talented individuals who are promoted, but those who play the game.

It means that you need to understand what this game is. In some cases, making friends might be the way forward, while in other companies there will be a "challenging" culture. In other words, they like the individuals who go against the status quo and really challenge others on decisions. Find out how your company works so you can make your move.