NWjobs | NWautos | NWhomes | NWsource | Free Classifieds | seattletimes.com
Syndicated columnist
Q: In my three years at this company, I have saved it lots of money and have always earned top performance reviews. Now I want to approach my manager about developing my career and climbing the ladder. He knows my performance and that I have traveled the world to do a good job for him. What do you recommend?
You're about to offer your boss a wonderful gift. That's right: The best approach to getting what you want is to give your boss something he wants.
Don't go to your boss about your career. Go to discuss the work you're doing for him and the success you want to bring to your company. Here's a good way to approach this.
Request an informal review where you can show your boss an outline of the assignments he's given you and what you've accomplished over the past year. (Be prepared, but keep it casual.) In the first part of the meeting, review what you've done, evaluate how you've done it, discuss how you might have done some things better, and suggest how your work has brought profit to the company. In the second part of the meeting, discuss the work you are interested in doing over the next year, how you would do it, and how this will pay off to the company. Finally, ask the manager for his input on your "wish list" for the future. How does he think you will fit into the organization in the coming years?
By reminding your boss how well you have performed, and by suggesting a clear plan for future success, you've stimulated a discussion about your career development.
This kind of meeting makes the boss feel you're there to address the business, not yourself. And it gives you license to really talk about your work. If your boss is smart, he will see the connection between the company's success and your own. If he doesn't get it, then you must decide whether you want to keep working for an organization that can't focus on you, too. I wish you the best.
Copyright 2008. Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate
Nick Corcodilos is author of "Ask The Headhunter: Reinventing the Interview to Win the Job" and the host of www.asktheheadhunter.com. He can be reached by e-mail at seattle@asktheheadhunter.com or at North Bridge Group, P.O. Box 600, Lebanon, NJ 08833. Sorry, no personal replies.
Leave a comment