Negotiating a Promotion

Excerpted from
Be a Kickass Assistant: How to Get from a Grunt Job to a Great Career
By Heather Beckel

Goal: To take care of yourself, while never letting your boss stumble.

While you learned a lot of important things at college, how to succeed at a job wasn't one of them. You're learning the practical stuff about actually working on the job now. As an assistant you're in close proximity to the people you aspire to be and you're learning how they do their jobs by watching them. You're learning from them everything from the esoteric (how to behave) to the practical (how to conduct a meeting). And you're learning by doing: answering the phone and solving a problem for a caller, scheduling a complicated trip to Hong Kong, etc. You're learning a lot being an assistant. You're learning practical skills which will become the foundation for every other job you'll ever have. And you are learning what direction you want to take in your career. Chances are that when you got out of college you had no idea, or only the vaguest idea, of what you wanted to do with your life. But now that you're working you've had a chance to see a variety of career possibilities in action and you probably have a much clearer idea of what you want to do. You can probably look around your company and your industry and point to people who have jobs you want, and now you know that there is a career path to get there.

If you have implemented the strategies in this book, you're a great assistant. As both a former assistant and boss, I can guarantee that. You've taken the time to educate yourself and train yourself. But you're ambitious and you want more: money, challenges, and responsibilities, and a bigger title. That's great and you should feel encouraged because you're on the right track to get whatever you want.

Promote Yourself

You solve problems every day as you manage your boss's life. Use all the management and problem-solving skills you've learned to work on your own career. You've spent the last couple of years developing a great partnership with your boss. Work with him to make your current position grow as your abilities grow (and hopefully, his job grows too). There's a phenomenon my friends and I used to call "when the assistant needs an assistant." Over time, as you become more and more competent, you'll take on more and more responsibility. Hopefully, your boss's responsibilities will also grow, and at some point you might realize that you don't have time to do a lot of the clerical and admin work of your job. At this point in their careers, several of my friends were able to convince their bosses, who had become increasingly dependent upon them, to hire an additional assistant. They became the bosses of the new hires, and their titles became something like "special projects coordinator." These assistants promoted themselves. Bob Rubin, the former secretary of the treasury, had two assistants, one that did all his clerical work and another, more experienced, who did all the more substantive work.

When you're ready to talk to your boss about formalizing your growing position with another hire, more money, and a better title, choose your time to approach him carefully. You'll schedule your own meeting with him, so don't shoot yourself in the foot: Pick a time he'll be in a good mood. By now you know all his moods and the best way to get his attention and win him over. Use everything you have learned. After all, the point you're going to make to him is that your knowledge of him and your set of skills make you an indispensable employee and worth more money to him and therefore the company. Lay out your argument very clearly; be prepared to list your specific accomplishments and remind him of how well you take care of him, which allows him to do a better job. And be prepared to ask for specific things; as always, offer your boss a solution when you present him with a problem. And be prepared to negotiate with your boss. He may need some time to consider what you're presenting to him or he may only be able to offer you part of what you're requesting.

Have realistic expectations: The chances for promotion and how long it will take to be promoted will vary from boss to boss, and in many industries there is a standard. Some industries, such as the entertainment industry, have very specific and even rigid corporate "ladders" that assistants must climb. For example, at artists' agencies in Hollywood everyone starts in the infamous mailroom and works their way up and out from there. The goal is to become an assistant to an agent and be her apprentice. The way to have realistic expectations is to educate yourself. If possible, talk to the person who had your job before you, and talk to other people within your department and company. Ask about their personal experiences. Talk to your boss and ask him about your chances for promotion. The best way to broach this is to choose an appropriate time, either a very formal time such as your performance review or a very casual time such as at the end of the day in his office when you are both relaxed. Make sure that you are not asking him at a time when you are overly emotional because you are angry or resentful about your job. Simply say that you have been thinking about your future and your career and that you would like his advice. Where does he see you in the next year or two? Remember that luck and your hard work will affect your opportunity for promotion, but again, there are also factors beyond your control, such as your boss and your industry.

Meritocracy

You've been in your job for a while now and you know that what I told you in the introduction is true: There are a lot of crummy workers out there. Workers who do the least amount of work necessary to get by and who aren't smart. Without knowing your company, I feel confident that the chances are good that if you are smart and work hard you'll get promoted. If you're a value to your organization, the organization will want to keep you. If you shine in comparison to your coworkers because you're great at your job and you continually seek out new challenges and responsibilities, people will notice. And the people in a position to promote you will either come up with the idea themselves or they'll be receptive to the idea when you suggest it to them.