Uncommon Career Advice: 8 Reasons You Are Not Getting Promoted

What You Don’t Know about Your Employer Is Hurting You

Getting promoted and moving up the corporate ladder, making big bucks and becoming indispensable, is not as confusing and hard as you may think but you make it harder with what you don’t know. (Don’t worry – I was in your shoes back when I worked at the Fortune 100 tech giant too). Let’s fix that, shall we?

That’s not a marketing tactic to get you to read this blog post, you can stay or go but it doesn’t change this ugly uncomfortable fact, one that I discovered 5 years into my 11 1/2 year career at this Fortune 100 networking giant (and subsequently mastered for the rest of my career, which was quite rewarding) and one that rings true in major corporations in America as well as in a few other Western cultures.

Fact: If you do not know these truths, and you are an employee – especially a loyal and hardworking one – then you are hurting your career and your future opportunities. A lot.

How? You are hurting because you are not advancing, because your compensation is mediocre, because you are not considered top talent that gets moved up the chain, because you are not tagged as indispensable or valuable to the company – you would not know any of this, because your manager or the HR does not exactly tap you on the shoulder to tell you this.

But behind those closed management doors, and those secret meetings, the stuff that you don’t know is counting against you. You can work harder and harder every day and it won’t make a difference if you are making these mistakes, much to your complete ignorance.

Reminder: Did you know we have a step-by-step course here to teach you everything you need for getting recognized, getting promoted and creating your dream career at your job?

If you didn’t relate to any of that, then you are a rising star in your company and have a few nice promotions and a few substantial (not 2.5%!!!) raises under your belt and if you are so on top of your game, then you will already be intimately familiar these truths.

If you are a hopeful rising star, a conscientious hard-working loyal person who is not going anywhere and getting frustrated to find out why, then this article is for you.

You are not alone. Get a mentor to help you figure it out

Cracking the Code to Get Promoted at Your Company

For the past 8 months, I have been in deep research mode on this topic, which is very near and dear to my heart because I struggled with it profusely. I’ve conducted over 25 interviews with experts on the topic: CEOs, CFOs, Directors, vice presidents, manager and HR directors as well as a few happy and a few disgruntled employees. I am not doing this just for kicks.

This is the foundation of the next Prolific Living product for the driven, ambitious and talented corporate employee and it is a program that will catapult your stagnant career into the envy of everyone you know.

In Crack the Code to Get Promoted at Work, I am spilling all the beans that no employer is openly telling you, no training program teaches you, no educational institute undertakes, and few if any mentors and coaches feel qualified to take you through.

This is not a fluff-feel-good career guide but then again neither is a career in today’s corporate world, so if you have the heart to be in that rough environment, you’ll need this no-nonsense program that uncovers the least-obvious and most-important things you need to know to advance at your job, period.

If you are happy with a mediocre job, a blah pay and a below-average compensation plan, then this program is not for you.

But if you are itching to make yourself known and indispensable in your company, and want all the sweet rewards that come with it, this program will change your life.

And it’s not that you are not working hard enough. If you are reading this post, you are likely a hard-working self-conscious person with strong work ethics. I know there is no shortage of losers that stay on the payroll in every company – don’t get me started – but I am betting you are not one of them.

In the course, I won’t be talking about survival lessons at corporate here. I won’t be hammering “do your job well” or “work hard” or “dress appropriately” nonsense tips that everyone knows and does not need to hear yet again. You are smart. You know the basics. I will not be insulting your intelligence by telling you the obvious.

8 Reasons You Are Not Getting Promoted at Your Job

Let’s talk about the not-so-obvious, shall we? Here goes:

1. You’re disagreeing with your boss in public

Never, ever, EVER, disagree with your boss in public, with other teams, groups, customers or vendors. Ummm. Ever! Don’t be a show-off even if your boss makes a mistake. Wait and tell him when you are in private but outside, you must appear united.

2. You complain about little – or big – stuff without even realizing it

Stop complaining this instant and let someone close to you be the judge of what complaining is – to you, it may be that you are just expressing your thoughts, but if it sounds even remotely like you are complaining, you just sabotaged all your hard work.

3. You take too much liberty with the company expense account.

Watch your spending on the company expense account, because you can rest assured they are watching you. Don’t add the obvious reputation busters even if it seems naive: No alcohol, no entertainment unless for a customer, and no splurging on gifts for yourself while on company travel.

4. You gossip or worse, engage in gossip with others.

Gossip makes you vulnerable and loose lips will sink your career. Do not engage in office gossip and do not engage with people who gossips, inside or outside office hours or company campus. You are being watched at all times. Yes, be paranoid. It will save your career.

5.You get defensive or emotional or both when you get feedback.

Never get defensive when your boss is giving you constructive feedback. Try to apply this rule to all other managers and leaders. This goes for even if they are totally out of line and wrong. Do not get defensive. Just explain it with a lot of understanding and calm.

6. You go over your boss’s head when you don’t get what you want.

Do not go over your boss’s head and talk to his boss about things you should discuss with him or her first. This shows lack of trust and disrespect, and losing that trust is the end of your career because regaining it is astronomical work.

7. You surprise your boss – even if it was good news!

Make sure not to surprise your boss with good or bad news if you can help it. Bosses hate surprises. Prepare him in advance. Make sure he is in the loop and is not caught off-guard.

8. You run to Human Resources and even told on someone!

Do not run to HR. At all if possible. Just as you wouldn’t run to your Mommy and Daddy as an adult when you have a grown up problem, you should not go to HR unless it’s deadly serious issue because HR is there to protect the company, not you, my dear. Never you. HR is no friend of yours. Keep your distance and work it out with your boss in private. If the boss is the issue, still work it out with him first or seek a secret mentor or coach to get the issue resolved fast.

Want more uncensored and uncommon career advice from this corporate escapee? Then hop on the list below and grab the FREE career strategies that will shift the way you are working and advancing at your job right away: