4 Negotiations to Make for a Better Career 

Better career means a better pay rate. Do you agree? Those who have good skills or are in higher positions will likely get a better salary than those who are in lower positions. Not only higher salary, the more you look for a better career, the more opportunities you will discover. Having more opportunities, there will be more options for your future career or retirement plans. These options will also help you gain more flexibility about challenges ahead. In short, a better career allows you to proceed in the manner in which you prefer. 

If you are a top performer in your organisations, however, it is most likely that managers will hold you from reaching your personal career goals. Your manager might not promote you to another department or higher level in fear of losing productivity when they move you to another department. If this is the case, then you need to negotiate your way up the career ladder. It might not be easy, especially when you are quite valuable where you stay. 

Make use of strong articulation in order to defend your right to pursue a better career. Here is some advice to help: 

Leverage on your leadership skill as one of your strong points 

Having good leadership skill is tantamount to a team’s success; being able to manage other employees and direct their work performance easily catapults an organisational growth. In this case, your key skills would be useful in a more challenging job position. During annual performance review, prepare to highlight this skill of yours and present validated evaluations that demonstrate your qualification for a higher level. 

See also: Planning a Fresh Start for a New Career

Make it known to your bosses about your career plan

Human resource management knows that it is more costly to lose an engaged top performer in the company than to hire an equally new one. The risk of the new talent not “working things out” with the new job is too high. Likewise, if a department is codependent on your stellar work performance, so much is at stake when you leave. As a career-minded individual, you know as well that you are better off building a stable career where you are - especially when your company is that supportive. So, impress your personal and professional goals in the company and make known how much you are looking forward to timely promotions to advance in your career.   

Have a protégée 

As said, the more important you are in your current position, the more resistance you will encounter in your vie for promotion in another department that interests you. If there is great potential in your promotion, resolve the issue by offering to train a colleague whom you trust can take over your position once you are out. Along with the training, impress the idea to department managers that you will gladly be available for transitional support or any troubleshooting issues that might arise.

Dissociate emotionally and prepare to apply for a new job 

This works both ways for you. First, you would not overestimate the probability of being approved for promotion by the hiring manager. Second, you would be able to confidently negotiate the position and pay rate you deserve. Prepare as you would in applying for a new job by learning what the new job position’s responsibilities are. Doing so will allow you to demonstrate confidently how your experience can become an asset to this new job role. 

Next read: 5 Mistakes You Should NOT Make during Career Change