12 Reasons Why You Cannot Get a Promotion at Work

Supervisors are in a position of power to make decisions that effect your career. One of those decisions is whether or not you deserve to be promoted to a higher level of responsibility. The boss may ask him or her to make a recommendation for a line employee to supervise a district of their own, or become head of their department. A boss may ask the supervisor for a suggestion or list of worthy people to interview.

A supervisor or manager will review all of the employees under his or her control. It is a big decision. It will reflect how well the supervisor can acknowledge and assess leadership potential within the company. The supervisor knows that a bad recommendation could have a negative impact on his or her own career and decision-making processes.

Promotions are for people who give the extra amount of work. They consider the company’s needs almost above their own to the extent possible. A person who shows maturity and loyalty to the company is always noticed. So is an employee who provides a constant seamless quality of work.

You may feel that you have given all you have to your company. Yet, you are tired of seeing other people in your department get promotions ahead of you. You can’t understand why you are constantly passed over.

The twelve reasons why an employee hasn’t received a promotion can be summed up in two words – Bad Attitude. The bad attitude of an employee is manifested in their work, their relationships with their supervisors, and is possibly why you can’t get a promotion.

Here are some reasons why your expectations of a work promotion are not being achieved:

1. You only Do what you are Told to Do, nothing more, and nothing less. You are giving as much to the company as you get back. Your attitude is, “I do my job every day. Why do overtime when the company isn’t paying me for it?”
2. You are a Clock Watcher. You take your breaks on time, your lunch on time, and you leave the office on time. Even if everyone, including you, is working on a special project with a deadline. Even if you see your peers spending a few more minutes talking to the boss. You think it’s a waste of time, and leave. You have things to do.
3. Your Boss Considers you a Follower, not a Leader. In fact, you are a leader - of the water cooler crowd. Not a good place to be for a future supervisor.
4. You haven’t Asked for a Promotion. Supervisors are not mind readers. When you are going through your annual employee evaluation, have you ever indicated that you would like to advance in the company? How about when a staff vacancy comes up?
5. You don’t Participate in Staff Meetings. Staff meetings are to inform, correct, and connect. Don’t you have any ideas to contribute? Why stay silent? Your boss may think it’s because you don’t want or care to participate or give ideas.
6. You don’t Volunteer for any Special Assignments. Special assignments give you the opportunity to shine, stretch your knowledge of the company and show your strengths. You conveniently have something else to do when asked to help.
7. Your Web Site, Blog, Articles, etc. are Offensive or Immature. Everything you put on the Internet is public knowledge forever. You trash your company, your work, and some of your co-workers. Then you wonder why no one wants to go to lunch with you. Or why your manager doesn’t give you assignments that could showcase your talents.
8. Poor Credit Report, Poor Driving Record. Companies do background checks before and during your employment. Especially if you are in the running for a promotion. The promotion may entail some travel. You may be expected to travel to different branches of the company. The job comes with a company car, but you aren’t eligible because of your speeding tickets
9. Work Quality is So-So. It’s clear you put your work together as quickly and haphazardly as you can. There are always typos and grammatical errors in your work. Worse, you make excuses for why your work is not up to company standards
10. You Consider Your Work as a Job, Not a Career. This attitude permeates and affects your attitude and work efforts. It means you have no expectations of staying at the job or the profession. It’s just a paycheck to you.
11. You Don’t Dress as if You are Ready to Move Up in the Company. You wear clothes for yourself, not to represent the company
12. You Don’t Talk to your Site Manager or Supervisor. You don’t ask how he or she got promoted. You don’t talk to them about your own promotion dreams or ask for tips.

How to Change to Make Yourself Promotion Worthy:

• You have value as an employee. Take a good look at your skills and make an evaluation. List your strengths and showcase them at work. For any weaknesses, take some classes or make a plan to address those skills you know you will need in order to be considered for a promotion.
• Speak up at staff meetings. This is your time to show the company your worth, and that you are interested in seeing the company advance and prosper
• If you want a promotion, you have to stand out from the crowd in a consistently positive way. You can’t hang with the water cooler crowd every day and expect to be considered a leader
• Speak up for yourself. If there is an upper echelon position open in the company, your resume should be the first one submitted
• How do you expect to supervise your team if you are constantly late for work? If you aspire to be a supervisor, you should be the second person at the job next to your supervisor
• Work as if you take pride in what you do. Work as if you enjoy what you are doing
• Get your personal house in order. A supervisor must be a cut above the staff. If suspended due to unpaid tickets, pay them and get your driver’s license back. If possible clear up any legal matters that may be on your criminal record
• If you have a drug, prescription, or alcohol problem, don’t think no one knows about it. If you want to move up in the business world, get some help taking care of your addictions
• A company gives you a job. You have to turn it into the career you want
• Invest in a good dictionary and thesaurus. These are work tools that can help improve your correspondence and reports
• Join trade organizations and sit on a few committees. Join those organizations that your boss patronizes
• Look at how your supervisors dress. Then go shopping and buy similar clothing
• Do your work. Stay off eBay and the adult sites. Stop playing solitaire for hours, and checking your email four times a day. Meet your deadlines
• Don’t put anything on your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or MySpace account that you wouldn’t want your mother or your boss to see. What you post could be a professional career killer
• Work as if every day you are being considered for a potential promotion

You may look at this list and think, “Why should I do all of this without a guarantee I will be promoted?” Well, that’s another reason why you are not given supervisory responsibilities. You want a promotion to be handed to you. It doesn’t work that way.

Maybe what you really want is the extra money without the responsibility. One thing is clear by the negative behaviors outlined here. The employee has no loyalty to the company. He or she intends to do just enough work to keep the job. If staff layoffs are needed, unless you improve your attitude and work, you could be on that list

You can find some control over your job if you decide to give 100% of your efforts. You need to put together a plan. Think about what kind of a career you want to have, the kind of leader you know you can be if given the chance. Establish yourself as an added value employee if you want more responsibilities. Otherwise, find another job that you like, appreciate, and where you are appreciated.