It’s about that time where you feel ready for a promotion, but you’re just not quite sure how to best position ...
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It’s about that time where you feel ready for a promotion, but you’re just not quite sure how to best position yourself. In this article we’ll take you through all the steps to ensure you have the right mindset, intent, and action items to achieve your goal.
Be Prepared
Before meeting with your manager it’s important to do your research and ask yourself why you even want this promotion in the first place. Keep in mind, just because you want a promotion doesn’t mean it will always present itself in the ideal or perfect way. Businesses focus on scalable, efficient processes to help elevate the rest of the team, there needs to be a use case as well as a strong reason why the promotion makes sense.
Take an appropriate amount of time to self reflect and analyze all of your relevant accomplishments and current team structure. This means being aware of your personal brand: Who you are, what you bring to the workplace, and your value add to the business. In order to be your own best advocate, you need to think less about your feelings regarding the promotion, and instead focus on the skills you possess that make you worthy of the promotion. Keep in mind that knowing how and why people are promoted in your work culture is crucial, it will help you align your expectations and aptitude.
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
Make sure you are communicating your intentions of being promoted with your manager, peers and others whose opinions you respect within the company. Collectively, create a plan of action/goals that align with the path needed to hit the next level. Ask for definitive action items that you can document & measure, because without measurement, progress can’t be made.
Communicating with your coworkers and others in leadership roles enables you to understand their thoughts on how to get promoted within the work environment. It can also help you understand the landscape from a different perspective. Obviously, your direct manager has the majority say, but solutioning from all angles will absolutely aid in your approach. Lastly, set weekly and monthly goals along with check ins for you and your manager to track your achievements.
Take Action, Adapt & Adjust
Developing consistently good habits will position you for success; but this isn’t going to happen overnight. You should be striving to get out of your comfort zone, as that is when you will see the most personal growth. You need to invest in yourself. Being passionate about what you do not only naturally elevates your quality of output, but it elevates how you feel about your work as well. Likely, the quality of your work is a huge factor to your achievements and others will see this. Love what you do and own it.
When it comes time to collaborate, be open to your coworker’s feedback. Their reviews of your contributions can be incredibly useful. You should focus on being an active member on your team, going out of your way to be of assistance and completing tasks efficiently. With those traits in mind, you will be more visible among your peers. Create a development plan incorporating personal & professional attributes you wish to exemplify with your manager or peers.
Commitment to your goals
Be sure to keep track of your progress, even if it feels miniscule- without documentation of progress, you’ll be spinning your wheels. At every crosshair you should be able to show your boss you have what it takes, regardless of the endeavor or complication. The path to promotion is multi faceted, and your resilience needs to be present every step of the way. To keep your momentum it is important to have daily/weekly short term goals, be aware of what you need to do. Try and do more than check it off the list, exceed your own expectations. Another way to track your growth is measuring how you felt when your boundaries were stretched, ask yourself if you would change anything about your approach. This kind of self reflection will allow you to see where you can take on more responsibility and will give you more focus moving forward.
What not to do
Not all promotions are vertical, sometimes taking a step forward can seem more lateral. This is why assessing and aligning to what it is you truly want in this next promotion happens in stages. When visualizing your promotion, try taking it a step further to the next position of interest. Understand that tenure alone does not justify why you should be promoted. Comparing your abilities, timeline, and overall value add to others will not help you get the promotion. Hyper focusing on the promotion and trying too hard to get it can be off -putting. The business needs for your promotion must align.
A few more tips
A lot can happen that is outside of our control, including reorganizations… which are quite common right now. Being able to continue with your trajectory is probably something that is quite important to you. Picture this, you’ve been working hard for months on everything you need to do to achieve your goals and suddenly you get a new manager. The best way of ensuring what you’ve worked on gets noted, is cultivating an early relationship with your new boss. Being proactive in your conversations can be mutually beneficial, especially if your new boss is new to the organization. A key indicator in being promoted is when you are able to help your boss become successful.
Can you remember what life pre-covid was like? We are all operating in a global pandemic, many of us are working from home and the infrequency of in-person interaction can lead to “out of sight out mind” situations. Positioning yourself today is much different than it was 6 months ago and many times the external variables are playing against you. Lastly, bringing these conversations up is really important and I imagine you want the talk to go successfully..one thing to to keep in mind is prepare your boss with a heads up…send a quick little note to ensure when you do have these conversations they are mentally prepared to have a are capable of engaging in a meaningful/production talk.
Hopefully now that we’ve gone over a few tips on how to best position yourself for a promotion your confidence is flowing and you have clear insights to help you through the journey. Take the time to reflect on what you want to accomplish, communicate your interest, develop a plan of action, remember to adjust along the way, and execute. Spending at least a little time and effort working towards your promotion goals is far better than taking 10 hours thinking about doing something. Go ahead, you’ve got this!
When it comes time to collaborate, be open to your coworker’s feedback. Their reviews of your contributions can be incredibly useful. You should focus on being an active member on your team, going out of your way to be of assistance and completing tasks efficiently. With those traits in mind, you will be more visible among your peers. Create a development plan incorporating personal & professional attributes you wish to exemplify with your manager or peers.
Commitment to your goals
Be sure to keep track of your progress, even if it feels miniscule- without documentation of progress, you’ll be spinning your wheels. At every crosshair you should be able to show your boss you have what it takes, regardless of the endeavor or complication. The path to promotion is multi faceted, and your resilience needs to be present every step of the way. To keep your momentum it is important to have daily/weekly short term goals, be aware of what you need to do. Try and do more than check it off the list, exceed your own expectations. Another way to track your growth is measuring how you felt when your boundaries were stretched, ask yourself if you would change anything about your approach. This kind of self reflection will allow you to see where you can take on more responsibility and will give you more focus moving forward.
What not to do
Not all promotions are vertical, sometimes taking a step forward can seem more lateral. This is why assessing and aligning to what it is you truly want in this next promotion happens in stages. When visualizing your promotion, try taking it a step further to the next position of interest. Understand that tenure alone does not justify why you should be promoted. Comparing your abilities, timeline, and overall value add to others will not help you get the promotion. Hyper focusing on the promotion and trying too hard to get it can be off -putting. The business needs for your promotion must align.
A few more tips
A lot can happen that is outside of our control, including reorganizations… which are quite common right now. Being able to continue with your trajectory is probably something that is quite important to you. Picture this, you’ve been working hard for months on everything you need to do to achieve your goals and suddenly you get a new manager. The best way of ensuring what you’ve worked on gets noted, is cultivating an early relationship with your new boss. Being proactive in your conversations can be mutually beneficial, especially if your new boss is new to the organization. A key indicator in being promoted is when you are able to help your boss become successful.
Can you remember what life pre-covid was like? We are all operating in a global pandemic, many of us are working from home and the infrequency of in-person interaction can lead to “out of sight out mind” situations. Positioning yourself today is much different than it was 6 months ago and many times the external variables are playing against you. Lastly, bringing these conversations up is really important and I imagine you want the talk to go successfully..one thing to to keep in mind is prepare your boss with a heads up…send a quick little note to ensure when you do have these conversations they are mentally prepared to have a are capable of engaging in a meaningful/production talk.
Hopefully now that we’ve gone over a few tips on how to best position yourself for a promotion your confidence is flowing and you have clear insights to help you through the journey. Take the time to reflect on what you want to accomplish, communicate your interest, develop a plan of action, remember to adjust along the way, and execute. Spending at least a little time and effort working towards your promotion goals is far better than taking 10 hours thinking about doing something. Go ahead, you’ve got this!
If you have any questions or would like to chat further, feel free to reach me at mhernandez@hirewell.com.
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Over the last year, hiring teams have started seeing a wave of new job titles pop up across tech, sales, and operations.
Some are legitimate new roles.
Others are existing jobs with a slightly different name.
And many of them have one thing in common: AI is suddenly part of the job description.
From Go-to-Market Engineers to AI Specialists, companies are experimenting with new roles as they figure out how automation and AI fit into their teams.
But most of these positions aren’t entirely new. They’re evolutions of existing roles.
The Rise of Go-to-Market Engineers
One role that is gaining traction is the Go-to-Market Engineer.
Depending on who you ask, it is either:
- A new role focused on automation and AI-driven growth
- A modern version of Revenue Operations (RevOps)
In practice, it is a bit of both.
As Matt Tokarz recently pointed out after closing a search for an Outbound & Go-to-Market Specialist, the role looked very different from traditional RevOps. The focus was not reporting or CRM hygiene. It was building prompts, leveraging tools like Clay and Smartlead, and enabling SDRs and AEs with backend insights to accelerate pipeline growth.
Instead of traditional RevOps work like reporting and CRM management, the focus was on:
- Building AI prompts
- Creating campaign messaging
- Automating outreach workflows
- Using tools like Clay, Smartlead, and Trigify
The goal was not simply managing sales data. It was accelerating pipeline generation through automation.
AI Isn’t Creating New Functions. It’s Changing Existing Ones
One trend is becoming clear. Companies are not replacing entire departments with AI.
Instead, they are changing how existing roles operate.
Sales teams still need pipeline.
Marketing teams still need content.
Engineering teams still need to build software.
The difference is that employers now expect candidates to use AI tools as part of their workflow.
As Zac Colip noted during the discussion, we are currently in a transitional phase where companies are labeling roles with “AI” as they experiment with how the technology fits into teams.
But that may not last forever.
Why Many “AI Job Titles” May Disappear
Right now, AI still feels new enough that companies highlight it in job titles.
But eventually, AI will likely become a baseline expectation, not a specialty.
Think about it like cloud technology or data analytics.
At first, companies hired “cloud specialists.” Now most engineers are expected to understand cloud infrastructure.
The same shift will likely happen with AI.
Instead of hiring “AI-enabled marketers” or “AI engineers,” companies will simply expect employees to know how to work with AI tools.
The Talent Pool Is Still Small
One challenge with these emerging roles is simple: there aren’t many candidates with real experience yet.
Many of these positions didn’t exist two years ago.
In one recent search, we started looking for a candidate locally in Chicago. Eventually we expanded nationwide because the pool of people with relevant experience was extremely limited.
This is a common issue with emerging roles:
- Companies want experienced candidates
- But the roles themselves are still new
That gap will likely persist for the next few years.
Hybrid Roles Are Becoming More Common
Another noticeable shift is that roles are becoming more hybrid.
Instead of hiring for narrow responsibilities, companies are combining multiple functions into one position.
As Matt Mulcahy highlighted, one example is the rise of Forward Deployed Engineers, a model popularized by Palantir.
These engineers:
- Work directly with clients
- Gather product requirements
- Write user stories
- Build the software themselves
What used to involve several roles, including product managers, engineers, and solution architects, can now sometimes be handled by one person. AI development tools are part of what makes this possible.
AI Adoption Is Happening at Different Speeds
Not every industry is moving at the same pace.
As Ashley DuBois pointed out, some sectors, such as transportation, are applying AI to specific workflows like load booking and operational automation.
At the same time, some companies are adding “AI” to job titles even when the core responsibilities remain largely traditional.
In many cases, it is still essentially an IT manager role with AI familiarity layered in.
This reflects a broader transition period where companies want to signal modernization and candidates want to signal relevance.
Automation Is Changing Operations Roles
In logistics, AI is increasingly handling scheduling, tracking, and coordination tasks.
According to Brittany Lasky, operational roles such as logistics coordinators may experience the greatest impact from automation.
However, freight brokers who manage negotiation and strategic RFPs remain in demand.
AI can optimize processes. It does not replace relationship management or strategic negotiation.
Across industries, a pattern is emerging.
Execution becomes automated. Strategy becomes more valuable.
Finance Roles Are Becoming More Analytical
Automation is also reshaping finance and accounting roles.
As Adam Slater noted, accounts receivable jobs that once focused on high-volume manual processing are evolving into more analytical positions centered on reporting and insights.
The work is not disappearing. The expectations are increasing.
Organizations are now hiring for:
- stronger technical skills
- analytical thinking
- systems understanding
Even roles traditionally considered administrative now require deeper technical capability.
Analyst Roles Are Expanding
AI is not eliminating analyst roles. It is expanding them.
Financial analysts are also expected to understand tooling, sourcing, and data transformation.
In many cases, two or three roles are being combined into one.
This raises a long-term question.
If entry-level roles become more complex or disappear entirely, how will organizations develop senior talent in the future?
Sales Development Is Becoming More Human
The traditional model of high-volume cold calling is changing.
According to Jack Smith and Emily Canna, teams are shifting toward:
- personalized LinkedIn videos
- voice memos
- highly tailored messaging
At the same time, companies are moving away from activity-based KPIs and focusing more on outcomes such as demos set and SQLs generated.
In a market saturated with automated outreach, authentic communication has become a competitive advantage.
Several clients have said it directly. They want a human in the seat.
Go-to-Market Teams Are Rebuilding the Fundamentals
Every six to twelve months, hiring trends in go-to-market teams shift.
As Jennifer Salerno noted, companies move through cycles.
One quarter it is BDRs.
Then RevOps.
Now it is go-to-market engineers.
Many companies experimented heavily with AI to accelerate pipeline generation.
What those experiments exposed were structural gaps, particularly in outbound strategy.
AI can support execution. It does not replace a well-built top-of-funnel engine.
Inbound momentum can hide weaknesses. Outbound forces clarity.
The companies gaining traction right now are not chasing trends. They are rebuilding the fundamentals of their go-to-market strategy.
What This Means for Hiring
For employers, the takeaway is straightforward. Job descriptions and expectations need to evolve alongside technology.
Across functions, we are seeing the same shift play out. AI is not eliminating entire roles. It is changing how those roles operate and increasing the baseline skill set required to perform them well.
Hiring managers should start thinking less about traditional titles and more about capabilities. That often means prioritizing candidates who can:
- Learn and adapt to new tools quickly
- Think in terms of systems, automation, and workflows
- Combine technical and business skills within a single role
In many cases, the perfect candidate with the exact title simply does not exist yet. The strongest hires are often people who have developed adjacent skills and shown the ability to adapt as the tools evolve.
The Bigger Trend
The broader trend is that AI is accelerating a shift that was already underway.
Roles are becoming more hybrid. Expectations are increasing across nearly every function. And repetitive tasks are being automated, leaving more strategic work behind.
Sales teams still need pipeline.
Operations teams still need coordination.
Finance teams still need reporting and analysis.
Engineering teams still need to build software.
What is changing is how the work gets done and what skills are required to do it well.
Right now we are in a transitional phase where companies are still labeling roles with “AI” as they experiment with new workflows and technologies.
Over time, that label may disappear.
AI will simply become part of how work gets done.
And the roles themselves, while evolving, will look more familiar than the titles might suggest.
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