6 Yellow Flags When Chasing a Promotion

Lonnie Pacelli is an Accenture/Microsoft veteran with four decades of learnings under his belt. He frequently writes and speaks on leadership, project management, work/life balance, and disability inclusion. Reach him at [email protected] and see more at ProjectManagementAdvisor.com.

  Career Development  

When I was in college, I sold clothes in a department store. I was super-ambitious, and was never satisfied with my current position. When I was a salesperson, I wanted to be a department manager. When I was a department manager, I wanted to be an assistant store manager.

In my final semester, I was taking 18 credit hours and had reached assistant store manager, working 40 hours a week. I had taken on way too much but felt I could handle it. I simply wanted those promotions and was unwilling to compromise on work or school. Fortunately for me, the semester ended and I graduated (with my worst semester GPA ever) before completely running myself into the ground. I was protected from myself.

Promotions are a great thing. They’re a recognition of a job well done with rewards including increased responsibility, compensation, and stature. At the same time, they can create significant career roadblocks if not managed intentionally. It’s important to be thoughtful as to the why behind your desire to be promoted. To help this along, this article is about six yellow flags you should consider when pursuing a promotion.

Before going further, I want to clarify my intentions. I’m not by any means implying these yellow flags are bad reasons for wanting a promotion. It’s completely cool to see an opportunity for increased responsibility, influence, and/or …

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