Want a promotion? Ask for it.

If you’re paying attention at work, you know there is work that needs to be done that no one has time to do. Perhaps it’s a special project that would streamline your most important process. Maybe it’s a new way of orienting new employees, or training new customers. It’s often your boss’s biggest headache. No solution. Yet.

You are in a perfect position to design your next job.

You know what needs to be done. You know your company’s systems, processes, people and proprietary software. You are in the ideal spot to create your next position and propose it to your boss. Here’s how to go about it:

1. Gather a couple of job descriptions from your company and job sites like Glassdoor.com and Salary.com. In order to get HR’s attention, your proposed job needs to look and feel like it belongs in your company. Be sure to focus on jobs that are at least one rung above your current position. You can copy and paste most of the job. Then, ADD in the new initiative you propose.
2. Take special note of the VERBS. Your level of pay is a direct result of the level of responsibility you hold. “Leads and directs the work of others” is a whole lot higher than “Takes direction from supervisor.”
3. Write your next job. Yes, you can. Managers are busy people. Make their job easier by writing exactly the increase in responsibility you want. Give them the tool they need to take it to management, woo HR, and make it happen.
4. Sensitize yourself to the differences between job levels.If you fully understand why the person in the next cube makes $10,000 more than you do, you can rise to the occasion and ASK for that additional responsibility. It could be a larger project or territory, a bigger client, contact with a higher level of management, more complexity, or just more creativity. Whatever the differences, if you are ambitious you want those things for yourself.
5. Even if you fail, you win. Your manager now knows you take initiative, care about company goals, and have passion for your work. If not the job you propose, perhaps the next step on your company’s ladder, instead. Or, perhaps you have designed the perfect job for yourself in anothercompany.

Would you like some help? I often help write job proposals for internal candidates who want to up-level their jobs. I can help you strategize, too.