How to Choose the Right Candidate for a Promotion

Promoting from within is, in general, a good business policy. Hiring a current team member to fill a newly vacant managerial position is a good way to ensure high morale, low employee turnover, and consistent performance. Yet, making that choice isn’t always obvious or easy. Indeed, leaders at successful companies may have three or four qualified candidates up for the same promotion at the same time. As one might imagine, getting this decision right is crucial. With that in mind, here are four tips business leaders can use to ensure they pick the perfect person for a promotion every time:

Stay Future-Oriented

Past performance is not always indicative of future results. Of course, business leaders should review their employees’ previous records when deciding who they should promote. Still, too often leaders focus on what a team member has done in the past as opposed to what they can accomplish moving forward. Promotions are a reward for hard work and loyalty, to an extent, but the most experienced employee is not always the ideal person for the job. Think about where you want your company to be in five years when you start vetting candidates for a promotion.

Solicit Feedback

It’s important to remember when making a personnel decision that your “favorite” candidate might not have the same rapport with everyone else. While businesses are not democracies, what employees think and feel should matter a lot. As such, it makes a lot of sense to conduct interviews with current employees who are not up for the promotion and see who they think should fill the void. Consider also conducting a survey asking employees what qualities they look for in a good leader. This can give you a template to use in your search.

Ask the Tough Questions

In many ways, it’s more difficult to interview someone you know well than a complete stranger. Nevertheless, it’s crucial for business leaders to ask candidates for a promotion tough questions about their ambitions, qualifications, and ideas. Just because you have a good relationship with an employee, it doesn’t mean you can afford to go easy on them when interviewing them for a high-paying promotion.

Emphasize Training

Want to ensure that you have talented employees who are capable of taking the step up into management when the time comes? Then emphasize training and development early and often. Offering soft skills training and career-advancement courses will encourage your team members to grow as professionals and individuals. Do this, and you’ll be certain to have a consistent source of quality employees and future executives.

Selecting the best person for a promotion isn’t always straightforward, but these four tips will help you in your process!