Tool
Am I Ready for a Promotion?
Promotion Case Readiness Check
Seven questions on what you can actually evidence, and what a calibration conversation would find missing. No account, no email.
What makes someone ready for a promotion?
Promotion readiness is the strength of the case that can be made for you, not the quality of your work. It rests on documented impact with numbers attached, whether you're already operating at the next level, written evidence from people other than you, and whether the people deciding know you're going for it.
Why good work doesn't promote itself
Promotion decisions are usually made in a room you're not in, by people working from a document you didn't write. What reaches that room is whatever your manager could assemble, from whatever was written down.
That means the case is built from evidence, not from performance. A year of excellent work with no record of it loses to a good year that was documented as it happened. This is not fair, and it is reliably true.
The five factors
| Factor | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Documented impact | 30 | Wins you can describe with a number attached |
| Operating at the next level | 30 | Whether you're already doing the job you're asking for |
| Written evidence from others | 20 | Corroboration that isn't your own account |
| Manager alignment | 15 | Whether the person building your case knows to build it |
| Sponsorship | 5 | Someone senior who'll argue for you in the room |
Documented impact (30 points)
- None0
- One or two10
- Three20
- Four to six25
- More than six30
Operating at the next level (30 points)
Most companies promote to recognize what you're already doing, not to bet on what you might do. That's why scope is the slowest gap to close — and the one to start on first if it's open.
- Not yet0
- Occasionally, on stretch projects10
- Regularly, alongside your current scope20
- It's most of what you do now30
Written evidence from others (20 points)
- None0
- Verbal or Slack only7
- One or two written14
- Three or more written20
Manager alignment (15 points)
- No0
- Mentioned once7
- Yes, with an active plan15
Sponsorship (5 points)
Weighted low deliberately. Sponsorship matters enormously where it exists, but it isn't available on demand and it isn't evenly distributed. A rubric that weighted it heavily would mostly measure how well-connected someone already is.
- Nobody specific0
- Probably, but we haven't discussed it3
- Yes, and they've told me so5
Grades and caps
Ready 75–100. Close 55–74. Building 35–54. Early 0–34.
Two caps set a ceiling regardless of score. No wins with numbers attached caps at Building. Not yet operating at the next level caps at Building.
Both are about the case itself rather than who knows about it. Someone can score well on documentation and scope while having told nobody — that's a distribution problem, and a faster one to fix than a missing case.
Why reconstructing from memory produces a thin case
Most promotion cases get assembled in the two weeks before they're due, from whatever the person can remember.
That doesn't fail evenly. Recall favors whatever happened most recently, and quietly drops the rest — so a case built from memory in December describes October and November far better than it describes February. The work existed. The record didn't.
This is the single largest difference between a thin case and a strong one, and it has nothing to do with the quality of the work.
What this gets wrong
It can't see whether there's a slot. Budget, headcount, and whether anyone is being promoted at all this cycle are frequently the real blocker, and no readiness score detects them.
It can't see your company's politics. Calibration committees weigh things that aren't in any rubric — who speaks first, who owes whom, which org is in favor.
Weights are judgment. They reflect how these cases actually get decided in my experience as a CX/UX researcher in big tech. Someone else would weight them differently.
It assesses the case, not the outcome. A strong case can lose. A weak one occasionally wins.
Common questions
How do I know if I'm ready for a promotion?
Check whether you can answer four things without preparation: three wins from the last six months with numbers attached, an example of work at the level above yours, written feedback from someone other than your manager, and what your manager said when you told them you were going for it. If any of those is blank, that's the gap — not your performance.
How far in advance should I start preparing a promotion case?
Earlier than feels necessary. The limiting factor isn't writing time, it's that evidence gets harder to recover the longer you wait — numbers move, stakeholders leave, and the detail that made a project notable fades within weeks. Six months of light documentation beats two weeks of intensive reconstruction.
What should be in a promotion case?
Specific work with measurable outcomes, evidence that you're already operating at the target level, corroboration from people who aren't you, and a clear statement of what level you're asking for. The most common failure is describing responsibilities rather than results — what you were accountable for rather than what changed because of you.
How do I tell my manager I want a promotion?
Directly, and earlier than the cycle. Say the level you're targeting and ask what evidence they'd need to make the case. That second question is the useful one — it turns a want into a shared project, and it means your manager starts collecting evidence on your behalf rather than assembling it from memory later.
What is a calibration meeting?
A meeting where managers compare their reports against each other and against the level criteria, usually to decide promotions and ratings within a fixed budget. Your manager presents your case; you aren't there. This is why written evidence matters more than it seems — what reaches the room is the document, not you.
How do I document my accomplishments at work?
One line per win, written the week it happens: what changed, what the number was, who noticed. The format matters less than the timing. Anything that requires you to remember later will be thinner than what you'd have captured at the time.
Where the evidence goes
A case is easier to make when the evidence was collected as it happened. The Career Growth Tracker is built for that — wins with numbers, written feedback, and scope examples, logged through the year rather than reconstructed before the cycle.
Career Growth Tracker on Notion Marketplace ↗