Watched a coworker nail a promotion in 9 months flat - here's what he did different

I've been sorting mail at the same station for 6 years now and watched this new guy come in and become a supervisor in under a year. He spent his lunch breaks learning the scheduling software instead of scrolling his phone like the rest of us. When a route went bad he'd ask the senior carriers why instead of just complaining about it. The manager even told me "he just asks good questions" which I realized I never do. Has anyone else seen someone move up fast at their job and figure out what they were doing that you weren't?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_parker28d ago

Honestly the sticking around thing works way better than people think. Managers notice who bails at 5:01.

riley_schmidt28d ago

Have you ever tried just hanging around when everyone else is clocking out? Thats where I see most of the real learning happen. The guy I worked with who moved up fast would stick around 15 extra minutes to help the boss clean up and ask how they handle the hard stuff. Little things like that add up way more than just being good at your own job.

grace_bailey12d ago

Wait, isn't that more about looking busy than actually learning though? I get what you're saying about building rapport and all, but @the_parker made a good point earlier about how managers can tell when you're just hanging around versus when you're genuinely trying to figure things out. Have you noticed those extra 15 minutes actually leading to more responsibility, or is it mostly about being seen as dependable?