The Story of my Life

I've been with ADB for 7 years now. 2 years in another department and 5 years in the current. On my second year in my current department, I've already started applying for a promotion. At that time, I didn't know that, aside from skills, senior staff are given priority in terms of promotion – senior meaning their length of stay in the organization. The longer you are in your current position, the better are you chances to get promoted. Another plus factor is that you have to continuously apply because it gives Management the impression that you seriously want to move up. So I applied and applied, but to no avail.

When a position opened up in our department, I thought about it several times. I had to consult other people whether I should apply or not, most of them said I should go for it regardless of who the contenders were. But what really convinced me was when I consulted my former boss, who's now in Nepal, of what would be the best thing to do. Coming from her I know it would be a little biased, considering that we've had a very good working relationship while she was here, but I also know her to be fair and straight forward. And that she'd tell me, honestly, if there was anything I should improve on. Her opinion gave me so much to think about, and more importantly, she made my self-esteem move a notch higher.

Thankfully, all the preparations paid off and I got the promotion (I almost didn't apply for this promotion, would you believe?!). Finally! After more than four years of waiting, I got the promotion I wanted. The icing on the cake is, I was going to support a cool guy. Then I realized it was good that I didn't get promoted in all the positions I applied for in the past, because God has something better for me.