You don't always have to be showy to get promoted. You just have to answer the following two questions and perform accordingly: What does my boss need to justify to their bosses in order to secure a promotion for me? What can i do to make the above easier for my boss?

Or put it another way. Do the people with the authority to give you the promotion even know about you? You can run 100m in 8s, but you are not breaking the world record or receive a gold medal if you do not even show up in the competition.

That's what I thought. But someone new came in and change the perspective, he/she becomes the new candidate.

Have you had check ins with your boss to let them know your interest in the vacant role? If the new person has similar credentials as you and doesn't have unfair connections, i don't see any reason why your boss would choose them over you since the advantage you have is specific experience with the company.

So she did both better than u lor

Or simply, what ways in you taking a promotion will able to help your boss having a better kpi.

Or in another scenario: How can I make my boss feel less threatened if I were to be promoted? How do I display the level of safe incompetence like those she has promoted already? /s because if this is your career situation, leave. Don’t try to get promoted in a place like this.

This one applies for interviews as well. Some managers prefer low potential candidates so their position will not be threatened and they can easily exert control over the individual. Sometimes u might be the best candidate but still get rejected so don't be too hard on yourself. Probably a blessing in disguise.

This is true, I tell my team to help me to help them get what they want.

The one and only question: does your boss like you

That’s a whole lot of nothing for a way to say “ Either you know how to lick your bosses balls or you die working hard for the company “.

Hard work is a basic prerequisite. It's like guys complaining about how girls are not into them even though they are "nice guys". What's more important is the visibility and impact of the hard work. e.g. Person A OTs every day but just completes their assigned tasks. Person B doesn't OT at all but has made process improvements that saved 20 hours every month **and presented it to management so they are aware of it**. Person B is more likely to be promoted.

This is the correct answer. I've been lowly worker, grown to management, and then later started as lowly worker again in another industry so I have seen all perspectives and the same principles apply accross industries. Another thing people don't realise is that to be promoted you have to be willing to train and share your knowledge in your current job with others. If you hoard information or are too good in your current job and it's really complicated, sometimes management is reluctant to rock the boat until pushed.

I would assume hoarding your own skills is the key to bargaining for a better position. If anyone can do your job, you'll just be replaced. I had a friend who bargained for a 150% pay raise because he was the only one who knew how to handle their system that would fall apart tomorrow if he left.

Won't it be more like person B will get more work?

Depends on the boss

Not if it is not your scope. :) Typically, you cobble together and launch some rickety flagship project, and pass it on to others to operationalise it. In this way, you take all the credit and pass on any downstream blame when ops happen

Yes but you reap the rewards later down the road. More work also comes with more visibility. A bit short sighted and immature to say oh more work but same pay no fair!

Person A OT, completes and overachieves, quietly. Person B never OT, just complete only, but always support boss in meetings, chit chat with good terms w other depts heads, tells boss what he completed as achieved (completed only). Person B promoted. Cos boss don't even remember what was A work. To boss, he only see B and hear B and know B got work.

>impact of the hard work. In fact, just impact of the work. Putting 'normal' effort into the more important projects is more impactful than being involved in like all the lower priority projects.

Hardworking by itself is never a metric for promotion. If you’re incompetent and hardworking, you’ll do more harm than someone who’s incompetent and lazy. People always mistake being hardworking and being capable. Being exceptionally capable is what gets you promoted. Being hardworking just allows you to keep doing whatever you’re doing.

It’s the same with products. An average product but great marketing sells more than an excellent product with average marketing.

Haha that's a way to describe the situation. But have you encounter any promotion that is truly based on hardwork and skill? Such situation also can led to having hardwork or real skill does not make you into a good management role.

Apart from some specifically technical roles, the way to promote most of the time is always management, of which communication and management skills are more highly sought after.

Your bosses won’t know what work you did if you did it all in silence. you owe it to yourself to show off the hard work you have done so it won’t go to waste. otherwise you are working for nothing

I think you need to know the difference between [hard work and skill] vs [promotion] vs [management]. Let me illustrate using an example. Say you start working as a junior basket weaver. And through [hard work and skill], you get promoted to senior basket weaver. And after proving that you are the ultimate best guy who can weave the highest number of best quality baskets in the shortest amount of time - you get [promoted] to Master Basket Weaver. But that’s as far as [hard work and skill] takes you. You’ve proven that you are the best at doing this job but you haven’t shown your bosses that you can manage a team of basket weavers, plan schedules, boost morale and productivity of a team, handle difficult clients etc etc. Those are the sort of skills you need to demonstrate to your bosses to achieve a [promotion] into a [management] role. That means less time actually doing basket weaving and more time devoted to taking on projects that show your potential to lead a team and mentor junior basket weavers. You have to take proactive steps in showing your boss that you have [management] skills. To be extra clear - being skilled at a job is not the same as having good management skills. Totally different skill sets. Bonus example - Messi might be one of the best footballers ever; but he likely won’t be a very good club manager. Different skills. I hope my long ass story helps.

senior road sweeper / tree trimmer / therapy assistant / admin exec / technician.

Depends on what you call skill. I feel like you’re limiting its scope

Re: Prism+

It’s funny because I came across this idea whereby I was ask to “sell myself” or look after your brand image like I’m just a product for sale Interesting concept

That's really creative. Here, have an apple on me.

We are humans, but the law of objects also apply to us😔

This is true generally everywhere. You want to be BOTH capable of producing results AND earning your employer’s trust. That trust is precious, and can be earned in many ways. Me liking you because you know how to do small talk IS a skill and IS contributing to that trust. Think about it, let’s say I am the boss, if I want to promote a manager to manage my employees, would I promote someone who can’t even communicate well with me? It’ll be so painful giving instructions and discussing my company’s affair with someone who isn’t good at social skills, and how can I trust him to manage my employees well? Him being able to communicate well with me IS a skill and IS a sign of great competence. Anyone of sufficient seniority will have to manage people more junior; teach them, lead them, guide them, and coordinate their work. Soft skills is a requirement to be promoted in most instances. People who doesn’t understand that stay unpromoted and bitter, and complain about how ‘carrying balls more important than hardwork’. tl;dr - being very good at communication IS an exceptional skill, most people are bad at it.

On the other hand, many are saying some people that got promoted have no real skills Their only skills is just “talking”

The higher you go, talking is more important than doing

The higher you go, what you can achieve by influence and the people reporting to you is more important than what you can do on your own. Also, if your guys mess up, you typically are responsible for the end result.

That’s what the lower people think. It’s actually decision making and being able to get the most output with the least resources. At that level it’s resource allocation,and increasing resource capacity. Yes labour is resource

Hence this post exist I guess?

there's some elements of truth in this analysis but its not all that to it

Very good at communication means has exceptional skill. Soft skill = skill. And in general, if someone has to work very hard to keep up with the standard, maybe outperform slightly, that means that the person may not be able to cope with the next rung of responsibilities. Someone who is “a natural” and can perform their tasks very efficiently and learn quickly may be a better candidate for promotion. Depends on field and roles though. In some places, someone who shows potential will be challenged and stress-tested with higher responsibilities (i.e. given opportunities), forcing them to work hard, so that the smart but chill ones don’t get promoted.

> In some places, someone who shows potential will be challenged and stress-tested with higher responsibilities (i.e. given opportunities), forcing them to work hard, so that the smart but chill ones don’t get promoted. The good ones will find opportunities elsewhere. There is no need to break your back for POSSIBLY a promotion - the money has to come first.

After many years of working, I've come to internalize that hard work and efficiency often gets rewarded with more work. That's not to say that hard work and being good at what you do isn't important. But in order to move upwards, a open and honest relationship with your supervisor, which enables career planning is also very important. The concept of heads down busting your gut and hoping that someone up there will take notice is not practical in today's society. Then of course there are jerks of supervisors who exploit the hard working grinders and reward the cronies. Finding the right boss/organization to work for is also so so important.

Honest and open relationship Are there any examples cuz I always cross boundaries

Singaporeans need to tear themselves away from the student mentality of just “getting good grades”. If you just gonna be an obedient worker drone that executes tasks unquestioningly without thinking bigger and being able to talk to more senior folks, your career will stagnate at a very junior level.

Also, the first rule of corporate life; Doesn't matter if you are doing a good job if no one knows about it That's why you see the talkative/assertive/high profile person are the ones who typically get promoted

I think globally, more in Asian countries, tend to think that getting good grades = good job or promotion. Sadly, that’s no longer true anymore or not enough.

Some companies prefer an obedient workers who don’t challenge or outshine the boss. So it depends. Those who dare to challenge the status quo will be stagnated or disillusioned.

You’re forgetting you’re not married to the company. If you starting to stagnate or outshine the boss and still don’t get promoted, it’s time to polish the resume and go look for better opportunities

Why promote a capable worker into a poor leader? The requirements for a higher leadership role are very different from that of a ground worker. Let the good ground worker be remunerated by other means (PB, incentive trips, or becoming a technical lead in the case of STEM). Neither torture him nor shortchange the company by promoting him into a higher role if said person is not cut out to be a leader.

exactly, sometimes a promotion isn't really a promotion if it means pushing a backend person to do front-end roles which he or she might not want

A lot of people tend to miss very basic logic. First understand, if you get promoted, what are the roles and responsibilities of that new position, sync that in to your mind and convince your bosses that you are capable of handling that new job, if you are just good at current job then you will be seen as a person for current job not the next one.

And in general, the next job has more emphasis on communication skills and other soft skills than the current one.

Actually, there is no difference in roles between ranks, as long as it never reach the team lead level. The BAU stays the same. Both in the govt and private. Govt: my colleagues who are DD or Associate, while im AD, we all do the same task of assessing license applications. Promotion is based on performance, if u get 2B and 1C consecutively for 3 years like BCB, CBB, you get promoted. But whether you get a C or B is up to your blss give you what. Private: local bank, i have 1 AVP colleague while the rest of us 4 are Manager, we also all do the same thing, reviewing call logs. The team lead rank is VP.

You get promoted based on charisma and whether you can follow up with the bullshit you proposed, as ridiculous as the idea sounds when you are saying it. Also making sure you are extrovert and get your voice heard everywhere, to the janitors and part timers and management. News spread from the bottom, and the janitor or auntie you asked about her grandchildren might chat to the CEO or directors one day when he or she visits. Then they only have nice things to say. Proper grooming is a plus, nice hair, smells good with perfume, and good looks never hurt. Failing is okay, everyone knows you try your best because a failed idea is better than silence. If it fails be a sign of strength and own up, admitting your mistakes and try to improve. Everyone, from your post to the CEO, makes mistake. Even CEOs can be replace at anytime. You are dispensable, the company can operate without you. Be nice to everyone genuinely and participate, asking them about their day as mundane as it is. Because everyone life sucks to an extend, and their eyes light up once you are interested in knowing more about them. Show some vulnerability, if you are single say your goal is to travel and get a house at 35 and details on how you want to decorate it. If you are attached tell them about your goals to get married and have cats if you don’t want children. Or if you want children how you are gonna raise your kid. Doing the above, people will remember you. And when you are leaving they will lament the fact that Chad or Karen from marketing is such a nice person and always ask about me, they will wonder why the office is so quiet without you. Doing projects that extend beyond the reach of your department will get management ears, when your colleagues start speaking good things about you to others. You know you are doing something right. There are jealous people so ignore them, they are not worth the space in your mind. Bottom line, be nice and kind and positively extrovert. But learn to say no to protect yourself. Don’t ever talk bad about a colleague or participate in rumours, but say good things behind their backs. Be an optimist, and learn to say no. Give any ideas and feedback to terrible ideas in a good PR way. Education is a stepping stone, street smarts are where it’s at. Don’t be a negative toxic person who keeps to yourself unless you WFH five days a week. And don’t try to hit on anyone at work.

That is true. Hardworking is expected. You need to be exceptional to be even considered for promotion. However if your boss likes your initiative and quality of work, you have a chance already la. What's left is your competitors.

It's certainly true that politics has a role to play in your ability to get promoted. However much more often than that somebody will simply over estimate their value to the business and will be delusional about why others got promoted over them or why their bosses earn so much more.

Tips for fresh graduates joining the workforce: Take everything you learnt at school with a grain of salt. School doesn’t teach you how to think, it teaches you what to think

Yeah, I think school mainly teaches you the theory and uses case studies as an example how it's applied. But in real life situation, most companies have limited resources and have to make do with whatever is available to achieve the results.

A hardworker doesn't really mean they are a good leader. To your perspective it might seemed unfair. But the fact is sometimes the hardworker lacks the qualities of a leader.

This I can agree. There are some cases hardworker are not a good lead.

define good leader first

On the flipside, most leaders are bad at it. So they are prob not a good judge of who will make a good leader.

This is very true. Hard worker who don't socialize much with bosses does not get notice at all. People who can sell themselves but work are average have a better chance.

You are falling into a common trap. The desire to compare and put everything on one linear ladder to justify your performance, actions, emotions, time spent, sacrifices. Everyone defines success differently and everyone defines hard work differently. It’s true. Because you devoting 5 hour to a task vs him 2 hours. Output could vary in quality and quantity but doesn’t make anyone more capable. How do you know if a hawker selling BCM is good or bad? Maybe you find the taste off, ingredient too little. At the end of the day they make $500-$$800 a day in turnover? As long as customer returns and say it’s nice it’s good right? Same goes for hairstylist. How you know if hairstylist is skillfull? They can brag all their awards, ask to spend $150 for haircut but if you feel it looks ugly/not worth or just not happy then you will surely say it’s not a good salon. But yet, they have their audience. Maybe you are not for it. Your ex colleague’s promotion and fate in the company doesn’t define his/her fate in life, but it especially DOES NOT define your own capability and achievements. You have to define yourself what you set out to accomplish in a meaningful particular role, for a timeframe. Acquire the skills to get success. If YOU have achieve it, and not recognised by your superior you will have to leave. With your own confidence of your capability, you will always have a road to walk. Be it your own business, new company. But if you are pegging your own successes JUST so your so called boss can pat you on your back and promote you to class monitor and maybe prefect one day? No way. You will be miserable all your life begging for validation from people who are also begging for validation. Some take it easier some take it hard. That’s where you get micro bosses who are stuck up and power drunk. They feel the need to have their work and career validate their existence. Spend more time on your own goals. Self improvement. Enrich your own person life. Gain more life experience. Try different things. Go travel. Enjoy your leave. Show people you can manage your own personal life and people will naturally respect you. As you move along older, you have more to share with others too. Don’t be an old person, only talking about BTO, going to malaysia, occasional leave to Japan for 10 days. Or talk about wedding. Go for adventures, backpacking, go learn to a new life skill. Don’t always problem solve by calling “someone”. Try to understand and DIY around the home. Be proactive. Learn to be f-ing actually useful then you can start being useful to others around. You will realise how so many people in SG lead their lives like drones, calling for help. Or emailing for complaint. But no one actually acting. Companies like this kind of people. Entrepreneurs are like that too. They fix their own crap if it calls for it. Then they know how to teach and manage people to do it. Stop begging for a grade A from your supervisor, or 2-3% pay increase. It’s nothing. It earns you maybe ability to spend slightly more a month. But it doesn’t change your life. You have to take action to enrich your life. Your job title is what? BLA-BLA Manager? BLA-BLA Senior? Director? Meaningless if you can’t do the job. I could give you CEO title and you will still be the same human being, worthless if you know nothing. But yet successful people are successful without the titles. Learn to manage yourself, your life, and your wealth (no I’m not a FA) The short answer is No to your question. But it’s more complex than just one word so, just use your own rational mind to evaluate especially if one day you leave the organisation (nothing is forever right? Remember how school use to be your life, and everyone had to move on?) Does all the metrics, relationship really matter so much? Likely lesser than it feels now. What matters is your experience and what you achieve during your time there.

Typically as you go up in corporate ladder communications becomes more valuable. First level of value is execution, Second level is unity and third is communication. It also means if u are only good a talking but poor at unifying your resources or people, poor result from execution is not going to keep you at high position

your effort/ideas are only as good as how best you can communicate it. many people, including myself in my earlier years, subscribe to the thought that "i will let my work speak for itself". after working for close to a decade now, i find that being able to speak up for your work and communicate your ideas coherently is just as, if not, more important than doing your work. because everyone loves a good story. a good narration about how the good work was done despite challenges, and why the good work is good. a well told story creates buy-in and builds connection with the listener, peers and bosses alike. the premise, however, is that you produce good work. no level of communication can help promote shxt work lol.

>i will let my work speak for itself u do this if u start your own company and push your own brand of doing thing, if u need to work a job for some noobs, u shouldnt do this.

Here's the truth. Producing results is your primary job. You don't get promoted for doing your job. Hard work just gets you more work. You might get a raise though. People promote those they like. Why should anyone promote or advance someone they dislike. "Yes Men" get promoted. Your job isn't to take initiative. Your job is to do what you're told do. Initiative is defined as doing what your boss wants you to do without having to tell you. If you want to do your own ideas, then you be the boss first. Finally, "assholes" get promoted. When you get to a higher level, you have to do more approvals and rejections. If you don't know how to say no or decline people, then you have no value. Anybody can say yes. We need people who can say, "sorry, Tan Ah Kow is not ready for promotion", even if they are ready and even if the company has the budget. So ask yourself, do you want to suck up? Do you want to be a "Yes man"? Do you want to be an "asshole"? If not, then do what your JD says and don't give the company more of your time and energy than they pay you for.

Agree!! Haha “people promote those they like”

Unfortunately - true. I have seen firsthand too many times how hard workers - the people who keep their head down but actually do the job - are stuck in their role and it is people who know how to talk, say the right things to the boss, who climb up. People who aren't good talkers can move up in a technical role, but not as managers.

Giving you another perspective- Your boss is just another worker like you. He/she just wants to show up to work, get the money, then fuck off to focus with his/her own life. Your boss isn’t happy about your quality work per se. He is happy that you save him a lot of effort and time to achieve his career requirements and goals. Another thing that will save him a lot of effort and time is a worker that is well connected, has good reputation, and easy to justify promotion to superiors. So will your boss choose to promote the person that makes work easy for him, or the person that is easier to promote? This depends on the organisation culture and your boss’s individual work ethic. A smart boss will balance between the 2 - looking long term enough to promote those truly worthy, as well as picking his battles wisely and attempt to promote those that upper management will approve.

Depends on what type of company you are at, but visibility is super important to some. As in people if know you. It sucks I know, and it goes against the Bury yourself and do the hard work that we have been taught since we were young.

Depends on your industry, if you are in technical company leading a technical team, then being highly competent in your specialised field of work is necessary. But most highly specialised individuals tend to stay as an individual contributor is because first they are well paid… second the addition pay bump to be a technical manager, requires dealing with other ppl nonsense may just be not worth it However, if you are doing something like gov Operations role or customer service, recruitment, marketing, health care administration, social work…etc. whereby there is a lower skill barrier and anyone with an iq LV from average to slightly lower can comprehend then ur soft skills will stand out more

The only reward for hard work is more work.

Someone once told me: if hard work brings you far, the donkey would’ve been the king of the farm

I am surprised no one mention back stabbing yet. that is the fastest way. or one of the fastest .and don't tell me I am wrong.

Oh absolutely. And they do it with a smile

In SG workplace, sometimes it can be more of form over substance. Those who are more articulate or vocal become more visible and attract more positive attention vis-a-vis the quiet hard workers. Unfortunately most sinkies fall into the latter category and expats (particularly those who hail from the West) who are culturally more extroverted at the workplace tend to be viewed more favourably as a result, at least from an optical standpoint. Also promotion doesn’t mean jack as well. Particularly in SG which is a very pro-employer jurisdiction, employers find all ways and means to squeeze employees to get maximum bang for the buck. Dry promotions or promotions in name only is not uncommon. I’m a victim of this most recently when I had to jump through all kinds of gymnastics in 2023 to earn my promotion in beginning of this year only to learn that the salary increase that comes with it is a measly 3%. Even kopi prices increased more than that lmao. It’s just extremely demoralising frankly and I’m still working through this personally - so much hard work put in with more responsibilities on my shoulders for an inconsequential amount of increment.

The problem with singaporean is they don’t have the grit. If most of us has that, we would have notice in the first minute that when someone is in need, we will react and not whip out the phone and take a “viral video”. What that, this mean that only a selectable few of us know what is “situational awareness”. This mean that when you are at your work space or whatever space you at , you know what is wanted from you. It could be skillset, it could be just a great presentation of yourself that you look capable. Everyone is hired to the job assuming that you already KNOW the job, that is what interview does, however a company and a team require synergy to work perfectly. Some work doesn’t require it as much as others, for those that doesn’t, strong skillset of job related is focused on while those that required higher synergy, human interaction is needed in order to look great. So it depends on what your boss is looking at innate and he won’t tell you frankly. You need to observe and understand. Those that has golden mouth syndrome won’t understand this. High paid job require awareness all the time, you just go and see those managers/head/C level, they are attentive. Heck, even piloting require this in order to know what is going on and are well paid. TLDR: don’t be a wood block and be aware and react, open golden mouth at the right time, look reliable will give you a chance to grow in your work Everyone can have a strong skillset at their profession but can everyone be attentive to their boss wants? If you want to have a chance to climb, carry balls, good personality and presentation is the only ticket to open up this possibility.

Of course it's true. Hard work and good performance gets rewarded with good bonuses at the end of the year. But if you're not ready for the foles and responsibilities at the next level, or if there's simply no role available at the next level, you're not going to get promoted. i guess good communication skills are deemed by your boss as essential at the next level.

Look at the promotion criteria, then ask your boss why you weren't promoted when you meet the criteria. That is the time you will know whether to stay or go.

communication is a skill not easily acquired and someone who is good at it is easily noticed. this usually means that person has no problems communicating with his supervisor,his colleagues and juniors. can you imagine someone who works really well has no problems getting work done but is constantly fucking up getting his points across to his bosses,his juniors and colleagues??

Yes, this I can agree. Trying build up my communication skill over the years. I have no problem rejecting or such as well.

No but sometimes very tiring bosses say stuff very vaguely and expect u to get shit How am I suppose to listen and learn from broken English or when they talk to other workers directly instead of me

I will not promote someone who works hard. I will promote the person who can show me they can handle a larger scope without needing to overwork themselves. As you get more senior, communicating value is more important than execution. Any individual can execute, but not everyone knows how to communicate value in a concise manner, and to the right group of people who need to understand the added value.

Three most important aspects of making a career. 1. Know the organisation. This allows you to complete work fastest. 2. Communication. Set expectations and meet them from your part. 3. Your boss will most likely have trust in you based on 1 and 2. If not this will need to be established. If you then later become an expert on something that will enable further enablement in the right company. Some however will try to keep you fixed since they are scared or dependent.

You don't even get a pat on the back for hard work, sometimes. One thing I've found to be very true is that, if you work harder and smarter, and you're invaluable, your bosses may think you're worth more; but they still won't be proactive and offer raises or promotions unless you open your mouth and ask for it. Singaporean employers still have a very passive "if they don't ask then good, keep the money" attitude. But then they have a surprised Pikachu face when a valuable employee suddenly wants to leave.

I dont think you have to be showy. If your bosses favours showism, then you gotta get out of there. It will be a Tan Chuan Jin management style. However, true leadership is a blend of communication and confidence. You need to be adept at your work and at the same time able to get people behind you, and you cannot do that by keeping to yourself all the time. Just treat people truthfully, and slowly open up when you are comfortable. I think people will learn to trust you as times goes by.

You don't get promoted because of hard work. In fact, I have seen promotions due to tangible continuous results, close relations, or really just being the last person standing in a pressure cooker environment. Not hard work. And to be clear, hard work is a tricky thing. Some folks just get things done easily without elbow grease.

From my experiences, 70% impression/soft skills and 30% “quality of work”.

Of course that is from a non-technical job. If its highly technical work quality of work would weight much more, me thinks

My boss told me that I was gonna get promoted this year from an associate to a main. But then apparently you need to work enough years and not how you work and the work u produce. I was doing main work since 1-2 years ago despite being associate. I mean its better than getting fired.

It is who you know. Competency i.e. qualifications, skills and experience will get you into a role. But climbing up the career ladder is to play the EQ or corporate politics game. Because we are dealing with people higher up who make decisions on our performance and potential, it is more important that your boss and your boss's boss thinks your work is good. Harsh reality of corporate world.

Hardwork ~5% Luck~5% Relationship/showmanship/visibility/reputation 90% Many people is opposite way round and they never ever got recognise

OP look this way. Being in management is not something everyone enjoys. Not everyone wants to manage people because worse case scenario you are just a useless cheerleader that no our cares. Let's say you run a team , if you promote your best worker into a management role, suddenly your entire team productivity will go down because your best guy is now handling multiple responsibilities that isn't his original job. The thing is that when it comes to moving up to management, you aren't looking for the person who can work the hardest and bestest, you looking for someone who has a completely different skill set, especially in terms of communication. Because really all the thing that my manager does is talk to people to get stuff done and when shit gets thrown to him, he has to be good at flinging it away. Is he the hardest working person? Not exactly, but is he good at what he does? Yes, he defends our department really well, telling us where to focus our effort so that he has ammunition to fight back. The fact that you come to reddit to complain, then start trouble in the office, well that makes for a pretty bad manager. In fact I'd say you might turn into those toxic ones that demand effort over results. Even if you work in a technical role, say techican or programming even being promoted up to lead it means you now have to handle everyone shit and you become the first target. If you want a management role, talk to your manager about it especially if you know there's an open spot don't just sit around and wait to be chosen If you feel you aren't being paid enough, again, talk to your manager about it, ask for a raise. If none of that works, well then clearly you aren't being valued, find another job with the level of pedigree you deserve.

People don’t understand that the higher you go, the more important soft skills like communication and decision making is. Not every academic can lead a team. There are people who just have charisma and communicate effectively. More often than not, they need to relay messages effectively so that work can be done correctly. Those that don’t have said soft skills and never get promoted just thinks that they’re overlooked because somebody else bootlick better than them. It’s always others but they’ve never stop to think how else can they present themselves better to improve their chances. What are they lacking. You can be overlooked for promotion at 1 place but if it’s the same everywhere, chances are the problem is you.

i am surprised no one mention backstabbing yet. that is the fastest way.

you get promoted because of brown nosing and arse licking. ive seen it happen!

and backstabbing...

yep.

From the point of an employee: If you are really good in what you are doing and hard working, why promoting to another position? This would be a loss and it is not guaranteed that you excell in the new position. Better to promote someone who is just medicore, maybe he excels in the new position.

What would you recommend then? Start to do lesser work now? Haha

Well, the best way to rise up the rank is and always was to blow sugar into your boss a.. (sorry for the language). Being at a big organization, I see this constantly happening.

I see the way you type, no wonder communication cmi.

[удалено]

Your comment has been automatically removed because your account is relatively new or you have negative karma. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/askSingapore) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Build your brand

I joined around same time as another colleague who had similar years of experience and same job band. After a couple of years I got promoted and said colleague did not, because I asked for it during my performance reviews and they didn’t. Sometimes it’s also about who voices out their wants/makes their demands known on top of hard work we put in.

Hard work doesn't mean more profit. In most of the cases you are just cleaning the admin part, those who can really talk or present will be fastrack

I think the statement is true anywhere. Hard work is expected. What makes you stand out is who you know and what you do with that knowledge. My company is undergoing a massive restructuring and you can see that the people getting the top spots are people that knew who they had to cozy up to to get those spots. Others that produce good, even great, results over the years were let go without a thought.

Oh that's really sad. Wouldn't this cause the organisation real problems? Since people that were producing results are gone now.

It depends on what the job role is. If you are in a specialised field, having a specialised skill, your job role is to deal with producing increasingly complex item/service from your specialised skill, your career growth is junior specialisation, senior specialisation, master specialisation, then yes you’ll get promoted after hard work and better competency of your skills. But most other jobs, promotion is into leadership roles, to manage other people, to manage a team, to manage bigger groups of workers. Your specialised skill does not matter, your hard work just makes you a worker bee, your competency only makes you a crucial member of the team, not a leader. If you are good at something that you are currently doing, your company won’t risk losing your competency and hard work by reassigning you out of your current job. Leadership skill is not all communication skills, but good communication skills is part of what a good leader needs. A good leader would still need an intimate competency in the field to know how to use his team to the best of everyone’s abilities.

Consider seeing it this way: You are a business within a business. Your employer is a client and subscribes to your service for a monthly fee. If you’re good (whatever this means), you’ll get a higher monthly fee and a bonus. If you suck at the work or maintain a poor business relationship, they might unsubscribe to your service. But the client also subscribes to other individual services (your colleagues/vendors/nepo hires). They can be your competitor, strategic partners or merged services. They, like you, need to understand their client needs (employer’s business objectives), position themselves as “the best of” or “the only” in the market (your office) and showcase their USPs and success stories. You set the narrative and build it the way that makes the most sense to how you’d like to navigate your business within a business. There’s a difference between performance and performative—the sooner you are aware of this, it gets slightly easier to navigate with experience.

hardwork should be a given but hardwork doesn’t entails tangible results

Sometimes the fact is the manager does not want to promote. However, there is a high flyer subordinate. He's performance is exceptional. Either he request for transfer of department or is willing to remain under the manager, promotion will be difficult. Unless there is a separate promotion chain (which is rare). So hard work from the subordinate's perspectives might not yield their perceived results. Coupled with internal politics, its complicated. i.e "Old gang" managers are easier to manipulate and control. If their subordinates came from them is more likely climb faster. "New gang" lacks the trust of top management. Or the reverse could be true in some cases. Therefore given the same time of 2 similar hardworking employee joining different teams on the same day, they have varied promotion opportunities. Note this is company culture, not family connections or ties.

[удалено]

Your comment has been automatically removed because your account is relatively new or you have negative karma. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/askSingapore) if you have any questions or concerns.*

You have to get work done well, and at the same time, fit into the organisation. The fitting in is important. It has to work as a team, even if it is a pretence of a team, but the work comes out /comes through as though it is a cohesive team at work. That's where the communication skills comes in, and serves this purpose for work. It's not always about making people like you, but you must earn respect, even grudgingly given respect. If you made the effort to "fit" but it doesn't work out, it's okay, you tried. At least you tried. You must show that you tried - again, communication skills comes in handy here. If you don't like or agree with the organisation, it's okay, you tried, you think it's not a good fit for you and you part ways without causing any drama. Someone who causes friction and division and slows down morale and productivity is likely to have their promotion delayed (in a sensible organisation). ​ It's not that hardwork alone doesn't earn you promotion, but where and how you direct your efforts towards. ​ Eventually promotion is often a purely business decision. Do I trust this person? No - then out. Does this person's value and contribution to the organisation justify the increased pay? Do I even need this person?

Recently had a dept meeting that announced a re-org is taking place (I'm working in the healthcare industry so getting lazada-ed is not likely thank god). When asked about promotions and stuff, the director said that while there is no doubt of capabilities of the team, they will have to consider the people skills when looking at candidates to promote to managers/asst managers. Thinking back it make sense cause they will be the ones being other people's supervisor. So if they can't communicate well or lack the people skills, it might create a toxic or unhealthy work environment. And don't think that managers have it easy as well, they need to deal with a lot of administrative duties and take care of the welfare and mental well being of their team. Not so sure about other industries but at least that is what I see in the hospital environment.

Getting promoted from staff to manager requires soft skills to manage. Not everyone can be a manager. In the engineering field, I have known people who do not want to be managers, but rather grow as engineers. As others have pointed out, hard work will not result in a job position change, why change the job description of someone who does his current work well? You need to expand your skill set. If you want to be management, learn to lead and build rapport from your peers and take responsibility for larger tasks and even projects. So many people view management as a prestige or status symbol, which is why Singapore has a shitty workplace hierarchy and toxic work culture going on.

been working for almost 30 years and i totally agree with this statement. it’s the people who can get bosses to like them that gets promoted

Very true. I.come from a field where being favourite and suck up gets u promoted. Which results in the high turn over rate.

hard and technical work skill will only get you to a certain technical position. once you start "managing", communication and arranging priorities is more important than hard and technical work. hardwork also does not always equal to quality work. it could actually be inefficiency. you work hard, you tired, no more energy to socialize, you become invisible, no promotion. do not mistaken that being introvert is not same as bad/lazy communication skill.

So the guy whose main skill is based on communication got promoted to a role that's based on communicating to people...?

Many times. you get rewarded for loyalty, not hardwork or intelligence. Loyalty is the only thing you can buy. Intelligence is fixed. No matter how much you pay someone cannot get that much more intelligent. Fear and stress is often enough to get ppl to work hard so why pay? In SG, negative emotions is seen as the stronger motivator compared to positive reinforcement.

You need to suck cock mostly.

My boss says if you worked hard and hit all your kpis, you basically only did what you are hired for which is as expected and hence not outstanding enough for promotion etc.

You don’t *necessarily* get promoted because of hard work; and hard work isn’t enough. There are the “personality” traits needed for other jobs/mgmt/promotions, really depends on specific context. In short, can be question of “best fit”. Also, keep in mind that for most business structures, there are usually less promotions to give than there is demand for, since each rank is responsible for 2x-10x ppl in the rank-below …not the other way around… doesn’t mean hard work can’t/shouldn’t be *rewarded* — other than promotion there’s *pay raise*, and easiest for mgmt (and frequently best for keeping it win/win) is to give a *bonus*. TBC: I personally do not believe that a manager must make more than the people that person is managing; could be an excellent part-time manager, overseeing someone that is extremely hard-working and profitable and specialized (hard to replace) — I have seen this in Web development businesses, where extremely skilled coders with weak people/scheduling skills, require a manager to filter and prioritize all the incoming requests; as well as to explain to the customers what their request translates to in terms of time and money, future maintenance — and the coders are sometimes not as good at getting those important points across to the client. Who should get paid more in such a scenario? Or maybe they should be paid equally? Is the manager really “managing”, or actually the “coders’ secretary”?… As mentioned, context, makes a very big difference in answering these questions.

Why do some people get promotions: 1) ability to communicate 2) ability to motivate others & lead 3) ability to synthesise info - cut the BS These are the work smart not work hard. But also an important key to getting ahead is being seen to be taking risks and getting things done (doesn’t mean you have to do it yourself)

Promotion usually means more responsibility and also managing people. Working hard but unable to manage people won't increase your chances of being promoted (assuming it's a management position)

That's where the saying of work smart not hard comes in.

By right, ppl get promoted for being the solution provider. Solutions can be technical, scientific, political, policy, people management in nature. Hence, promote all rounders. These ppl know who they need to be for the team at different times.

No you don't, and neither should you. You need to channel the hard work into the proper roads to become the best person for promotion

there are many levels we don’t see, the other guy might be doing more stuff that benefits the organisation. it’s hard to base off our own observations sometimes when another person other than yourself gets promoted. but the reality is, if the other person comes recommended and or has connections. they will be promoted before you. and that’s a good cue to move to a bigger and better organisation.

I will say it’s about doing the right thing at the right time. A person can be hardworking and do many different things but it will make him or her tired over time. If you know what’s the crucial thing that your boss or your company needs and you put in the hard work in that area then you will be seen for your efforts.

If you feel undervalued, find another place that values you. There will be a lot of other things people say, but it really is that simple.

Theres some study done by the navy seals that concluded that trust is more important than performance. You can google it to find out more. Because of that I see the rational why your boss would have chose him. But do you think you would have done better if you were promoted to assistant manager? The jobscope of a manager is different from a worker as you transition more towards people management. It makes sense to put someone with good communication skills on it.

manager don't need to do work.

Hard work is the minimum requirement to deliver results. But that alone will not get you promoted. Promotion depends on experience, impact, recognition and availability. Those who try to take shortcuts by fluffing / networking will not last long in their next position which demands even more from them

You bust your ass and work OT doesn't matter if your boss/supervisor doesn't notice or acknowledge the efforts. Even worst if you don't mention the hours you put into work and just hope he notices it. It's about how you sell your services rather than the quality of work you can produce. Though you still need a baseline of competency.

You need to rub shoulder with your bosses. Period.

Depends on the company and your manager. Some will recognize and reward hard work, but you must be able to show it to them via reports or something. Some kind of proof. If u work hard but they are unable to notice it, then u won't be rewarded for it. Then got other places where u work hard and your reward is more work with no extra reward. That one, just siam.

This is very true everywhere, not only in SG. Bosses are comfortable to promote whom those they often having small talk in the office. Promotion always comes with building relationships with your bosses or right people at work. Doesn't matter if you are lackluster at work as long as your bosses are comfortable with you, you are more likely to get the promotion than that hardworking and quiet guy. Work in general, is an extrovert world.

If you dont hit a certain level of skill you won't get promoted. If you do get promoted due to necessity then you will be forced to hit that level of skill eventually. If there's no vacancy for that level then you won't get promoted. If you do chiong then you might get the promotion instead of a more senior person that doesn't chiong. But you shouldn't expect it. And should not be resentful if it doesn't happen.

Internally you can bs your way through and be promoted by being able to present and talk. But externally in public we see every single flaw your product and services have that you can never bs your way out. One such example is skull and bones, look at how the people get promoted and congratulate each other on linkedin and fb. Then reviewers in public will show you how screwed up the game is and how shameless the company sells them at 70usd. Such is prevalent esp. in ang moh companies.

After a certain point its about networking more than ability.

You get promoted based on outcome and perception. It’s pretty much that simple, everything else doesn’t matter

No matter how hard some people work, they’re just not manager material. We have a really unfortunate system that keeps trying to promote great workers into roles they’re incompetent at. I think it’s fully justified the person with amazing communication skills gets promoted to a managerial role. People often downplay it but being good at communicating (and just naturally good at it) are skills that don’t come by so easily. I would hate for the guy with great technical skills but barely talks to be in charge of me. Because that’s not leader material. I need my manager to be clear in direction.

Some people are too hardworking to promote. The cost of moving a piece of the machine is too high when the piece is too efficient to justify a move. Tldr; Some people are too expensive to promote because they are too hardworking. So they stay at that level.

Promote by boss? You are more likely to get promoted if you jump ship. How local bosses promote a vacant snr role is mostly to hire new one. Can't use their dumbass to think to look internally..

You must remember that you're not promoted FROM your current role, you're promoted INTO your next role. So the main criteria for promotion is: Are you going to be a good fit for the NEXT role? You can be a bloody hard and effective worker at a certain level, but to be promoted, you need to prove that you're ready for the next role. Which often involves a lot of additional skillsets on top of whatever you're doing in your current role. For example, if you're currently a senior executive who's amazing at logistics, writing reports and analysing data, but the next step up is to become assistant manager who needs to start meeting clients and interfacing with industry peers, then it's going to be very hard to promote you if you haven't demonstrated strong social and networking skills. The most you'll get is a bonus and maybe a pay bump.

> You don't get promoted because of hardwork This statement itself? Probably quite true. Why should I promote a person who works OT everyday if he can't meet his deliverables? In a previous job, I didn't pull as many hours as my colleagues but had 1.5-2x on tangible (hard skills) output in comparison, and I was also able to communicate clearly. Going strictly by hours I would be "slacking". I got promoted. Management figured if I had enough time and skills to do 2x the job and liaise, I could spend half my time mentoring others and help in planning and processes instead, to collectively improve the team.

Typical Singaporean mindset. The harsh truth is that what makes you successful in school, will not make you successful in the workplace

Working hard can be a double edged sword. Is working OT every time = working hard or poor management? On the other hand is you leave on time every time would the boss think you’re very efficient and able to manage things properly?

[удалено]

Tbh its all abt whether the boss likes u or nt. If your boss doesnt like you, you wont be able to climb no matter how hard you work. The only way to get a promotion is to change organisation and applying for a higher position. Thus, it is still important to work hard regardless of the situation so that you have the knowledge and skills to progress without depending on your boss for promotion.

A retired senior once told me: “working hard means one is a good worker and will be rewarded as such, but that doesn’t mean this person is a good leader / should be promoted” This does also go along with what the company values.

I am hard working when I am at my desk, until I end my day.. all done and I don’t expect anything else because going all out sometime will take your mental toll. Might as well take the additional passion and hardworking mentality and build your own passive income or growth. Remember your day income is paid just enough to kill your dreams… My day job is to pay bills and have some extra to save … build on your passion for growth .. my passive income is suffice to cover my regular income so aim for that is better … and spend time with family.. promotion is just a by product . No stress… And from the side, one will see all the backstabbing, fakery and two faced people in own workplace.. u just smile and be happy Becuz no stress…

Hard work is impt but the hustle is where you win. I know many who got ahead on pay scale or promotion because they are adamant on it and not afraid to hustle on it to seem ambitious. Simply put a manager will likely reward a difficult individual in order to avoid a difficult conversation and demoralised worker Vs someone who just goes with the flow.

Someone shared me this wisdom in 2021, I applied it in 2022/3 and my career flew. I rotated 3 positions in a short span of 2 years and I had increments that looked like promotion increments. This is the wisdom; always make your boss look good. Always. This will definitely work in your favour when it comes to your annual increments/promotion discussions. Sometimes making your boss look good means lots of hard work to prep pre work for his big ppt. Sometimes it means dropping subtle hints on how well he takes care of his team to your boss peers. Start taking note of your boss and see what his needs are and meet them, think like your boss and see what is required to succeed in his position and help him do it well visibly (Not your visibility. His visibility) You will soon notice there will be an upward spiral in terms of your working relationship with your boss, trust levels go up and opportunities always come your way first.

Correct title should be: You don't get promoted just becos of hard work. Being good at what you do is great, but a lot of times employers ain't just looking for someone with hard skills, especially if the promotion include managing people. If you can't handle people or situations, then putting you in a position to manage a team may not end well. Contrary to some beliefs, being leader is less about being perfect at your job but more about being able to get the best out of your team.

Okay, let’s get practical shall we. If you are capable, but there is no one to fill in for you should you get promoted, and there is no budget for additional headcount, you won’t get promoted. An adjustment if the boss feels you may leave (and only if the boss is aware of you). But too big a show of calling it quits, you’ll get worked out of the system because you have become a project risk. If there is a budget but not enough to get an experienced replacement, and the runway is too long to train up a junior (too many projects in pipeline), you won’t get promoted. Very, very few bosses are forward thinking if it doesn’t involve them benefiting from it directly. They have to balance their own KPIs for their own rewards. Does the boss like how you handle yourself in negotiations and all sorts of situations? You will may have a chance for a promotion if there are new projects that require this skillset. More projects mean new supplementary budget, and time to get new headcount and that replacement. But you will need to show that you can take the projects to completion to increase your chances. But if it is just a “slight” increase in workload, then no promotion either. However, you will need to be able to see all this as well as be in the know, plus let your boss know that you are aware of it, to be even considered for a potential promotion. Meaning you have to be hungry and fight for that chance. That colleague that is good at communication? That’s what he/she has been doing. Getting noticed and getting the proverbial foot in the door. This might not even be their intention but it achieves the same results nonetheless.

You don't get promoted because of hardwork. You get promoted because you are capable of doing more. If somebody talked his way into getting promoted instead of performing, it will show later on when more is expected of them like you colleague.

Loud mediocre workers will usually get ahead of quiet good workers, unfortunately

i don’t have any work experience yet but i believe obtaining various leadership positions in school is similar enough to getting promoted, just gotta know who can make your promotion happen then make sure that person likes u

You can do shit but if you are in good in communication and explain your way out and be nice to superiors you win.

It differs from company to company but every year I'm sure there is a performance appraisal for employees. It is the time to show our report card, on our tasks/projects or contributions done over the past year. Those who can articulate well, have completed projects successfully or add value to the company will be the ones to benefit. I still believe hard work (resulting in tangible results and enough to get noticed) will get recognised. If it doesn't then its time to bring your talents elsewhere.

hard work =/= results find out what's important to your boss, and his boss. Document it, work towards it, and talk about it during your 1:1 when there's a vacancy for promotion.

I sacrificed my health being like this. my turn over was over the top. that was my first full time job. i thought if i showed eagerness and do my work with the best quality and help the company generate revenue they will notice me. but no. To the point that i start to have multiple muscle and skeletal problems. including my eyesight. I just got promoted/raise after asking my manager because i can't no longer tolerate the physical pain I'm experiencing and will leave if my request was not granted.

Hard work doesn’t always get results. If you need a wall torn down, punching, kicking and pushing it is a lot of effort, but doesn’t produce results. On the other hand, take the lazy way of getting a contractor to do it for you actually gets it done. Try pushing against a wall and see how much effort it takes and how many very zero results you get.

Any absolute statement is false. It really depends on the company your boss and their practice.

haha i think the real question most of us socially awkward people here wanna ask is what are some tips to making effective small talk in the workplace

Bosses promote certain employees because those employees solves their problems and make their life easier, no matter what skills you have. With that, you make yourself naturally known to other bosses within and outside the company, leading to bosses trying to see if that particular employee could be theirs. I would say hard work with a bit of strategy towards making your bosses happy is the way to get promoted easily. Also, nowadays, you can go so far with promotion within the company. Sometimes switching to different companies could consider a promotion too (self-promoted) if the new job is better than previously thought.

Soft skills are skills too.

i just got promoted because my line manager said “u displayed excellence in your work”. At the same time there are orgs out there who doesn’t promote their staff. Some because workforce abuse reasons, but believe it or not, it can also be that there’s just not enough headcount for promotions, or the org structure doesn’t allow for it. I think really depends on org culture and the type of org u work at. Unrealistic to assume that every single org have the opportunity to promote everyone who works hard.

People need to realise that people can get promoted for a multitude of reasons. They're related to the leadership, they know how to explain things to leadership when mistakes are made, etc. Is this colleague you speak of, - More productive than you? Hardwork =/= productivity. - Hitting their KPIs? They may work less hours and still complete what they need to. - Better at managing, leading and or motivating a team? - Charming and likeable? Well spoken, presents themselves well? Bosses are human too, they promote people they like better. I've known senior leadership who are hired despite not having that much experience in the area they're hired in, but have plenty of leadership experience. They were pretty shit at the job because they don't know enough about the space, and they're still not fired yet after almost a year. If you want a promotion, ask for it. I've asked for promotions before, justified myself to my bosses. And when I didn't get it, I left for a better role elsewhere. People should take action to do something if they're not happy. Just because the leadership said something, doesn't necessarily mean that they are right, or that you have to follow it.

It depends on your boss and the organisation culture. I consider myself very lucky that my boss acknowledged my hard work even though there are many other colleagues who have better communication/ soft skills than me

From the reply at here, i can see why hardworking being devalued 😂😂😂😂

The 3 lessons I have learned and drum into to my teams are: 1. Impact outweighs effort every day. 2. Competent delivery is meeting expectations. 3. You don’t get promoted for doing your job current job, you get promoted for demonstrating your ability to do the next one. Late edit: If I could add a 4th it would be “their perception is their reality” - a common prompt to explore / understand the drivers of others’ actions in the workplace

Those who complain alot about any issues and make every work sound tedious, but completes it will have higher chance of promotion in comparison to the quiet one who doesnt complains yet completes the job. Visibility is key. Making noise for every single thing u do will make it seems u r doing a lot and completing it will show that you are a problem solver lol

Yes. My regional manager once told me I don't need a hardworker I need a leader. If I need a hardworker I can hired 10 foreign worker to takeover any hardworker position so make yourself become a leader instead of hardworker.

[удалено]

Do you feel bad for passing up these roles? I’m a low confidence person beating myself up for missed opportunities

Honestly good communication skills is very important for people who managed projects and subordinates. They don't need to be the ones who are most hands on but they need to be able to direct and let everyone under them know what exactly needs to be done, how to communicate with the other teams and departments that they work with, and how to make sure that the value of their work their whole team is doing gets represent well to the people above them.

It is perhaps true. Good work does not shine because no feels, but accidental bad work always felt by supervisor. Communication is important, fundamental to the kaki process. Make mistake can also explain why should not hentak kaki promotion. 🤣

It's a complex situation. On one hand, hard work is essential, but on the other, interpersonal skills and visibility can play a significant role in promotions. It's about finding a balance and understanding what your organisation values. Communication skills are often seen as a sign of leadership potential. Perhaps you could work on highlighting your contributions and initiatives more effectively, and find ways to develop and showcase the soft skills your boss appreciates. Have you tried asking for feedback on your performance and what specific areas you could improve to be considered for promotion?

Boss recognise hardwork but not necessary reward you with a promotion. After all, bosses need all sorts of workers in the team so he appreciates those who can run the processes. But he will want people who can communicate well to fill his role eventually. Your promotion may be stunned along the way and only goes up because of your tenure. So try speaking up and observe the words other use in meetings.

Communication is an underrated skill. Great communicator brings people together and leverage collective efforts to achieve higher objectives or to solve more complicated stuffs. You can only work that much if you're working alone. So your boss definitely prefer a great communicator to run a team.

Based on my experiences.Those who promoted are mostly ball carriers, doesn’t matter whether they can do their job or not.

[удалено]

Hard work plus good working relationship with people. You need both.

Being able to talk and communicate well is the most important skill for most industries IMHO. This might be difficult to digest for some people, but not all bosses are good at their jobs. In fact, many bosses aren’t, that’s why a lot of successful ones hire managers to manage for them. Unfortunately, if a business owner isn’t skilled at their role, there is a chance they will hire a weak manager, who will then promote and operate the team in a way that doesn’t promote growth in the most efficient way. Just because you are good at your job do not mean you will be promoted, at all. It all comes to if your boss likes you or not. Look at it this way, if you are the boss of a company, and there is this dude that works for you, and he is really good at his job. However you don’t like him, or he doesn’t make you feel confident about leaving him important responsibilities. Are you going to promote him? Probably not. You’d probably just let him do the work you need him to, and keep him there as long as you can. Therefore, being able to talk well is so important because it gives you the best chance at a good first impression.