Understand the responsibility you are seeking
Review the next role with your manager or the hiring team. Identify what changes in scope: decisions, delivery, people leadership or coordination. Strong performance in your current role is useful evidence, but it does not automatically explain readiness for every new responsibility.
Prepare examples that connect to the actual role. Avoid guessing at a hidden promotion formula or presenting an AI practice score as proof that you should be promoted.
Build a contribution record
For each example, note the goal, your responsibility, a decision you made, the people involved and the outcome. Separate your work from the team's collective result. Include feedback or observations you can accurately describe.
- Which responsibility in the new role does this experience address?
- What did I decide or change personally?
- What constraint or disagreement did I handle?
- What evidence supports the result?
- What have I not yet had the opportunity to do?
Prepare for a first management role
A project coordination example can demonstrate influence and judgment without being people management. Say whether you assigned work, coached someone, owned a deadline or managed direct reports. These are different responsibilities.
If you lack an experience, identify what you would need to learn and ask about the support available. Honest boundaries make the discussion more useful than inflating your leadership scope.
Rehearse the conversation
Practise an introduction to your case and one detailed example. Ask a partner to question your decision or the scope of your contribution. Revise the part that remains unclear, then try a fresh question.
This preparation can also help organise a performance review or development discussion. JobACE's feedback concerns what your answers demonstrate; promotion decisions remain with the organisation.