Ways to ask about moving up in the company

[TheRacer02]

I switched jobs in Dec from a CNC machine shop where i was at for about 7 years to a very large dealership/auto mall i work for land-rover at the auto complex. I was working full time at the last shop and everything was ok with the pay, just was a dead end job. So went to school and graduated and now working as a tire tech part time, cut my income in half if not more. So basically i am asking is it ok to shoot my boss an email and ask how can i move up with in the company or if i can do something to move up faster? or is there a better way?

[Diamond Dave]

So basically i am asking is it ok to shoot my boss an email and ask how can i move up with in the company or if i can do something to move up faster? or is there a better way?

No it's not OK to do that by email. What, are you some kind of shy girl?

Also, what do you envision moving "up to" at a tire shop? Do you want to work at a tire shop or "this" tire shop for the next 5yrs?

Ask to speak with your boss during a time of day or week when the pace of the shop has slowed down. Tell him you really like working there and you are interested in helping out more in other areas. and NO you don't want more $$$ for this learning.

Things to do after that:
Work your ass off every day for your entire shift, always be the first volunteer for the crappy jobs, always have a great attitude, always come to work 10mins early (without clocking in), always make customers feel like they are getting great service, take pride in your workplace and keep it clean and clean up after others that leave a mess.

[TheRacer02]

The reason why I said Email is because that is the preferred way of communication at the dealership and it's not a tire shop it's a land-rover dealership I'm just a tire tech I'm 25 and feel way behind in life this is why I'm looking to start moving up I work my ass off everyday and they know I do.

[Diamond Dave]

The reason why I said Email is because that is the preferred way of communication at the dealership and it's not a tire shop it's a land-rover dealership I'm just a tire tech I'm 25 and feel way behind in life this is why I'm looking to start moving up I work my ass off everyday and they know I do.

I don't care if you're 5years old or 105 years old, email is for unique communication unrelated to "can you promote me to a position of greater importance and compensation?"

When I was your age (wow, did I just say that), we took time out of our day to speak with people in person. When you are asking someone to do something for you, you need to expend effort to aid in demonstrating your level of interest. When you speak with someone in person you get a strong sense of the mood, personality, and physical reactions to the things you are saying in real time. It allows you to adjust your delivery accordingly.

Lastly, "moving" up at a car dealer is almost an oxymoron. I'm sorry, but talk about a crappy, dead end job with zero transferable skills. Granted, I only worked in the detail shop of a VW/Mazda/Volvo/Nissan dealer for 2yrs, but I can tell you, aside from some memorable stories of "how not to do things in business" I can't say I've ever leveraged the fact that I worked at a dealer outside of shooting the sh!t with the chuckleheads on TCL.


If you feel "way behind in life" it's because your expectations exceed your ability. How much school do you have since high school? That's probably the greater indicator of your future success. Until you have bankable skills like a 4yr degree, you will feel just like you do today in 20yrs; like you're living below your potential. It takes years of hard work in crappy jobs before you build up the set of career skills necessary to take you where you want to go. Believe me, the rest of the folks at that LR dealership aren't having discussions about their future. They're talking about how much OT they'll work this month so they can buy their fishing boat.

[ejmac]

Email is not the way to ask for a promotion. If your boss is that hard to track down you can get some background info by asking people that are higher up in the company how they got there. But honestly if you are going to ask your boss for anything, raise, promotion, vacation or even expect to have a decent career at the company you will have to be able to talk to the boss face to face. If he's a busy guy/girl just ask him/her whats the best time to ask him a quick question.

[TheRacer02]

Yeah I figured face to face would be the right way. This is the biggest company I've worked for so I don't really understand the corporation ways yet I mean the last shop had 6 people and 3 of us were not family.

[Steveo989]

When you are saying you went to school and graduated, are you saying that you got your GED or BA? There's a huge difference. The GED/HS diploma is basically a thank you card for coming to school enough; everyone has one too, so it's impossible to stand out. I cannot really think of anything at a dealership that you can move up to really, with the exception of being a service writer, but I think most dealers want you to get your 2 year degree in that field. Of course, if you want to eventually manage the entire dealer or something, you are going to need a BA/BS at least, and likely a MS/MBA/Etc.