Help me make my case for a promotion. I want to walk in with evidence, not a feeling.
CURRENT LEVEL + TARGET LEVEL: {e.g. Senior_to_Staff}
DISCIPLINE: {eng / pm / design / etc.}
TIME IN CURRENT ROLE: {months}
LAST PERFORMANCE REVIEW: {rating + 2-line summary}
3-5 SPECIFIC IMPACT MOMENTS in last 12 months (the receipts): {paste — projects + outcomes + metrics}
WHAT 'NEXT LEVEL' MEANS IN MY COMPANY (your read of the ladder): {what next-level people do that I don't yet}
GAP AREAS — be honest with me: {where_you're_still_growing}
MANAGER STANCE: {already_supportive / neutral / unclear / pushed_back_before}
COMP CONVERSATION OR NOT: {asking for title + comp / title now, comp at next cycle / wanting to know rough number}
MY ASK: {promotion at next cycle / now / by certain date}
BUILD:
1. **A 1-page promotion case** structured as:
- Outcome statement (1 sentence — the bet you're asking them to make).
- 3 'I already operate at next level' evidence sections, each tied to a specific moment.
- 1 'gap I'm closing this quarter' section — pre-empts the objection.
- 1 'this is what the company gets' section — business case from their angle.
2. **The 1:1 opener** — 3 sentences to start the conversation.
3. **The follow-up email** after the conversation — captures what was agreed, dates, what's next.
4. **A response to 'not this cycle, but soon'** — what to ask for in writing.
5. **A response to 'you need to do X first'** — how to negotiate a specific, measurable X (not 'show more leadership').
6. **What to do if it's a clear no** — burn no bridges, plant a stake.0 copies·0 saves·2 views
277 words·1,587 chars
Sample output
Senior to Staff engineer, 22 months in role, last review: 'Exceeds at Senior.' Impact: (1) led architecture redesign for service that handles 60% of traffic; (2) mentored 3 junior engineers, 2 promoted; (3) cross-team RFC for migration that cut incident rate 40%. Gap: hasn't owned a multi-team initiative end-to-end. Manager supportive but said 'next cycle.' Want title + 15% comp.
1-page promotion case (Notion doc, share with manager 5 days before 1:1):
Outcome: I'm requesting promotion to Staff Engineer at the next review cycle (April 2026). This memo lays out the evidence I'm already operating at that level, the gap I'm closing, and what continued investment in me delivers to the company.
1. Architectural ownership beyond my service Project: Order Service redesign (Apr-Oct 2025) Led the redesign that now handles 60% of company traffic. Defined the migration plan, ran the RFC, owned the rollout window. Outcome: p99 latency dropped from 870ms → 340ms; on-call pages from this service down 65% QoQ. Staff-level expectation = 'designs and de-risks systems that the team will depend on for years.' Done.
2. Leverage through mentorship 3 direct mentees (Jul 2024-present) Mentored 3 engineers; 2 promoted to mid-level in the last cycle, 1 receiving an Exceeds rating last review. I run weekly office hours for the broader team (avg attendance 6). Staff-level expectation = 'force-multiplies the team.' Evidence: 2/3 mentees explicitly cited my support in their promotion docs.
3. Cross-team influence Migration RFC (Sep 2025) Wrote the RFC that aligned 4 services across 3 teams to a new event-routing pattern. Negotiated tradeoffs with the platform team. Outcome: incident rate down 40% across the affected teams. Staff-level expectation = 'drives technical alignment outside the immediate team.' Done.
Parameters
Text generation parameters
FAQ
Bring the 1-pager 5 days early. Promotion managers say 'no' more often when surprised in the meeting. Reading time before reduces gut reactions. The prompt targets Claude Sonnet and lives in the Personal & Career category on mycopyprompt.
This prompt is written for Claude Sonnet. It's a text/chat prompt — paste it into Claude Sonnet (or compatible LLMs like Claude or GPT-4) to get the expected output.
1. Click the Copy button on this page to copy the full prompt. 2. Open Claude Sonnet. 3. Paste the prompt into a new conversation. 4. Replace any {placeholders} with your specifics, then send. Most prompts produce the right output on the first try; complex ones may need 1-2 iterations.
Yes — every prompt on mycopyprompt is free forever. No paywall, no signup wall for browsing or copying. You can use it for personal or commercial work, just don't redistribute the entire mycopyprompt library.
Absolutely — most prompts are templates. Look for {placeholders} (curly braces) and swap them with your own values. You can also reword sections, add constraints, or chain it with other prompts.
See the "Sample output" panel above — that's a real example of what Claude Sonnet returns when this prompt runs. Your output will vary in wording but should follow the same structure and depth.
Similar prompts
Matched against every prompt in the catalog by title.
4. Gap I'm closing this quarter I have not yet owned a multi-team initiative end-to-end (only co-led). For Q1 2026 I'm taking lead on the API consolidation roadmap that involves my team + Payments + Data. By April, this is the missing receipt.
5. What the company gets by promoting me
Ask: Promotion to Staff at April cycle. 15% comp adjustment to match Staff band midpoint. I'm open to phased comp (5% now, balance at promo) if that's a path.
Opener: 'Hi — I wanted to talk through my growth and the path to Staff. I put together a doc with the evidence and the gap I'm working on. Want to walk you through it for 15 min, then hear your read.'
Follow-up email (post-conversation): 'Hi [manager], wanted to capture what we agreed. You said: April cycle is the target if I close the multi-team ownership gap. I'm leading the API consolidation roadmap starting next week as the proof point. Let's check in monthly — Jan 15, Feb 19, Mar 18 — on tracking. Thanks for the support.'
Response to 'not this cycle, but soon': 'I appreciate that. Could we put in writing — even just in this email — what 'soon' depends on? Specifically: by April, if I've [delivered the API consolidation + the mentorship outcomes hold], is that the bar?'
Response to 'you need to do X first': 'Helpful. What's the observable signal that I've done X? For example, 'lead a multi-team project' — does the consolidation roadmap count, or are you looking for something different? I want to make sure I'm aiming at the right thing.'
If it's a clear no: 'Got it. I want to keep working here, and I want to be honest that promotion progression is part of why. Could you tell me — straight up — whether I should be reading this as 'wait one more cycle' or 'this role isn't where you'll get there'? I'd rather know.'