Nobody is coming to tap you on the shoulder and tell you it’s time for the next step.
That idea sounds nice. It feels fair. Work hard, keep your head down, do a good job, and eventually someone will notice and reward you. The reality is that this almost never happens the way people think it will.
Especially in higher education AV.
We work in environments that are slow moving, layered, and often constrained by budgets, titles, and institutional structure. Roles expand quietly. Expectations grow over time. People take on more responsibility because the work needs to get done, not because anyone formally asked them to. Then a year goes by, then two, and nothing changes on paper.
Same title. Same pay. Completely different jobs.
At some point, you must decide if you are going to let that continue or if you are going to do something about it.
Self-advocacy is not optional. It is part of the job.
If you are solving bigger problems than you were a year ago, that matters. If you are mentoring others, taking ownership of spaces, leading projects, or becoming the person people go to when things break, that matters. If your role has evolved, even if nobody officially acknowledged it, that matters.
But it only matters if you say it out loud.
You cannot assume your leadership sees everything you do. You cannot assume they are connecting the dots between your day-to-day work and your overall impact. And you cannot assume they are going to translate that into advancement on your behalf.
You must make the case.
That starts with being honest about where you are. Not where your job description says you are, but where you actually are. What are you responsible for today that you were not responsible for a year ago? What decisions are you making? What problems are you solving? What would break if you were not there?
Then you must decide what you want next.
Not “something more.” Not “eventually move up.” Be specific. A title change. A salary increase. Ownership of a program. A shift into a different type of work. If you do not know what you are asking for, the conversation is going nowhere.
And then you must actually have the conversation.
Not hinted at in passing. Not buried in a performance review with ten other topics. A real conversation where the purpose is clear from the start.
“I want to talk about advancement.”
That is it. That is the opening.
From there, you lay it out. Here is what I am doing. Here is how my role has changed. Here is the impact I am having. Here is what I am asking for.
That part is uncomfortable for a lot of people. It feels like you are bragging. It feels like you are pushing. It feels like you are stepping out of line.
You are not.
You are doing what professionals are supposed to do.
The other uncomfortable part is that you might not get a yes.
You might get “not right now.” You might get “we need to see more.” You might get “there are constraints you are not seeing.” Fine. That is still progress.
“No” is information.
If the answer is not yes, the next question is simple. What needs to happen for this to be a yes?
Now you have something to work toward that is not a guess. You have expectations. You have a timeline. You have a path that you can either accept or push back on.
Because that is the other part people skip. Self-advocacy does not end with the first conversation.
If you are told to wait six months, follow up in six months. If you are told you need to demonstrate something, make sure it is clearly defined and measurable. If the goalposts move, call it out. Not aggressively, but directly.
“Last time we spoke, we agreed on X. I have done that. What is the next step?”
That is how you keep momentum.
The people who advance are not always the most talented or the hardest working. They are the ones who make their work visible, who are clear about what they want, and who are willing to have the uncomfortable conversations that move things forward.
And here is the part that matters most.
If you do not advocate for yourself, the system will happily keep you exactly where you are.
Not because anyone is trying to hold you back. Most of the time it is not personal. It is inertia. It is competing priorities. It is the reality that organizations move on what is pushed.
So, push.
Have a conversation. Ask the question. State what you want.
Because advancement does not happen by accident.
And if you are ready for the next level, it is on you to make sure everyone else knows it.
