Top 10 Tips for Getting Promoted

 The frustrating reality for parents today: The standard work model required from roughly age 25 to 45 is Monday through Friday, eight to 10 hours per day. We need to invest sweat equity at work to keep our jobs and get promotions and raises and benefits. Unfortunately for the children involved, that time frame is when they need parents most. 

Parenthood and work inevitably and repeatedly collide, demanding that we be in two separate places at once. But many people are still accomplishing the impossible, figuring out how to work diligently, stay late, schmooze the boss, build rapport with co-workers, volunteer for overtime, get promoted and still leave at five.

Here's how On Balance readers juggle getting ahead with being there for our kids.

1. Do your job and do it well when you are there.
2. Technology, technology, technology. Get a Blackberry and use it. Invest in a good laptop with a remote connection to your job's network. Be available, even if it is not from the office.
3. Reframe the terms. Instead of focusing on "I have to leave at five for day-care pickup" turn the attention (your own, your bosses', your co-workers') to "the 10 great things I do every day in a very time efficient manner" or "how much money I'm contributing to the company's bottom line" or "here's why I think my skills will translate well into the new position."

4. Leave earlier. Many offices have an important end-of-day errand that needs to be done. So volunteer to be the person who takes deposits to the bank or drops packages off at the post office or that inconvenient FedEx box that happens to be in front of your kids' school.

5. Figure out how to help your co-workers and don't ever expect others to pick up your slack. Everybody has needs. You need to leave at five to get to day care on time. A co-worker may need a non-standard lunch hour to take a class. Another co-worker may "need" a batch of homemade cookies every week. Figuring out what your boss wants is obvious -- but catering to your co-workers is even more important.

6. Invest in a good screen saver. If you're in a cubicle environment and don't want everybody who wanders by to know that you have left for the day, make your office look like you'll be right back. Leave a folder of non-sensitive papers open by your computer, leave a light on and get a screen saver with official-looking work.

7. Dress the part. It's easy to descend into wearing clothes that transition from work into the "second-shift" of child-care duties. Every week make sure to wear a few outfits that scream "I've got great skills and deserve this promotion."
8. After the kids are in bed and before they get up in the morning, do some work from home via telephone, computer or Blackberry. No one needs to know you are working from home -- they just need to know you are working.
9. Be accessible 24/7. Spread the word that you are always available via cellphone or e-mail. Ironically, people without kids may be less available in emergencies because they are white-water rafting in West Virginia or watching a marathon indie film festival or recovering from a hangover. Use your kid-required accessibility to your advantage.
10. Have a backup child-care or school pickup plan (spouse, friends, neighbors, relatives) because some days you just won't be able to leave at five.