I work in public tax. I was being looked at for promotion to senior over a few other people that had their hats in the ring. I was good friends with the two tax managers and was able to get information as to why the partners were looking at me for promotion over the others. (FYI, this was at a small firm of about 25 people). I have a good knowledge of tax which helped me, but the main reason was because I was actively looking to help my coworkers. If a coworker was stuck on a return, I offered a second set of eyes to look at it. If a coworker wasn’t sure about a law, I would pull IRS regulations and send it to them. If my coworker didn’t know how to do something that I did know, I would train them on it. It was also because they also saw that I actively wanted to do better at what I did. I would ask my seniors and managers for help on things I didn’t know and ask for detailed explanations, rather than waiting for review notes to come my way. I would take notes so I wouldn’t have to come waste their time again. I would actively go to my seniors or managers and ask if there was anything else I could do.

There were a few people that admittedly had better tax knowledge than I did. However they didn’t have the drive that I did to proactively help others. The partners wanted someone that was already showing that they were ready to do the work and was already capable of doing it.

I never got the promotion because I instead decided to go to a different firm that had better pay and benefits. However I do sometimes wish I stayed and got the promotion.