I would encourage everyone to follow your own organization’s job board for open positions. This can help you with a lateral move or help you climb the ladder. I have always stayed focused on my current role rather than min-maxing the career game, so I learnt about this hack rather late in my career.

At one of my positions, the CTO (2 levels above my role) was desperately searching for a VP of Engineering (1 level above my role). The job hunt was ongoing for a few months and it was proving really hard to find a suitable candidate. The CTO had included me in the interviewing process, probably to delegate some of the time intensive candidate filtering but also because they valued my feedback and skills. We eventually found a stellar candidate for this role, but looking back, I missed a golden opportunity by not applying to the role myself. It would’ve been a bold decision, but perhaps the boldness of action would signal that I was ready for it.

These days, I’m always monitoring the all open positions within my company. With the least of effort, I can amplify the openings’ reach by posting about the positions on my socials. If I have a great recommendation for a role, even better. And if I spot a position opening up in an interesting/challenging team (for a lateral move) or a level above me (for a move up), I will take a chance by making the case for myself.