What should promotion criteria contain?

The benchmark level for each skill at the target level, the training the target role requires, any certifications that must be current, and the approvals the decision needs. If a criterion cannot be checked against a record, it is an opinion, not a criterion.

Who should approve a promotion?

The direct manager, because they hold the observed evidence, plus whoever the organization makes accountable for the level: a skip-level leader, a functional head, or HR. Name them in the workflow so the approval is a step, not an email thread.

Can a promotion workflow be automated?

The hand-offs can. Detecting that required training is complete, routing approvals, assigning the new level, and notifying people are mechanical. The judgment that the person performs at the next level cannot, and the workflow should route it to a named human.

What happens if an approver says no?

The workflow stops at that step and nothing already recorded is undone. The gap between the person's evidence and the criteria becomes development work, and the same step is approved later when the evidence supports it.

How is a promotion workflow different from a performance review?

A review judges outcomes over a period against the person's current role. A promotion workflow tests a person against the requirements of the next level and ends in a role change. Reviews feed the evidence; they are not the decision.

Learn · Roles

Promotion Workflow

A promotion workflow is the defined sequence an organization follows from evidence that a person meets the next level's requirements, through the approvals that confirm it, to the recorded change of role or level.

By Samantha, SkillsDB|Published Jun 26, 2026|Updated Sep 18, 2026

What It Is

A promotion workflow replaces the conversation-and-spreadsheet route to advancement with a sequence anyone can inspect. It starts with criteria that are written down: the benchmark level the next career level requires for each skill, the training the target role requires, the certifications that must be current. It continues with evidence against those criteria: assessed grades in the skills matrix filtered to the next level, approved training records, a manager's judgment. It ends with approvals from the people accountable for the decision and a level or career change recorded with a date. The value is in the order and the record. When the steps run in sequence and each one is logged, an employee can see what advancement requires, a manager can see who is close, and HR can answer the question that follows every contested promotion: on what basis, approved by whom, and when. Without the sequence, promotion criteria live in the memory of whoever made the last decision.

Key Facts

Criteria live on the career: each level carries its own benchmark grade per skill, so "senior" is a set of numbers rather than an adjective.
Readiness is read from the skills matrix filtered to the next level's benchmarks; the gaps at that level become the development plan.
Required training for the target role is the usual trigger: a person becomes eligible when all of it is approved.
Approvals are named steps, whether the direct manager, a fixed approver, or a case-by-case reviewer, and each is recorded with a date.
The promotion itself is a data change, a new career level or career assignment, and the level history is retained.
Automation adds nothing while criteria are vague; once they are explicit, it removes the manual hand-offs between training records, manager conversations, and HR.

The Steps of a Promotion Workflow

Step	Evidence or action	Who owns it
Eligibility	All required training for the target career is approved	Training approvers; the system detects completion
Readiness check	Assessed grades meet the next level's benchmarks in the skills matrix	The manager, with self-assessment as a second signal
Manager approval	The direct manager confirms readiness and records the decision	Direct manager
Second approval	A named approver or an administrator signs off where policy requires it	Fixed approver or admin
Assignment and notice	The new career or level is added to the person, prior levels are kept, and stakeholders receive the activity log	System, on approval

How SkillsDB Models It

In SkillsDB the criteria live on the Career: Levels, a benchmark grade per Skill per Level, and the required training for the role. Take a Field Service Technician career: Fault Diagnosis is benchmarked at 3 for Level 2 and 4 for Level 3, and Level 3 requires the High-Voltage Systems course. After the spring assessment a technician's manager grade on Fault Diagnosis reads 4, and her manager filters the Skills Matrix to the Level 3 benchmarks: every cell in her row is yellow or green. The promotion is a level change on her career assignment, by hand with prior levels retained, or by a Journey: once all her required training for the target career is approved she is enrolled, a Manager Approval step lands in her manager's Inbox and email, an Assign Career/Level step moves her to Level 3, a Notification step tells the chosen recipients, and every action lands on her Activity Page. Steps run strictly in order; a withheld approval stalls the journey, rolling nothing back. See Career Frameworks and Career Pathways.

Read the full guide

Skills-Based Career Pathing: Build Pathways People Actually Follow

Career Pathway

the route the workflow moves people along

Job Roles and Job Architecture

where levels and their requirements are defined

Proficiency Levels

the scale the benchmarks are set on

Certification Tracking

current certifications as promotion criteria

Career Frameworks

the feature