What a good promotion message does
A promotion message is short and generous. It says well done, it says why the promotion makes sense, and it looks ahead. The ‘why’ is the bit most people skip, and it's the bit that gets remembered. ‘Congratulations on your promotion’ is polite. ‘Congratulations, you held the team together all winter and it shows’ is the one they'll read twice.
A few things worth keeping in mind before you hit send:
- Name one specific thing that earned it: a project, a habit, the way they handle people.
- Congratulate without a ‘but’. ‘Finally!’ and ‘about time’ can read as a dig, even when you mean them kindly.
- Send it while the news is fresh. A quick, warm message on the day beats a polished one much later.
- Think about where it'll be read. A private message, a group card and a public comment each need a different register.
- Leave pay, office politics and who else applied well alone.
- Reply-all only if that's what your team does. Otherwise send a message of your own: it'll be read properly rather than lost in a pile of identical ‘well done!’ replies.
For a colleague you're close to
You've sat next to them through the late nights and the dull Tuesdays, so you know exactly what earned this. Say so. A close colleague can take warmth, a private joke kept just about clean, and a promise of drinks on you. If they've been acting up in the role for a while, now's the moment to point out that everyone already knew they could do it.
- I've watched you do this job unofficially for ages, so it's lovely to see it made official. Huge congratulations, and the first round's on me.
- Brilliant news. Nobody knows [project] like you do, and it's great that it's been noticed. So pleased for you.
- Congratulations! You've talked me out of more than one bad idea, and your new team are about to find out how useful that is.
- Well done, [Name]. The way you handled [tricky situation] still impresses me, and this promotion is exactly what it deserved.
- I knew this was coming, I just hoped I'd have you on the next desk a bit longer. Congratulations, it really suits you.
- Proper, well-earned news. You're the one everyone goes to when things get messy, and now it's official. Enjoy every bit of it.
For someone you don't know well
If you mostly know them from the announcement email, keep it simple. Don't pretend to know their career history. A friendly congratulations, one thing you've genuinely noticed if there is one, and good wishes for the new role are plenty. Nobody expects a tribute from someone they've met twice in the lift.
- Congratulations on the promotion. Wishing you every success in the new role.
- We haven't worked together much, but I've always heard good things about your work on [project]. Well done.
- Many congratulations. I look forward to working with you in your new role.
- Congratulations! Well deserved, from everything I hear. Good luck settling in.
- Great news, and well done. If our teams end up working together, I'll be glad of it.
When a colleague becomes your line manager
This is the tricky one. Yesterday you were peers, grumbling about the rota together. From Monday they'll be signing off your holiday and running your appraisal. The right message acknowledges that things have changed without making a big deal of it, and avoids both traps: sucking up, which everyone can spot, and sour grapes, which shows even between the lines.
Congratulate them properly, say you're looking forward to working together in the new set-up, and offer a hand with the handover. Keep the tone you've always had: suddenly going formal with someone you used to have lunch with is awkward for both of you.
If you went for the same job, you don't have to mention it. If you'd rather clear the air, do it once, lightly, and without any reservation about the outcome, as in the last example below. Anything more belongs in a one-to-one, not a message.
- Congratulations, really good news for you and for the team. I'm looking forward to working with you in the new set-up.
- Well done! You know this team better than anyone, which is a big head start in the role. You can count on me.
- Congratulations, [Name]. It'll change our Monday meetings, but not how much I enjoy working with you. Shout if you need a hand with the handover.
- Many congratulations. You've always listened to the team, and I've no doubt that'll carry on in the new job.
- Great news, and well earned. I'm counting on you to stay as straight-talking as ever, and you can count on me for the same.
- Congratulations. I won't pretend I didn't want it too, but you got it and you'll be good at it. I'm right behind you.
For someone in your team you've watched grow
If you manage them, their promotion feels a little bit yours too, and the temptation is to say so. Resist it. Point to the moments you saw them step up: the first client meeting they ran on their own, the project they picked up mid-crisis, the new starter they quietly took under their wing. Make it about what they did, not what you taught them.
If the promotion takes them to another team, congratulate first and say goodbye second. For the goodbye part, our guide to what to write in a leaving card has plenty of lines to borrow.
- I remember your first week here, and it's been a real pleasure watching you grow into this. You built this promotion one piece of work at a time. Well done.
- You've taken on more and more, always in a way that helped the rest of the team. This promotion recognises that, and it's thoroughly deserved.
- Congratulations, [Name]. On [project] you showed you could make good calls under pressure, and people noticed. Really pleased for you.
- I'll miss having you in the team day to day, but this is exactly what I hoped would happen for you. Congratulations.
- Your progress has impressed everyone, me included. This is the natural next step after everything you've done. Many congratulations.
- Thank you for everything you've given this team, and well done on the new role. My door's still open whenever you want to talk something through.
For your own manager
Congratulating the person who manages you calls for a little restraint. Be warm, skip the gushing, and thank them for one concrete thing they did for you or the team. A message signed by the whole team takes the pressure off if you're not sure of the tone.
- Congratulations on the promotion. Thank you for the trust you've shown me and for everything I've learnt from you.
- Well done! You've always stood up for this team, and it's good to see you taking that further.
- Congratulations from all of us. The way you kept us steady through the busy patches meant a lot. Wishing you every success in the new role.
- Many congratulations. I hope you'll still find time for your old team now and again. We owe you a fair bit.
Short lines for a group card or team message
When the card's going round the floor, or one person is writing on behalf of the team, the message has to work for everyone. Keep it to a line each. If you're writing for the whole team, mentioning a success everyone recognises makes it personal without making it long.
- Congratulations! Thoroughly deserved.
- Well done, and thank you for everything you bring to the team.
- Great news for you, and good news for us.
- We all saw this coming. Congratulations!
- Well done, and good luck in the new role.
- Earned, plain and simple. Congratulations!
- From all of us: well done, and thanks for setting the bar.
- New title, same brilliant you. Congratulations!
Commenting on a promotion post on a professional network
When a colleague announces their promotion online, your comment is public. Their senior team, their clients and quite possibly their next employer will see it. Keep it professional, name a quality rather than a story from the office kitchen, and save the in-jokes for a private message.
Comments slide out of view quickly. If you'd like your opinion of their work to last, write them a recommendation instead: our recommendation examples for professional networks show how to structure one.
- Congratulations, [Name]! A well-deserved promotion for someone who gets a whole team pulling in the same direction.
- Great news. I had the pleasure of working with you on [project], and your new team are in very good hands.
- Many congratulations. Your eye for detail and your care for clients made a difference on every project we shared.
- Well done on the new role, it's richly deserved. Looking forward to working together in it.
- Congratulations! Few people make complicated things sound as simple as you do. Best of luck in the new role.
Funny promotion messages that won't backfire
Humour works with people you know well, as long as the joke's aimed at the office, the meetings or yourself, never at their work or at whoever made the decision. Check it still lands if someone else reads it, and always finish with a genuine congratulations.
- Congratulations! Do I need to book a meeting now if I want a chat by the kettle?
- Well done. A word of advice: don't move desks, we've only just worked out the heating.
- New role, more meetings, but still on biscuit duty on Fridays, I hope? Congratulations, it's thoroughly deserved.
- Congratulations! I'm keeping our old to-do list somewhere safe. It'll be worth a fortune when you're running the place.
- Well done! Please remember us little people when you're too important for the group chat.
What to leave out
Most promotion messages that go wrong do it through a comparison or a throwaway remark. A few things worth steering clear of:
- Comparisons. ‘You deserved it more than [other colleague]’ embarrasses them and hurts the person you've named.
- Pay, even as a joke. ‘Drinks are on you, then’ is fine. Guessing at their new salary isn't.
- Backhanded lines. ‘Finally’, ‘about time’ and ‘you've certainly made yourself noticed’ all suggest the promotion wasn't obvious, or wasn't earned through the work.
- Age and length of service. ‘So young!’ or ‘after all these years’ make it about something other than what they've done.
- The politics. Who else applied, what the senior team thinks, what someone said by the kettle.
- Making it about you. If you went for the job too, one light line is the most a congratulations message can carry. It isn't the place for disappointment.
- Over-the-top praise for your new boss, which reads as angling for favour.
Put what earned it in writing
A congratulations message gets read on the day and then sinks into an inbox. A promotion is the ideal moment to go one step further and write down, properly, what earned it. The examples are fresh, the results are visible, and your colleague will be glad to have a record of what their peers actually saw.
That's what a recommendation is for. On Take Your Skills, it sits on your colleague's profile alongside what others have written about them. You only need their email address: if they're not on Take Your Skills yet, they're invited to claim their profile with your recommendation already there. If you're stuck for words, the assistant asks you about specific situations you've been through together, one question at a time, then drafts a text you read and edit before it's published.
And if you're the one who's just been promoted, it's a good time to ask for a reference from the people who watched you get there. Whichever way you do it, a good recommendation covers:
- the context: what you worked on together, and in what role;
- the skills that led to the promotion, each with a concrete example;
- how they work with other people, which matters even more in a bigger role;
- a clear conclusion: what you expect them to do well in the new job.