Climbing up the academic career ladder: strategies employed by academics from an Australian university

Although the nature of the academic profession and academic career advancement have been well documented in the past decade, little empirical evidence has been provided on the strategies that academics have employed to advance from one academic rank to another.  This study examines the strategies that academics from an Australian university have employed in gaining their academic promotions. Through semi-structured interviews with 27 participants from one Australian university (3 promotion committee members and 24 academics promoted during 2012-2017), this study found that to gain promotions, Australian academics employ different strategies relevant to two promotion preparation stages: ‘becoming promotable’ (before applying) and ‘getting promoted’ (during applying). The study provides empirical evidence to support the view that individual strategic career planning is a critical factor for academic career advancement in Australia. Individual agency plays a key role in academic career advancement.