If you are looking to boost your career and get a promotion, January is the best month of the year in many countries to get it.
An analysis of data on the professional networking site LinkedIn showed January, June and July are the top months for professionals to move up the corporate ladder within their companies in the US.
January is also a good month for promotions in India, along with April, July and October, and in France, Australia, Canada, Germany, Brazil, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Britain.
LinkedIn, which has 90 million members worldwide, speculated that one reason why January is so popular for career advancement is that is coincides with the financial year.
"We looked at 12 countries, including the US," said Krista Canfield, a spokeswoman for LinkedIn. "If you look at India's data we also see a spike in April and it turns out that April is when India's fiscal year is."
Another theory is that it is easier for companies to deal with promotions after the winter or summer holidays.
"September comes up as a really good time for people in France to go and try for a promotion, besides January, which is also a good month," she added.
Promotions were also more common in September in Spain.
LinkedIn analyzed nearly 3 million intra-company job promotions from data on its website from January 1990 to December 2010. Although January is still the most popular month, the company noticed that from about the year 2000 more promotions started occurring during other times of the year.
"It was becoming less likely that you would only get promoted in January and more likely you would get promoted during other months of the years," Canfield explained.
She attributes the shift to millennials, people born in the 1980s, who have entered the workforce.
"It could be that this newer generation is a bit more demanding," she explained, adding that if they don't get the desired promotion they simply leave the company.
"Just in terms of people's career paths, now you don't see those lifers ... who have a career at one company. You're seeing people switch jobs a lot more frequently."
你想推进你的事业，获得升职吗？在很多国家，一月份都是升职的时节。
一项针对职业社交网站LinkedIn资料的分析显示，一月、六月和七月是美国职场人士在公司获得晋升的时节。
在印度、法国、澳大利亚、加拿大、德国、巴西、意大利、荷兰、西班牙、英国，一月都是升职旺季。在印度，四月、七月和十月也是升职旺季。
LinkedIn推测说一月份之所以是职业晋升的旺季，是因为一月份同时也是一个财政年度的起始时间。LinkedIn在全球拥有9000万会员。
LinkedIn的女发言人克丽斯塔•坎菲尔德说：“我们研究了包括美国在内的12个国家的情况。其中印度的数据显示，四月也是一个升职高峰期，而该月正好是印度财政年度的起始时间。”
另一种推测是，在寒暑假之后，公司处理升职问题会更容易。
坎菲尔德接着说：“对于法国人来说，除了一月份之外，九月份也是一个争取升职的好时节。”
九月份升职在西班牙也很常见。
LinkedIn分析了1990年1月到2010年12月期间该网站近300万个公司内部升职的例子。尽管总体来说，一月份是升职最旺季，但是2000年之后的数据显示，越来越多的升职是在其他月份发生的。
坎菲尔德解释说：“现在，在一月份获得升职的人越来越少，而在其他月份升职的人越来越多。”
坎菲尔德将这种转变归因为“千禧一代，即80后，步入了职场”。
她接着解释道：“这些新一代的职场人士对工作的要求较高。如果他们得不到他们想要的升迁，那他们会直接离开公司。”
她说：“你现在都见不着那种‘终生职业人士’了，即那些一辈子呆在一个公司的人。现在人们换工作比以前要频繁得多。”

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