Getting promoted in Inzoi comes down to one thing: a strong evaluation, built by arriving at work on time every shift, completing the career missions your workplace hands out, and contributing to team projects. Since the April 2026 Career update, lateness and absences actively drag that evaluation down, and a Zoi whose performance stays low can now be fired. This guide explains what changed, how active and rabbit hole careers differ, what to do each work day, and why a promotion sometimes refuses to arrive.
What the Career Update Changed
The 2025 version of this guide described a simple performance bar that filled up and triggered a promotion the next morning. The v0.8.0 update on April 29, 2026 rebuilt the career system, and the current rules, verified against those patch notes, are:
- Interviews for new careers. The Researcher, IT Developer, Architect, Music Producer and Journalist careers (Dowon and Bliss Bay) and the Travel Agent career (Cahaya) require applying for an interview and impressing the interviewer before day one.
- School, career and business are separate categories. One Zoi can hold all three as long as the schedules do not overlap; school takes priority, then career, then business. The Zoi card shows which category each occupation belongs to.
- Daily salary. Pay arrives every work day instead of at the end of a pay period.
- Attendance is tracked. Arriving late marks the Zoi tardy or absent and hurts the evaluation. Zois can register paid leave, sick leave and remote work on the computer, and the number of leave days depends on job position.
- Team projects. Zois collaborate with co-workers from day 1 through day 4, track progress in the phone app and mission UI, and receive a grade and rewards based on their contribution at the end.
- Firing, retirement and severance. Insufficient performance can get a Zoi fired. Zois who put in enough time can retire, throw a retirement party, and draw a pension; anyone fired, resigning or retiring receives severance pay.
Older saves were converted automatically, so an existing Zoi keeps their job and rank. If your Zoi has no job yet, start with our guide on how to get a job.
Active Careers Versus Rabbit Hole Careers
Inzoi still has two kinds of job. In an active career you follow your Zoi into the workplace, and the game gives you missions to complete during the shift. Since v0.9.0 those career missions share a window with social event missions, and v0.7.0 added tooltips explaining each one. Completing them, plus the after-work missions introduced in v0.8.0, is the direct route to a better evaluation.
Rabbit hole careers pull the Zoi off the map for the shift. Progress there comes from attendance and experience: an April 2025 hotfix confirmed that non-interactive careers use experience points to move between ranks, and v0.4.0 added 144 opportunity cards for rabbit hole jobs in Dowon and Bliss Bay. Those cards are the only real input you have during the shift, so read them rather than clicking through. Our guide on going to work covers the daily commute for both types.
A Promotion Routine That Works
- Never be late. Check the schedule (Edit Schedule is on the L key by default) and make sure nothing else is queued when the commute should start. Tardy marks are the most common self-inflicted wound under the new system.
- Use leave instead of skipping. The patch notes say absences hurt the evaluation and that paid leave, sick leave and remote work can be registered on the computer, so book the day off rather than simply not turning up.
- Clear every mission. In active careers, work through the mission list before the shift ends, then do the after-work mission too.
- Carry your weight on team projects. Contribution decides your grade, and a poor grade at the end of day 4 is a missed opportunity that will not come back until the next project.
- Keep needs high before work. Hungry or exhausted Zois perform badly. The v0.9.0 update also tuned wants so that Zois at work prioritise work-appropriate ones, which helps if autonomy is on.
Why the Promotion Is Not Coming
If the evaluation looks healthy and nothing changes, check these before assuming a bug:
- Recent tardies or absences. One bad week can undo several good ones.
- A weak team project grade. The grade at the end of a project feeds the evaluation.
- Skill requirements. The new careers check skills at the interview stage, and early player guides say higher ranks expect a related skill too. Practising the career’s skill in the evenings costs nothing.
- No open slot. The 2025 version of this guide relayed early player reports that a full bar with no promotion meant there was no vacancy above the Zoi. No patch note confirms that rule for the current build, so treat it as unconfirmed and keep working.
Two things are planned but not live yet, per the developer’s July 2026 update: academic performance influencing promotions, and workplace relationships with bosses and colleagues. Neither appears in a patch note as of v0.10.4.
Faster Ways Up the Income Ladder
Promotion is not the only way to earn more. The v0.8.0 update added freelance work (delivery, creative, publishing and online sales) behind a licence obtained on the computer; the licence grade rises with reputation and successful tasks and unlocks better-paid jobs. Business ownership, added in v0.5.0, scales with customer satisfaction instead of a boss’s evaluation. Both can run alongside a regular job, and our Inzoi hub has guides for each path.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you get promoted in Inzoi? Arrive on time, finish the career missions and after-work missions, and contribute well to team projects. A strong evaluation earns the promotion; a weak one can now get a Zoi fired.
Do rabbit hole jobs still get promotions? Yes. Non-interactive careers advance on experience points from attendance, with opportunity cards during the shift as your only decisions.
Does being late really matter? Yes. Since the April 2026 Career update, late arrivals are marked tardy or absent and directly lower the evaluation.
Can my Zoi be fired? Yes. The v0.8.0 notes state that insufficient performance can cost a Zoi their position, though they still receive severance pay.
Do grades at school affect promotions? Not yet. The developer has said academic performance will eventually affect employment and promotions, but no patch note has implemented it so far.