Been working with the same company since November 2017 as a customer service facing employee, basically a cashier. I'm a diligent employee, always punctual, incredibly competent (to the point of being way over qualified for my current position), professional, helpful, collaborative, you name it for this companies needs I check all the boxes to be prepared for advancement, I'm even trained beyond the skillset necessary for my position and have been for some time. Importantly I'm also about to finish graduate school, and have been enrolled in the school basically since I started.
Late 2018 I applied for a back office assistant position working with the compliance department. Was turned down because the hiring manger wanted someone who would take the position as a career role, and I anticipated leaving once I graduated (which I told the hiring manger). I hoped to use this position as a springboard. To my knowledge the person hired has since left the company.
Early 2020 I applied for a position that was basically the next rung up the customer service ladder, it went to someone that was equally as qualified as myself, and I can live with that.
Mid 2020 I applied for a managerial customer service position which was posted within a few months of the last position I applied for. The person who got the last position I mentioned above got the manger role. So again equally as qualified but just accepted a new position. Was told we were both perfectly capable but that management expected the other person to be able to hold the role for longer, as my expectation is to leave the company or find a much different role once my grad school program is completed.
After the next level customer position was vacated by the new manager (so mid 2020 again) I applied again this time however it went to someone slightly more qualified and some minimal but not negligible experience. I don't have much to say about this one the person who was hired deserved it.
Finally most recently I once again applied for the next level up customer service role about as qualified as one can be for the position. All the training done, experience doing the work. Was passed over again for someone who “fit their customer base better.” Was told I was over qualified, but was ultimately choice #2.
Here's the kicker the person who got the manger position over me less than two years ago is leaving to go to the HR Department. And here I am in the same spot still.
I'll likely be with the company for at least another year and I'll be leaving this company without a second thought because they haven't done anything to encourage my progress through the corporate pipeline.
In the future, during interviews my plan is to progress in exactly the role I'm interviewing for, nobody gets to find out what I plan the next 5 years to entail.