In thinking that progression at work is a myth?

[Floogal]

Basically as I asked in the title. It seems that anyone wanting more money and interesting tasks at work can not really advance. Due in part to nepotism, cronyism and mostly (forgive my misandry) 'dead man's shoes'. More so if you are at the bottom. You feel cheated when the shop floor to top floor mantra is spouted.
Also it seems a double standard where you can't win. If you want progression and and get it you're seen as greedy or deluded. If you're content and don't want to progress, you're often viewed as lazy and unambitious.

I know plenty of people who grew up from trainees to C-level in FTSE top businesses.

Yes, some (smaller I'd imagine) companies might have culture of nepotism, but it's generally not true for larger businesses.
Career progression requires very specific skills and qualities and it's very difficult for most people to accept that the issue is not with the business, but with them, their lack of those skills. In general, one or two missed opportunities might be bad luck, but if it's ongoing, then better to look in the mirror.

I think you have to be willing to move companies every few years now, to get the salary raises, a broad overview of your industry through different lenses, and the fat contacts book. Getting yourself in your industry's magazine or newsletter doesn't hurt either, with a professional photo that can be whipped off on demand.

So why don't you leave and find a better job? retrain?

Best friend is in retail, progressed from shop floor (started at 18) to office job two levels below CEO, 130k+ package.

What are you doing to improve your position apart from complaining?

@nearlylovemyusername you are so condescending and sound like a sophomaniac.
To answer your question,I have let managers know I want to progress, did a distance learning course at home and leadership course (at work), did some trial shifts on reception. They haven't led anywhere. At the end of the day I don't want to jump from the frying pan into the fire by working at a smaller company.

And when was that? And how do the requirements she had to meet back then to progress line up with the requirements for shortlisting below her today?

I'm of the age when we were all able to get fake it till you make it jobs and work up. The old routes do not exist. It's unfair to quote someone's past career climb to today's environment

Absolutely my experience of 4 different organisations. You need:
To ideally be male.
White.
To be part of the in-crowd.
Be prepared to brown-nose.
Be very ostentatiously performative in your role.
Be young (30ish is OK or mid to late 20s).

The only time I've seen exceptions to this has been in start-ups where being able to actually do a good job is appreciated before the corporate power plays start.

Not my experience, I started on telemarketing and worked my way up through customer service, supervisor, team leader, team manager, department manager………. now part of the senior leadership team for a large global org, on about 10 times the salary I started on.

I asked for mentoring, took on additional tasks, saw opportunities to improve processes and took my proposals to my managers with defined plans on how to implement those changes and the benefits they would bring. I applied for roles when they came available and several times I saw opportunities for new roles to be created then developed business proposals which I presented to leadership along with why I should be the one to fill that role.

i have no formal education beyond some bad A-level results, no connections or networks beyond those I’ve developed while building my career, my family were all working class in factories or admin roles for most of their lives.

I’ve worked for the same company for a lot of years. I started in the mid range but I liked the place so I stayed and really threw my heart into it. Was recently promoted to a senior position with a 25k payrise. It can and does happen.

My first employer i did not progress much whilst others breezed - defo lots of nepotism and cliques.

My second job i progressed well and third the even better- from the start of my second job to now (12 years total) I have tripled my salary

I think it depends hugely on the employer - they are not all equal.

Isn't this life? Right place, right time, right face. Everything is all about who you know and how likeable you are, even at a very young age. I'm noticing this at Pre-school I'm sad to say. Life's not fair or equal, well rarely.

I think it varies from job to job and on a wide range of factors, but I suspect what you say is more common than people will admit. Because for various reasons they don’t want it to be true.

I have progressed at work but it’s been a scrap to do so. Then again, it possibly always feels like a scrap!

The routes absolutely do exist. Otherwise there wouldn't be anyone at the top. My shop floor to C-2 level example made it in 15 years.

The requirements are the same - intelligence, resilience, charisma, drive and ambition.

Before retiring last year I managed a reasonably big team. It's almost immediately obvious who will make it to the top and who won't, no matter which opportunities and support they are given.

"I have let managers know I want to progress, did a distance learning course at home and leadership course (at work), did some trial shifts on reception. They haven't led anywhere. "

It sounds like OP was given an opportunity with both training and trial with shifts on reception. I'm sorry to say but it's some kind of psychological self defence to make a conclusion here that there is no opportunity, it's much better for self esteem than to think that maybe they don't have required qualities to progress.

Not my experience both personally or more widely within my organisation however 100%
visibility, networking, mentors and/or sponsors within the organisation advocating for you means that you are already on radar when opportunities become available.
You still have to apply and interview and actually be able to do the job - but I would say you get more leeway if your work is already known.
ERG's / Becoming a Champion or an advocate for something / asking to job shadow or for secondment or something also helps.

I have also found in the last 18 months that we have multiple people on the 27-32 ish age bracket who constantly want to know what's next, how do I progress but in reality are only doing their jobs at a very surface level and never think more widely or deeply about a topic, just want to be told exactly what to do step by step want you to make decisions for them and just do the "fun" parts of their jobs but want to go to next level and next level.
100% not all by any means of that generation, we also have some amazing talent with super work ethic.

If you are asking at are not getting opportunities that you are seeing others getting then it might be time to move on though

Of course it depends on how likeable you are. People want to work with people who make them feel good.

An interesting article here
The art of charisma

" In 2013 a hospital in Birmingham, UK, hired workers to help with a Christmas fundraising campaign. Some of the workers were given a charismatic induction speech, in which a professional actor told them they were doing “something special” and used his arms to make the point. Other workers were given a serviceable but less charismatic speech by the same man.

By the end, the workers who heard the charismatic speech had stuffed 17 per cent more envelopes than those who had heard the standard speech. Charisma had motivated them almost as much as the chance of a bonus

.....
Charlie Houpert, a charisma coach, told the Diary of a CEO podcast that, as a management consultant, he was given pay rises even though other analysts were better. His explanation was that his seniors liked him and wanted him to do well."

Some people have it, some don't. Those who don't believe the former ones do well because of nepotism.

I've just gone up two pay grades at mine having smashed the interview for promotion.Change your workplace.

Yes, you're right. I should've been clearer. Often incompetent people get promoted because they say the right things, although in those cases it's probably not charisma, but talking crap to the relevant people and kissing butt 🤣

2010 was a wildly different job market to 2025!

To be honest I have heard that it’s easier to get promoted by jumping to new companies. So whilst I agree that companies aren’t going to internally promote you without a ceiling, the opportunities for higher income can exist for you elsewhere.

I went from 60k to 200k in 9 years at a large plc. I also had a DC during that time.

I’m far from being alone in doing that where I work. People are promoted on merit. I’ve never seen any nepotism and no barriers to career progression for capable employees.

I agree with your last paragraph. Re your first it’s my experience that progression relies on nepotism or having a face that fits. I left my med size company for a small one for progression opportunities. Often frustrating but only way to move forward

Heh reminds me what happened during my last stint in retail.

We were suddenly left without a manager. Can't remember what happened, but manager disappeared.

My superviser at the time was temporarily placed on the manager role. My colleague, who was utterly brilliant, was placed in the superviser role (she was the only one who wanted to, but she really wanted it - youngest of the team, but by far the best for it ) .

They were both fantastic, especially my young colleague as superviser. She was on fire. Work became much more of a joy, everything was a lot more efficient and successful. Way higher profits too, everything felt much more relaxed all staff were doing well from it. It was a golden age.

We all felt for sure, that with it working better than ever, this would be made permanent and superviser and colleague would be promoted into those roles.

Nope.

After about 3 booming months, they brought in another manager, superviser was superviser again, and colleague was just regular staff again.

Young colleague was devastated. She worked so hard and rightly thought she had done a good job.

New manager was rubbish. Uncaring of staff and customers, over dramatic and - compared to the superviser and colleague - incompetent. Apparently she was already manager at another store so they just transferred her over, and brought in someone new externally for her old store.

I left just a few weeks later because she was awful. She accused me of stealing from the store - not to my face, not even going through official channels, but to my colleagues unkindly behind my back gossiping - due to regularly finding protein bar wrappers in the staff room bin after I'd been in there. It was my bloody lunch, from lunch time... and we didn't even sell those bars in the store (which is why she never saw me buying them, I'd bring them from home.)

All other staff, besides superviser (who still works for the company) quit within a few months.

Was just all so stupid. The store had it made. But promoting people is not what's done, apparently.

@Agix not knowing what products they sell sounds like just the tip of their incompetence. I'm glad I don't work in retail anymore.

We run a small company - people development is very important to us - not only does it help the individual but it makes our company more profitable. We spend a lot of time on our team helping them understand what they need to do to help them gain a promotion and helping them gain access to opportunities to develop these skills. Demonstrating you are brilliant at your current level isn't enough; they need to demonstrate they have the skills necessary to do the next level position - it's done on skills and ability.

Often incompetent people get promoted because they say the right things, although in those cases it's probably not charisma, but talking crap to the relevant people and kissing butt

One thing that will almost certainly not result in promotion with is - is pissing people off, not building relationships within the team and outside the team, both senior and junior. Call it kissing butt and talking crap if you like but getting on with people does make a hell of a difference to the atmosphere in the workplace - people who seem to have a bad attitude constantly are a nightmare to work with.