I cannot think of a better model for corporate climbing than Guyspeak.com. I first worked in our mail room opening letters and delivering them to the GuySpeak guys. Then I was eventually given a promotion and allowed to type up a few answers that were immediately deleted. After that I worked in middle management where I answered questions on holidays and some weekends. Now, all these years later I type up answers to your questions from a well appointed yacht somewhere in the Adriatic Sea.
In all seriousness corporate structure can be hell; a pyramid, whose floors are divided by steel and gatekeepers. That said, the key to climbing is two-fold. Actually FOUR-fold.
1. Do your work and do it well. If you have to cover issues A-L, go the extra letters and come in Monday morning having completed M,N,O and P too.
2. Promote yourself. Given you've chosen to work in a corporate structure you will have to accept the fact that if a tree falls in a forest it doesn't matter unless the boss (and hopefully her superiors) catch wind of it too. This means be seen and heard. Don't be a brown nosing douchebag about it, but take credit for what you did and speak up - nobody promotes the mute. And that brings us to #3.
3. Connections. Use them/grow them. Like any other highly competitive industry, hell any field for that matter, who you know is as important as what you know. In truth it's the combination of opportunity and skill. Writing emails to mentors, going to panel discussions in your field, creating an online presence (linked In, etc) is vital to growing your star. Get in with you're your boss and make yourself known to your boss's boss. Follow the scene in your given industry. Opportunities usually don't fall from trees, they are cultivated from the ground up.
4. Trust your gut and check in with yourself. Set goals. Short term and long term. Assess your plan and redirect as needed.
If all else fails - apply to Guyspeak.com -- KIDDING!
"Ask real guys questions and get real answers" indeed.
:P
Don't value that degree too much in this econimy.
Just because you graduated college doesn't mean your peers are going to automatically see you as "qualified". People can become degree certified with a straight 2.0 GPA, which in the professional world (if they cared about grades) amounts to someone who does the bare minimum they need to do to not get kicked out. NOT saying you're like that, but I am saying your superiors don't value your degree anywhere nearly as much as you do. It was merely a prerequisite to even be considered for employment.
What they really care about is your work performance and your attitude.
You're not going up unless you're outshining your peers - because they all want up too.
Instead of focusing on promotions, focus on your immediate workloads, the state of your department, if your management could use you to ease their own workloads, and your next performance review.
Unless all those things are in the bag and you're shining brightly, grabbing at promotions is going to get you... well... marked as someone who doesn't understand how things work and wants more reward than you've earned. That someone recommended you for a lesser company sounds like you already have. Sorry about that. If they haven't actually sent you away yet it's not too late to barrel down and fine tune your focus. Definitely speak to whoever your immediate superior is, to let them know you'd like to stay.
~Ex Hiring Manager, Sales and Promotions
Climbing the ladder, unfortunately, often does entail leaving and coming back. Except...you're probably not going back. You'll find another position with another company that grows you. You work hard and you work smart. You take all there is to take and you give until you're done giving. Then you leave.
It's your first job out of college. I have hired some amazing engineers (for what they were - level 1 employees) that were recent graduates, but there was no way they could compete with my seasoned staff regardless of the degree or even the grades. School is school and real working life is not anything that college prepares you for.
The only thing I can say is that you need to grow as a professional and not get ahead of yourself. Your plans, goals, and ambitions will change. Your X-year plan of today could very well change tomorrow.
Make contacts and keep them. If you impress enough people as you're learning, that's all the more help you'll get as you move forward in your career. There is no such thing as company loyalty anymore. That died a long time ago. It's about the bottom line, and in this economy...well...we all know what that looks like.
You may be very good at what you do, but worrying about moving up like this your first time out isn't really going to do anything for you.
I suggest finding a mentor (or a few) to help you on your journey. I've had some great mentors and some who weren't quite right. I've also mentored people. I still care about some of those people and help and guide them to this day.
Times are tough for everybody. So really, just focus on what you need to do right now to be less disposable than someone else and be excited about your new(ish) career. Turn this disappointment into a challenge because the reality is that YOU will be your best asset (or your worst enemy) for the rest of your working life. April is right about everything. It's about the performance and the attitude. Just make sure that you're being realistic and reasonable.
I like Amit's #2. He's on point. Nobody likes an ass-kisser. The ones who shoved their heads up mine were actually the ones I liked the least and became the staff's most hated co-workers. Office politics are a bitch.
If you're truly good at what you do, and you proceed sensibly, you'll get where you want to go. It just might take longer than you'd like.