Twice a week we publish problems that will feature in a forthcoming Dear Jeremy advice column in the Saturday Guardian so that readers can offer their own advice and suggestions. We then print the best of your comments alongside Jeremy's own insights. Here is the latest dilemma – what are your thoughts?
I work for a very large employer. I moved to a different city to join a new team, but I now I feel trapped at the bottom, in a position I took willingly as I expected that I would be able to climb the ladder.
Before I joined I was given a clear written indication that it would take "around two years" to progress within the team if I was good at my work. I have received a significant amount of praise for the work that I do, but have not progressed in the three years I have been here.
Not long ago an assistant to the boss sat me and a colleague down (the two of us share the same career aspirations) and bluntly told us that the boss had decided that those at the bottom of the ladder were unlikely to move up within his team – and he had decided to start recruiting from outside the organisation. I was aghast at this clear indication that the company had little intention of helping me to develop. And so it has proved – people have repeatedly been recruited from outside to fill positions higher up the food chain, and I and my colleague have moved nowhere.
I have tried to apply elsewhere in the organisation, without success. I fear my menial role on my current team does not impress the bosses of new teams I might join. And having relocated hundreds of miles once and recently acquired a mortgage, I'm unable to move city again.
Do you need advice on a work issue? For Jeremy's and readers' help, send a brief email to dear.jeremy@theguardian.com. Please note that he is unable to answer questions of a legal nature or to reply personally.
