If you think working hard and producing great results for your company will get you a promotion, think again. According to a new study by market research firm Penn Schoen Berland, 92 percent of senior executives say they've seen people get promotions through favoritism and 84 percent of them have observed it at their own companies. However, the good news is that although playing favorites is a Read more

This post was shared in our Savvy Confessions group by a reader with a tough choice: to stay, or go? My manager just announced she's leaving the company in a few months and though I've worked for her for nearly five years and she's been grooming me to take her place, it doesn't look like I'll get the position. I met with my manager and her boss recently and they noted they will likely do an Read more

This post comes from Diana Nguyen from our Professional Development Kick group: My New Year's resolution: dress more professionally at work — and that includes wearing heels! That may not sound difficult, but let me tell you: walking up and down the hilly San Francisco streets can be a pain — literally! My feet are killing me. I'm starting kind of late, but so far I've worn heels everyday Read more

Boy, was there a huge surprise on last night's Mad Men! The season ends with a bang when Don Draper busts out an unexpected proposal to his beautiful secretary, Megan. After announcing the engagement to the office, we see a rare moment of camaraderie between Peggy and Joan, in which the two unhappily predict Don will probably promote Megan to copywriter since, as Joan puts it, "he's not going to Read more

On last night's episode of The Office, we watched Pam Beesly expertly maneuver herself toward a promotion. She realized that she did not have the "sales gene" and saw the opportunity to grab the office administrator position when a window treatment salesman came around asking to speak to one. She tested the waters with Oscar, negotiating a salary that seemed to fit the position. However, the main Read more

This post was shared by reader onlysourcherry in our Ask Savvy group. I started at my current company right out of college. I've been promoted twice and am now an assistant manager with a huge range of responsibilities. Unfortunately (at work at least) I'm young, blonde, and a woman. While people stopped treating me like my boss's secretary when I moved into an office, one issue lingers — my Read more

The key to getting ahead in your career is simple: take any promotion that comes your way, and keep climbing that ladder. Right? Well, according to some experts, maybe not. New York Times writer Phyllis Korkki points out in a recent column that the corporate world is changing, and with it, so should our ideas about how to get ahead. Since most career paths today look more like a lattice than a Read more

Most of us pay our dues in one way or another at the start of our careers. We intern, we get the boss coffee, we take on projects no one else wants, we perform above our pay grade to prove we deserve the next pay grade, title, or responsibility. Ari Gold's assistant Lloyd has displayed serious professional confidence on the current season of Entourage. He demanded a promotion after yelling that Read more