I keep getting passed over for promotions

I've been working in an organisation for four years, and during that time I've been passed over for a few promotions. I may be paranoid but everyone who got promoted ahead of me was male, and there's a very blokey atmosphere in the office. Is there anyone I can talk to about my suspicions?

I’m wondering if you have had any feedback from your interviewers or hiring managers on why you were not awarded these positions – if not you should ask them for this. When doing this, do ask them to be honest with you, as they may try to provide you with the standard, ‘there was someone better, with more qualifications, etc’, but you need feedback on your performance – both at work and at the interview process.

You can then use this feedback to improve. It may be worth finding a mentor within the company whom you can trust – someone more senior, who can support you in your work, and also promote you in new hire situations so that your name can be put forward for these opportunities. Some external coaching may help you to progress in work and in your interview technique, so it would be valuable to find a good coach. See if someone you know can recommend one, and go talk to them about the issue and see how they would propose to work with you. If you get on with them and feel you could work together, then form an agreement to do a number of sessions over a specific time period.

This will give you a lot more career confidence and you will make great progress at work, or even move on to a promotion outside the company if opportunities don’t present themselves internally.

Hope you find the support you need – good luck.