He was no longer a lowly trainee - he had arrived! The euphoria was short-lived, however. Talking to senior colleagues and representatives of the HR department, the prospects suddenly seemed less rosy. There had been relatively little staff turnover in the upper levels of the organisation recently, due to the recession. This meant that there were very few promotion opportunities, and they all involved working longer hours in the less attractive parts of the organisation. It became evident that there were, effectively, three courses of action open to Robert: .
1. Stay working for RSVP, in the same department, but with only a relatively modest pay increase now that he was fully-qualified, following a standardised set of procedures and carrying out work which was mildly challenging but, essentially, very routine. The advantage of this was that he would not need to move house, and he could develop interests outside of .
the workplace as long as he did not neglect the requirements to socialise with his colleagues twice a week. Life would be steady, the money would be OK, but it would all be extremely dull. .
2. Stay working for RSVP, but apply for any role within the organisation which might involve promotion, working on the assumption that if he was sufficiently ambitious and hard-working, he would be able to move onwards and upwards within the company, and his growing reputation as a brilliant, dedicated, asset to the company would begin to get him .
noticed by the senior management - essential requisites for any high-flying career. This had been done by others, and indeed many of the current senior managers had adopted such a route. It was known, unofficially, as "selling your soul to the company". .
3. Leave at the first opportunity and work for a different, smaller, more agile, organization which would provide a chance for him to grow and develop in ways which would be more suited to his personality, whilst still requiring him to use the professional qualifications that he had worked so hard to achieve.