Career Ladder: How Do You Handle Career Growth Conversations When There's No Clear Path Up?

A career ladder doesn't always have to go upward. Sometimes it can expand outward through new skills and responsibilities.

What about creating a skills-based growth path? Employees could advance through specialized training and certifications with opportunities for higher pay.

I'd also ask candidates what career growth means to them. Not everyone wants to manage people.

Could a company create meaningful career advancement without having to create additional management positions?

We’re around 30 employees total, and I actually use our own team as the example when candidates ask this.

Our Ops Manager, Culture Manager, Field Supervisor, and soon-to-be Director of Growth & Sales were all promoted internally. We’ve also promoted trainers, deep clean specialists, and commercial leads.

A lot of those employees came to us with experience in things like management, healthcare, or education, so they already had leadership, communication, training, or organizational skills that translated really well once they were inside the company.

So I tell candidates there absolutely is room to grow here, but I’m careful not to promise a specific title or timeline. Growth happens when the business has a need and someone has demonstrated the skills and consistency to step into it.

We promote from within a lot — we just don’t create positions simply because someone wants the next rung on the ladder.