career ladder

noun

variants or corporate ladder

: the series of progressively higher positions that can be attained in one's working career conceived of as a ladder to be climbed toward greater responsibility and financial success

… a twentysomething heroine working her way up the career ladder …

—Clarissa Cruz

The more skills you acquire and use, the more you can earn – even if you don't jump to the next rung on the corporate ladder.

—Jaclyn Fierman

Like most successful women in the pop-music industry, Rhone, 42, started off answering phones and watching men climb the corporate ladder to success.

—Lorraine Ali

… the kind of resentment that a man who has spent his life climbing the ranks of a large bureaucracy feels toward a man who leapfrogs up the career ladder through a special and obnoxious blend of deferments and degrees.

—Michael Lewis

Today as vice-president and director of global diversity, she works with the office of the CEO to ensure that women and people of color with the potential to move up the corporate ladder are identified and groomed.

—Rhonda Richards

Examples of career ladder in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

For the hundreds of thousands of Russians employed in counterintelligence and law enforcement, catching Western and Ukrainian agents and neutralizing antiwar activists and journalists is now a way to climb the career ladder. —Alexander Gabuev, Foreign Affairs, 17 Apr. 2025

Optimists scale the career ladder faster and farther than pessimists. —Bryan Robinson, Forbes.com, 4 Apr. 2025

The go-to ritual to reset your mind after work is a simple type of mindful meditation that can move you up the career ladder faster and farther. —Bryan Robinson, Forbes.com, 26 Mar. 2025

The Limitations of Linear Career Paths The conventional career ladder presents several inherent challenges: Rigid structure: Traditional careers demand dedication to a single path, often requiring significant compromises to personal priorities. —Caroline Castrillon, Forbes, 18 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1835, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for career ladder

• adder
• bladder
• madder
• sadder
• gallbladder
• stepladder