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

But maybe the problem isn’t that the first rung of the career ladder has disappeared. —Nirit Cohen, Forbes.com, 12 June 2025

Being desirable is good publicity for anyone trying to climb a career ladder. —Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 12 June 2025

The data crunchers at LinkedIn have noticed a similar trend, prompting one of its executives to claim the bottom rung of the career ladder was breaking. —Mike Burbach, Twin Cities, 11 June 2025

Employees who consistently up-skill move up the career ladder faster, leading to higher long-term earnings. —Jason Wingard, Forbes, 17 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1835, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for career ladder

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