at least in the software industry promotion is not easy. Your current employer is not too incentivized to give you a promotion. They are however incentivized to

at least in the software industry promotion is not easy. Your current employer is not too incentivized to give you a promotion. They are however incentivized to bring in that guy who did great in interviews so they might get an instant promotion to the next level while you're going to get your 3rd "maybe next cycle" response from the promotion committee. What I learned from working at large tech companies is that the only way up is out.