I think this is because in a large company, the career paths could be endless assuming you have the skills needed to move into the new position, and in a small

I think this is because in a large company, the career paths could be endless assuming you have the skills needed to move into the new position, and in a small company they're limited by the size of the company. It's something you can discuss with them in the interview. At my internship with a 200 person group, my career advancement would have been "wait until boss gets promoted. Get boss's job. Else, move laterally." However, you can determine some paths by the postings themselves. If there's multiple levels (level 1, 2, ...), or multiple paygrades listed (e.g. one of several grades depending on experience), you can kind of see where you're going.