I just found out yesterday that I was held back from a promotion at work by my supervisor.

TEST WALL ALERT! TL;DR summary:
I'm so frustrated. How do you get ahead in your career if your own supervisor is withholding opportunities from you?

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The company sent out a memo that all employees were supposed to get, that they basically were holding open enrollment for my dream position. Any employee who wanted an interview simply had to apply, but they had to drop their application by the end of January. The first time I heard about this was yesterday, when I called my HR director for an update on open positions for the training program. She mentioned that she was surprised I didn't enroll because she knew I'd been gunning for that position for almost a year. It would more than double my salary.

When I spoke to my supervisor about this, he admitted that he withheld that information from me because he didn't think I was ready, that I needed another year here before I should apply for the job. But that's not what my previous supervisor, or my mentor who trained me for the position has been saying throughout 2012. The two truly frustrating points about this is:
  • My supervisor requested me by name. I was transferred to work for him because of my reputation for being good at my job, and for previous good experiences he'd had from me (I filled in over at his location a few times). Since then I have taken on several projects that have improved the efficiency of my department, increased revenue for my location, and found more than my current annual salary in lost and misappropriated funds that have since been collected and put back into our revenue. I've lived up to my reputation, and I've earned my salary many times over by now. What part about this suggests I'm not ready to take on more challenges?
  • Since my transfer over to this location, my supervisor and I have barely seen one another. We have completely different schedules, and he seems far less interested in the work I do than my previous supervisor. Once a week, the closest thing we come to a conversation, he lets me know he's going home. That's it. Considering how little interest he shows in my work, how is he supposed to know whether or not I'm ready for that promotion?


When I confronted him with these issues, he promised me that, if I stayed with him for one more year, he would personally recommend me for the promotion. A personal recommendation from him would almost guarantee the position. He's got so many awards from the company they no longer fit on his office walls. He's got them splayed out all over the main hall. But how can I trust him? It wasn't his position to withhold that information from me. His superiors wanted that memo to go out to all employees. Why was I the only one left out? My HR director made it clear that whether or not a supervisor thought I was ready for the position was irrelevant. Everyone, regardless of experience, education, qualifications, or rank in the company, was given the opportunity to interview for the slot. Why do I get the feeling that my boss is keeping me for himself? Instead of letting me secure a brighter future for my family, he gets one more year of me making him rich. All that money I made for the company, all that money I found... all that was reflected in his month end bonuses. I did the math. He made 130% of my annual salary in monthly bonuses alone, and I helped him get to that point.

What have I done... did I actually do my job too well?!

I've been raging about this since yesterday, obviously. As of this year, the new policy is that open enrollment will be held every January, and no in house promotions will be offered for the rest of the year. So I'm blockaded until January 2014. Murmurings throughout the company suggest a hiring and wage-increase freeze that year as they brace and re-bugdet for Obamacare, so there's a chance my dream job won't even be available next year.

My Question:
Has anyone here on the forum ever had to bust through the proverbial glass ceiling before? How did you do it? How do you rise above your status in life when the powers that be are intentionally holding you back?

To be fair, I have a few blaring weaknesses that have also held me back over the years:
  1. I'm not the most charismatic person I know. It takes a while for people to like me. Once they get to know me, though, they become loyal, life-long friends. I'm not particularly shy, I'm just socially awkward.
  2. I'm a terrible liar. You'd think that would be a quality, but in the work place, if you want to get ahead, lying is a powerful asset for upward mobility. I'm painfully honest, to my own detriment. That's not to say I'm always right, or that I always tell the truth. I just would rather suffer for the truth, than prevail through a lie, so I'm very unpracticed at dishonesty.
  3. I never finished college. Every milestone I've reached in my life has been from the sweat of my brow. I was born in poverty, in a hospital that was condemned after my birth, and raised in a slum that I almost died in three times before reaching puberty. I've been homeless twice in my life. I've crawled my way out of homelessness to being able to provide a financially sustainable life for my wife and son, and while I've made fleeting attempts at a continued education several times in my life, there's either not been enough money, enough time, or both. My work ethic is my strongest selling point... but that's not something that is evidential on a resume. Without that degree, I've always been capped on how far I can go.