(Tl;dr at the bottom) I'd like to start by saying that I love my immediate boss, my team, and the vast majority of my coworkers. I'll even say I love where I work. It's a small community college so our small staff size means we rely heavily on one another. We have fun but we work hard. We recently had our president leave and a VP was promoted to president and let's just say that our team is...not impressed. Long story short, we are all run ragged due to changes he has implemented. He was previously VP over my division, so he knows our team well, and he used to trust us to get our job done and left us to it for the most part. That's all changed now. Anyway, thats all context for my advice question.
I've been employed here for over three years and even my boss tells me I'm over qualified for my position. I'm an administrative assistant and I only took the job because I'd been laid off and was desperate for work when they offered it. My boss also frequently tells me that she and other leadership at the college consider me a superior employee. I've always received fantastic reviews, have never had a single complaint brought against me, willingly help out with committees, student activities, and anywhere else I'm needed. My problem is that I'm vastly under paid, I get paid less than others who do half the work I do. And anytime I apply for a promotion opportunity, I get passed up for an outside applicant (occasionally someone far less qualified than me to the point I have had to train them on their new job that I didn't get). I just found out that, for the 5th time, I have again been denied a job that I am a perfect fit for. This time I didn't even get into the first round of interviews. I had a very frank conversation about this with my boss and she's just as baffled as I am (she encouraged me to apply when I was hesitant after my last 4 experiences). I wasn't given a solid reason this time, other than other candidates had more experience, but in at least one other case, I was told I didn't get the job because of the (at the time) VP's personal policy that you don't give promotions to employees who have been at the organization for less than 2 years, possibly longer, despite qualifications or merit. Every time I have applied for a promotion, I make sure I match the requirements. I hold a master's degree in an education related field, I have multiple years of experience in higher education and other related areas, and I'm working on a second masters degree.
My question is this: do I stay and keep trying or do I assume that I will never get a promotion at this job and move on to somewhere that I can use my education, experience, and skills to the best of my abilities?
Tl;dr - I've been consistently denied promotions at a job I love despite being qualified and capable over less qualified external candidates. Do I move on or keep trying?