I know exactly where you're coming from on the whole "I'm vastly more qualified than the person who got the job by ANY objective measure but didn't get it anyway because (1. the were buddies with the decision-maker or the decision maker just liked their "story" better than mine or the decision maker liked them over me for some completely arbitrary reason like a shared interest in something else or I didn't choose my ethnicity carefully enough when I was born or I didn't choose my gender carefully enough when I was born, etc).  Sucks.....but what can you do?

I have a theory.  The longer you're out of school and out in the real world, the less you expect things to be fair.  Students actually expect things to be fair!  Can you believe it?  Job/Career, etc is a game.  You just have to learn how to play the game.  The Rules:

1) Its much better to LOOK good than to BE good.  Being good gets more grunt work piled on top of you.  Looking good gets you called a "leader" and promoted.  Appearance is everything.

2) A personal connection with the hiring manager/decision maker is vastly more important than any qualification you bring to the table.  The corollary to the rule is that since we know this is true, avoid HR at all costs.  They are nothing more than a roadblock.  I sometimes think the whole purpose of HR is to eliminate those who were not smart/creative enough to get around them.

3) NEVER under any circumstances admit you are playing the game.  Never admit that you are planning/plotting/scheming to work things to your advantage.  When your plan comes to fruition, just shrug your shoulders and act like it was all just luck.  When you make this or that move and the rules/policy prevents you from being screwed when you otherwise were going to get screwed, shrug, luck.  Never admit you're as much of an operator as your boss and your competitors.  They hate that.

4) Try not to be too obvious about it, but brownnosing those above you is a tremendous benefit.  You can only get so far in any company based on how good you actually are at your job.  From that point on, somebody has to reach down to lift you up-you cannot climb higher on your own.  You need a champion/patron in the executive ranks to get very far.

5) Keeping #4 in mind, be sure to follow whatever the corporate fashion of the day is be it "Six Sigma,"  "Faster, Higher, Cheaper", "Just in Time", "Zero Defects", "New Economy", whatever it is.  Do not question it.  Do not point out that its ridiculous/stupid/empty plattitudes that any idiot can recite.  Just go with the flow.  Eventually those at the top will read a new book or hear about the new fashion while rubbing elbows with others at the top of other corporations and then it will be time for you to learn the new fashion.....Bonus points for being an early adopter of the new fashion and using the new buzzwords before most of the others have caught on.

6) No matter how incredibly bored you are because they've given you nothing substantitive to do, make sure to always look busy.  Yes, they know you're not.....but your boss will not appreciate it if you're sitting around twiddling your thumbs.  Others will get the idea that he doesn't need as many people or as big of an annual budget which will mean a cut in his personal power and that's the last thing on earth he would ever want.

7) go out of your way to be extra nice/helpful to people in other departments of the company.....most especially if they're at your level or higher.  They may come in handy in the future and even having one who likes you on the team doing the interviewing for that open spot can be really helpful.  One Caveat:  Go way the hell out of your way to be nice/charming to all secretaries and personal assistants.  Yes, she may not have more than a HS education and she may be making 1/8th of your salary.  Guess what.  She can utterly destroy you if you piss her off.  Make a bad impression on her and her boss will hear about it and you will 99 out of 100 times be on his or her sh!t list too.

8) always give off an optimistic, happy, can-do air.  Nobody likes pessimists.  They're downers and besides, many of them have this "I'm smarter than everybody else in the room" air about them that everybody hates.

9) Always listen to others.  It can't hurt and even if they are dead wrong about everything and/or are complete idiots, the very fact that you asked them their opinion and listened to it will make them much more inclined to like you and be helpful in the future.

10) Its not so much about the job you do.  Its really all about your boss and how well you connect with them.  I've had bosses who thought I was a star and who just loved me and I've had bosses who thought I was a complete idiot who couldn't do a single thing right.  I was the same guy.  Nothing changed except my boss.  How well you mesh if far more important than how good you actually are at the job.  Early impressions are CRITICAL.  Once they form an opinion about you good or bad, it takes a HELL of a lot to change that opinion.  Be very careful about giving up a good boss to take a promotion.  A promotion in which you go from a good boss to a crappy one is not worth it (trust me, I know from personal experience).  If you're thinking about applying for another position in the company, don't spend half as much time finding out what the job entails as you do finding out what your prospective new boss is like and whether you will likely connect with him/her or not.  A crappy boss can make your life truly miserable no matter how much you like your job title or how much money you're making.

Take my advice or not.....these are just things I've learned since I finished business school 9 years ago.