You have been an employee in a company for some years. You know your duties well. You have the aspiration to be promoted as you know you are qualified. However, there are a few more 'seniors' in line for the same promotion.

Should you just forget about it? Is there anything you can do to get the promotion? Here are a few tips to help you to get ahead of others:

1. Upgrade yourself

You can do so by signing up for out-campus or distance learning courses. Choose a course that you can do well and not so expensive. Most employers like the fact that their employees are willing to upgrade themselves.

2. Get more information about the job

Here, it means the new job. Gather as much information as you can about the job you eyed on. Learn what you do not know so that you have the experience now. However, be discreet. Showing off that you are competent can cause you to lose the opportunity easily.

3. Complete tasks ahead of time.

Complete all the tasks assign to you well. If possible, make sure they are faultless. This is so that nobody, even your rivals can question your reliability. You do not have to be perfect. Yet, you need to prove that you are a responsible person.

4. Lead where you are

You do not have to wait to be a leader. Everyone has a gift to be a leader. It is a matter of knowing how and when to exercise the gift. Lead where you are now. Lead with your actions. People will know a leader when they see one. Display traits of a good leader.

5. Be a 'star' employee

A ‘star’ employee receives additional perks. He/She can be easily promoted if there is a suitable vacancy. However, a ‘star’ employee must also be a leader, hardworking person.

6. Talk less during working hours

Employers prefer their staff to talk less while working. They like their staff to concentrate in their work. However, fact and fiction are two different things. Employers cannot suppress their employees to have small talks or chats while working. So, you just have to talk or chat less.

7. Do not take sides.

Do not get involve in any dispute between office staff in the first place. In reality there may be many factions in a company. Each faction has its own leader and beliefs. However, no every staff is involved in these factions. Be careful. Do not take sides. Office politics can murder your promotion chances.

8. Do not believe all the gossips you hear from your colleagues

Not all gossips are bad. However, you have to choose whom and what to believe in. Since it is named ‘gossip’, then the story must have been edited and rewritten before it reaches you. So, be sensible when you deal with gossips and gossipers.

9. Do not gossip or start a story.

Since you have to careful when you hear gossips, you must not be a gossiper yourself. Do not start a story even if you have a reason to do so. Make sure the story ends with you. Do not go around telling others.

10. Take your work seriously.

When you are serious handling small assignments, you will take on big assignments with the same seriousness too. You know your duties, so you do not need anyone to look over your shoulder to see what you are doing. Your employer or the top personnel knows.

11. Complain to the right channel

If you need to complain, do so through the right channel. Do not write poison letters or spread fabricated news to your colleagues. This may put you in a disastrous situation. You may lose not only your job, but also your reputation which you have been working hard to build all these years.

If you are serious about that promotion, then be the employee your bosses and subordinates can trust. If you want your working career to be fulfilling and enjoyable, do not do anything you will regret later. Make yourself deserve that promotion.

If by this time next year, you are still not promoted, then you should know what to do. There are many opportunities out there that will be yours to pick and choose. You have proven yourself in this company and it is time to move on.