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When you’re ready to take on more responsibilities and work on new projects, it may be time to ask for a promotion. It can be an intimidating process but learning when and how to make the request can make things easier–and could certainly be beneficial for your career.

Employee turnover is expensive for companies. In fact, turnover costs businesses more than the average promotion. According to research, replacing an employee who quits costs, on average, 21% of their annual pay.

Furthermore, research has shown that staying in a particular role for too long makes it more likely that employees will leave their company. With these points in mind and against the backdrop of a job seeker-first job market, it may be the perfect time to ask for a promotion. 

Thinking about the next step in your career path can seem easy: put a plan together, talk to your boss, and voila, you’ve got a promotion. But unfortunately, the game isn’t played that way. There are a few unspoken rules of promotions.

Earning a promotion enables you to assume a more important role in your company, earn a higher salary and gain a heightened sense of accomplishment. To effectively advance your career within your company, you will need to have excellent work performance and catch your supervisors’ attention.

While performance, experience and skills are common requirements for a job promotion in many workplaces, you can take extra measures to become a prime candidate for your desired position.

A small percentage of people in this world are lucky enough to be born rich. Even fewer manage to hit the lottery or somehow fall into large sums of cash. Generally speaking, the rest of us have to rely on good old-fashioned hard work if we want to get ahead. Unfortunately, not everyone who works hard will be rewarded for it. In addition to being dedicated and having the right skills, there are some important steps to take if you want to advance in an organization.

In your quest for professional promotion, the first stop should be your human resources or staffing department. Find out everything you can about the culture and values of your organization, so you can be sure you’re towing the company line. Equally important as you step onto the corporate ladder is having a strong sense of your own abilities and what you want to achieve.

If you’re currently on the market for a job and looking for a role you can grow in, some companies may be better at cultivating their employeesthan others.

Data research company the Burning Glass Institute recently partnered with Harvard Business School and the Schultz Family Foundation to rank the 250 biggest U.S. public companies in terms of their investment in their workforce, a report entitled the American Opportunity Index.

“The index is designed to measure companies based upon the level of opportunity they create for their workers,” says Matt Sigelman, president of the Burning Glass Institute, adding that, “we are specifically focusing on the roles at the Fortune 250 that are open to people without a college degree.”