7 Reasons Why You Won't be Getting a Raise this Year and What You Can Do About it

In the grand scheme of things a big raise won't make much difference in your life, but we'll all keep chasing it anyway. Maybe it's the big number, maybe it's the increased value that society places on us when we make a lot of money, or maybe we all just want more stuff. Whatever it is, everyone's gunning for that big raise. Unfortunately, most of us won't be getting anything more than the standard 3 to 6% Cost of Living Adjustment anytime soon. Here are a few reasons you won't be getting a raise this year, and some ideas for how you can fight back.

You Don't deserve it
Of course you want a big raise, but maybe you just don't deserve one. Did you go above and beyond? Did you schmooze with all the big shots at your office? Did you find a unique way to make a good name for yourself in your company?

Take a good look at what you did this year and honestly ask yourself if you deserve a raise. I didn't deserve one my first year out of school and I didn't get one. But I was fine with it because I worked my ass off in other areas. Work wasn't priority number one for me, so giving me a raise probably wasn't priority number one for my old company.

You Deserve it, but you're too young
Maybe you do deserve a raise. You tackled new projects, you started a company social committee, you made as many great contacts as you possibly could and you even asked for a raise, but you still didn't get one. Don't worry, the corporate world is a little behind the times. A couple of years with a company might seem like a lifetime to you, but to the old folks in the corner office, it's just a blip on the radar. Sometimes, you have no chance of getting a raise when you're 24–you're basically chasing your own tail trying to do everything right for little payoff. If you determine that this really is the case, you may want to reevaluate your career and your current company.

You didn't ask for one
This one is pretty obvious. Or so you would think. If you don't ask for a raise, you're not going to get one. As nice as it would be, there is no one sitting around watching out for you or your career. No one will tell the boss to give you an extra ten grand, you have to ask. Create a list ofeverything you accomplished this year, talk about the numbers you hit, the deliverables you produced and milestones you surpassed. When review time comes around, bring the list to your boss and tell him you want a raise.

If that doesn't work, put your resume online, get a couple job offers, and bring the offers back to your boss. He won't be so quick to brush off your request if he knows you have somewhere else to go.

You worked too hard
Working hard is not equal to working smart. Working hard is burying your head in a stack of papers and spending day after day pounding away on your keyboard. Working hard is coming to work an hour early and leaving an hour late, every day.

You can do these things. You can work really hard and still not get a raise because you got so lost in making sure your "work" was done that you forgot to do the right kind of work.

You didn't do the right kind of work
The right kind of work may not always feel like work and it definitely won't feel like the most "productive" thing you can do, but it pays off in the end. The right kind of work is putting aside your daily to-do list for an hour and strategizing with the boss after lunch instead. It's blowing off a night with your friends or significant other to go to the quarterly get-together and network with company big shots. And it's syncing your schedule with your boss's, so you come in when he's in and leave after he's gone.

Doing the right kind of work makes you a visible and valued asset, and it puts you in the position where you can ask your boss for a raise because you have invested time and energy into forming a solid relationship with her.

You got comfortable
It's easy to get comfortable at your job. When you do a certain job long enough, you learn the ins and outs. And more importantly you learn the shortcuts. What once took you half a day, now takes an hour.

When you get to that point, it's very easy to get comfortable. But the people who make the real money and get the big raises, don't settle for comfortable. Overachievers don't feel comfortable feeling comfortable. You can only learn and grow when you challenge yourself, and you can only get a big raise after you learn and grow into the new position and higher salary you're chasing. If you're comfortable being comfortable, don't bank on that big raise.

Your boss sucks (and you didn't do anything about it)
To get a big raise you have to make people like and respect you, but you also have to produce great work. But it's nearly impossible to produce great work if your supervisor doesn't provide you with great direction.

Let's face it, a lot of bosses just aren't good. It's not necessarily their fault that they were promoted to manager without the skills to manage well. We're all stuck in a system that often promotes based on "experience" rather than competence or managerial skills.

So, if your boss sucks, do something about it. Find the person in the office who is best at playing office politics. Take a look around at who can usually be found sitting at their desk, and who can be found hanging out just talking with others. The person who's chatting the day away probably has the most influence outside of his direct reports, so he's the guy to talk to.

What you're after here is a mentor, someone who actually wants to help you grow. After you find the right one and develop a solid relationship, tell him why you deserve a raise and why you'd rather not go to your boss with the request. He can help you find all the reasons why you should, and shouldn't, get that raise–and help you make real progress in your career.

If all else fails, there is always one final way to get a raise. Find a new job! If you're young and you have the skills that employers are looking for, there's a good chance you can get a significant raise by going to another company.

The trick is to start laying the groundwork for a potential exit before it's too late. Put your resume on the right sites, start blogging about the field you love to work in, and connect with the right people. When you find yourself in a bad position, you'll have the network in place to jump ship at the right time and start working for the right company, at the right price.

Forget About Generation Y: We're All to Blame for Workplace Woes

I've been blogging about generational differences for over a year now. But with all the back and forth, constant banter, and little resolution, it feels more like ten years.

It feels like everyone is saying the same stuff over and over. Boomers and X'ers complain about Generation Y, and then Generation Y complains about everybody else. But really, we should all just be complaining about ourselves together.

We all have a lot of similar traits that make the workplace really suck sometimes. But for some reason we're so distracted by the minor differences between us that we forget how we're all a pain in the ass sometimes.

Generations aside, here are three things that will always remain the same:

We all have unrealistic expectations of each other.

Does Generation Y have unrealistic expectations when it comes to our first jobs? Absolutely, but who can blame us?

When it comes to education, I can't remember one professor who taught me the ins and outs of entry-level living. And parents, well, let's face it. It was a much different world when then got out of school than it is today.

So while Gen Y needs to get a grip on what it means to be at the bottom of the food chain, managers need to re-evaluate what they expect their young workers to be in tune with. It seems pretty logical to me that we won't know everything.

We're all a little stubborn at first.

My first real project was facilitating groups of senior management on a new operating model being released to the company. Nobody wanted to change and there was a lot of resistance.

"Why do we need to change now?" they'd ask.

Everyone left grumbling about all the work they'd now have to do, explaining this system to their employees. I didn't hear from any of them for weeks.

Then a couple weeks later people starting calling for materials to hand out to their employees. It started to make sense that no matter how much they fought, the company was still making a change.

I think the same is going to happen with the rift between Generation Y and the rest of the workforce. Only it will happen a lot slower. Change is a dirtier process when it occurs from the bottom up.

But just wait until you catch your boss texting and loving it. They're already sending emails via Blackberry, which is really not that different.

We're all whiners.

The older I get, the more I realize that we are all just a bunch of whiners. And by we I don't mean Generation Y. I mean we as in everybody.

For over a year now I've listened to older generations hate on Generation Y, then Generation Y hate back. Even I threw my own two cents into the blogosphere, adding some fuel to the on-going fire of generational conflict.

The sooner we come to terms with the fact that we all have something worth complaining about, the sooner we can cooperate using the only method that's ever kept the majority happy—give and take.

I'm hoping as more Gen Ys mature and become accustomed to the realities of the workplace, it'll be easier for us all to grasp that we all have problems, regardless of our generation.

But even then, Gen Next will enter the working world, bringing more grief for the rest of us who are corporately over the hill. So let the cycle continue, I guess. Just don't let me become the guy who calls all those young employees selfish and entitled. Let me be the cool boss, please.

Thinking Inside the Box: Not Goodbye, More Like See You Around

I've never been one for long goodbyes, so I'd best go ahead and put this out there right up front… this is going to be my last post for Employee Evolution.

Before you shed any tears (I know, no one is crying but let me have my moment), just know that I'm not leaving entirely, just migrating over to Brazen Careerist. You see, the focus of EE is changing, and us guest bloggers are being shuttled over to BC so we can add our thoughts to the rising chorus of young professionals who demand a difference. So think of this more as me heading to a new house in the neighborhood rather than moving to another country.

I'm not entirely sure what my new role over at BC is going to be as of yet, but I know I will be offering more than just stories and humor, and can hopefully couple what I've been doing here with some helpful tips in ways to get ahead despite our youth. You might see me pop up from time to time in the journalism or politics section of the community, and I hope that if you aren't already checking out BC now that you'll start doing so, there's really a great community of bloggers over there who appreciate the readers.

So as I go I first want to say thanks to all of you who have read and commented on my posts week in and week out. When I was suffering through my old job, it was such a release to be able to come and write about my experiences in such a way that I could get all the frustration out while finding a way to make things at least remotely interesting to you all. Your encouragement, advice, and well-wishes were always welcome, and while I may not have responded to every comment, I read each of them. Your thoughtfulness continued as I moved halfway across the country and started the search for my true meaning, and my only regret is that I will no longer be able to bring you along on my journey as I seek that "dream job" we're all constantly chasing.

I also have to thank Healy and Paugh, who took a chance on me as just some random guy who wanted to write a weekly column. Jackie's Millenial Muse works made me really want to be a part of EE, and I'm glad the guys were willing to give me that opportunity. I'm looking forward to continuing in partnership with them (and Penelope as well) over in the BC community.

So now I'll wrap things up before I start getting choked up thinking of the good times we've shared. You have all been so good to me, and I thank you for letting me come into your life for a few minutes each week and share the joys, sorrows, dreams, and failures of the life of one simple twentysomething longing to be more than just another anonymous paper-pusher.

And now, since I'm told to always leave them laughing, and since I am an avid Indianapolis Colts football fan, a joke.

A Bears fan, a Colts fan, an Eagles fan, and a Patriots fan are all climbing a mountain. Seeing as it is the nature of sports enthusiasts, they all begin arguing about who is the most devoted fan of them all.

Suddenly, the Eagles fan says, "Oh yeah? Watch this! This is for the Eagles!" he shouts, and then proceeds to throw himself off the side of the cliff.

As the remaining three continue climbing, the Bears fans says, "That was nothing, this is for the Bears!" and casts himself off from an even higher altitude.

As the Colts fan and Patriots fan sally onward, still arguing, the Colts fan suddenly proclaims, "This is for everyone!" and promptly pushes the Patriots fan off the cliff.

Thanks again everyone, I'll see you around.

Thinking Inside the Box: Dusting Off the Resume

While I'm not yet ready to head back into the world of cube farms and meaningless projects (of course I'll look at this pointless presentation and tell you if it would look better if printed on violet or goldenrod), I figure I should at least update my résumé and bring it at least somewhat in line with what I've been doing over the past year or so.

The only problem is that it seems like the rules of how to write out a list of your accomplishments and hand them to someone in the hopes of getting an interview are changing so often that I don't know what to do, so I end up with a mash-up of half-baked ideas that likely make me as employable as the guy who stands out by the highway and insists to me that cheese is full of tiny spy satellites. And if I stare at one more online "how to" guide on writing résumés, I may just start to believe him.

The trouble all starts at the top, with the "Objective" section of the form. I was told back in college that this little blurb was critical, compressing everything important about who I am and what I do into one sentence. The whole thing seemed just as ridiculous then as it does now (I maintain that anyone who can condense their entire personality, hopes, dreams, and aspirations into one sentence is boring, droll, and as fake as Paris Hilton's philanthropic endeavors), so I used some sort of canned phrase designed to make me look like a young go-getter who can't wait to step all over his friends and climb over the corpses of his foes to get to the top. Now I'm told that whole thing needs to go, and instead it should be replaced with… well, that's the thing, no one knows what to replace it with, so my résumé will now feature a tiny sketch of Bobba Fett playing a game of poker against Stephen King. It may be stupid, but it still makes about as much sense as the "objective" idea did in the first place.

The next thing I've learned is that now companies use all manner of software to sort résumés, and therefore you should include all sorts of keywords so the program is more likely to pick up on you and then forward your information on to a real person. The real person will then take a look at your information, realize you've simply jammed it full of buzzwords to try and get the job, and then promptly throw it into the trash while wondering while no "real" people are applying for the job. The thought will briefly cross this individual's mind that perhaps it would be best to at least scan all the incoming résumés rather than letting a machine do it, but that soul will then remember the wonderful sales pitch delivered on goldenrod paper that got the HR department to spend thousands of dollars on the software in the first place.

At any rate, this state of review has left me cramming all manner of meaningless words into my life's story, so much so that I feel like the folks playing "Buzzword Bingo" in the IBM commercial. In describing my work with Employee Evolution I found myself writing, "It is the intent of my articles to provoke a reaction which will allow me to differentiate myself from other bloggers in the realm of new media. Furthermore, the use of social networking has allowed me to better actualize my goals of extending my network and making important connections in the blogosphere." Go ahead and count the number of useless buzzwords in those two sentences alone, and then extrapolate that into a couple pages. I think next time I'm going to do it in anagram form, something like:

Anyone

Can

Trick

Unsuspecting

A.I. through

Lying about

Inconsequential

Zeitgeist

Expectations

No wonder nobody in HR knows what they're getting when they bring people in for interviews. The fact I have to write like that to even get through the screening means that in today's job market, the ability to toss out technical sounding words is far more important than anything else.

I've also heard a million different other stories about this stuff. Bullet points are better than paragraphs; don't go over a page, DEAR GOD DON'T GO OVER A PAGE!!! List your activities, no wait, don't do that, nobody cares. Make sure when you are asked for salary requirements you don't write "One hundred billion dollars Bwahahahahaha!"

I think I'm going to just ask to see the cheese guy's résumé, he seems to have it all figured out.

Thinking Inside the Box: Freelancing, the Only Way to Make Less Money than Being Unemployed

When I finally managed to break my cubicle shackles I swore to myself that I would not take another desk job; at least not until I realize that not having health insurance anymore and only leaving the house slightly more often than those little old ladies who are convinced that the sun will kill them really gets to me. Therefore, I thought it would be prudent to take a break from the nine-to-five and try my hand at freelancing. Hehe, cute idea.

I believed striking out on my own would be a good idea because in the industry I'm trying to break into (video game journalism), there are very few true staff positions. Most gaming websites are run by a guy (or collection of guys, but always guys, because ladies still value human contact a little too much) who knows way too much about programming and also has an intrinsic desire to tell everyone what he thinks about games. Now, this is all well and good, as passion is a great thing, but the unfortunate side effect is that the vast majority of gaming sites are small, in-house operations that employ little to no actual staff. Sure, there are a few big companies like IGN, Gamespot, and 1Up who have a full-time professionals on board, but most "enthusiast" websites are nowhere near reaching those heights.

The nice thing is that there is just too much going on in the industry for one person to handle it all, and that's where we freelancers come in. Be it product reviews (it sucks), opinion articles (the whole industry sucks), or thoughtful editorials (everyone who disagrees with me sucks), freelancers can do it all. I've done a bit of freebie work the last couple years in order to build up my portfolio, and now I've garnered enough of a reputation and track record that I'm in a position where I can actually extract a little pay for my services.

The only problem with the whole arrangement is that the pay scale for freelance work is comparable to the allowance your parents gave you in middle school, possibly even less. Outside of Employee Evolution/Brazen Careerist, I write for four different gaming websites, and my total monthly take-home is somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 for a really, really good month. Also, over half of that amount comes from one site, so if for some reason we ever end up on bad terms, my yearly salary will be akin to that of your co-worker's 7 year old who gathers up aluminum cans and returns them for the recycling deposit. I'd like to think I have more income potential than little Susie, but she's got all of marketing and legal pitching in their cans, and we all know that if anyone loves caffeine it's the folks who spend their days coming up with ad campaigns and suing people.

The prudent thing to do would be to find outlets that pay more, but unfortunately it's not quite that simple. There is a big discrepancy between the major, investor-backed URLs who run a full staff and everybody else. If you aren't making money hand over fist then you likely aren't making money at all, which is why I'm lucky to concurrently find four places that will actually pay me when I vomit my thoughts onto paper.

I suppose I could branch out and write for other industries, but since I have no interest in how to be a good mommy or where to find the best shrimp salad in town I find it hard to develop a passion and give my best work. What's the difference between working at someone else's desk and being miserable than doing the same thing at my own? No thanks, I'd rather be broke and content than slightly less broke and miserable.

Besides, there's a traffic light near my apartment, I can always just head up there with a bucket and dance for change. That would be fun, assuming the hot dog cart guy is willing to share his little slice of solicitation heaven.