You did your homework and provided your boss with concrete reasons why you deserved to get a raise in pay, but they still said no? Now what?

First, take a deep breath and resist the urge to storm out of the office or make a scene. Unleashing a furious tirade against your boss, your company, the unfairness of it all, etc. will only make you look bad, and it won't do a thing to help your chances of getting a raise in the future.

What you do after getting a "no" after requesting a pay raise, really depends upon the reason they gave you. (And if you didn't get a reason, don't be afraid to ask for one. Knowledge is power, and you really need to know why they said no). If your company declined to give you a raise because of financial reasons, there's little you can do but accept it for now, and try again in another three or six months. Similarly, if they say that company policy precludes giving any raises except as part of an employee's annual performance review, and it's not time for yours, you have little recourse but to accept that answer and wait.

However, this doesn't mean you should just rest on your laurels while you're waiting for the time to pass. Use this period to give your company the best work you are capable of, and make sure that you are privately documenting every instance where you met or exceeded their expectations. The surest way of getting any employer to grant a pay raise, is to give them a reason to want to. When you can make it obvious that you are a valuable employee worth the extra compensation, your chances of getting a raise in the future will skyrocket.

If they said no because they feel your work performance is sub-par, you know exactly what you need to do. Actually, you have two choices. You can decide that they're wrong and you really were giving them great work. In this case, you might want to find another job with a different company that will value your contribution.

If you think their reason for saying no to a pay raise might have validity, and you're basically happy with your job, co-workers and boss, then what you need to do is look for ways to shore up your performance. To that end, ask your boss to give you specific examples of how you can improve, with your skill set, your job performance or anything else they feel needs work. Try to see the situation objectively and leave your pride out of it-they need a reason to grant you a pay raise, and your job now is to do everything you can to give them one.

In the work world, saying no to a pay raise request can mean, "No, never in a million years." Or it can mean "No, not right now." If it's the latter, then there's still hope of getting that raise in the future, so don't give up!

Learn more about this author, Julia Williams.
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