It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for: Your boss calls you into her office, compliments your stunning work as of late, and awards you a fancy new title and some exciting, powerhouse responsibilities to go along with it (hooray!).
There’s just one teeny, tiny catch—the company can’t afford to give you a raise right now. This became an all-too-familiar story during the recession, and it’s still common today as businesses cut costs while trying to maximize their talent, says Dan Schawbel, bestselling author of Promote Yourself and Me 2.0. "A promotion (without a raise) is an easy way to not spend more immediately while still pleasing the employees," Schawbel says.
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