On the day I started my first job on July 7, 1973 ,I knew that I would be eligible for a salary review on July 7, 1974. I counted the days. I lived for the time when I would see a major increase in my $3.25 an hour pay. May I just say that after five years as a reporter, I walked out of WWBT TV making $5.00 an hour.

While I never missed the opportunity to tell management that I was under paid, while I never missed the opportunity to say the proposed increase was not acceptable, those protests didn't change the bottom line. As a young twenty-something I was clueless on how to negotiate a salary increase.

Would knowing how to negotiate a raise made a difference in my ending salary? That's a trick question. Given the era, given that I was a "girl", given that the company had set ranges for raises, I would say, that negotiating any raise in 1974 was not a realistic probability. It was not part of the culture of business.

But is it really part of our business culture today?

Unfortunately for many, the corporate landscape has not changed much in the past 30 odd years and it is the rareoccasion when someone can actually walk into their bosses office, request and get a raise because our work culture is not set up to have employees ask and get a raise. It really doesn't work that way for most of us.

With nearly 35 years in the workforce, I can honestly say I do not know anyone who has done that.Never. Not once. . And yet, if you spend time reading business blogs, books on succeeding in business, and magazine articles, you get the impression that everyone but you walks into their boss's office and successfully negotiates that raise.

You might get the feeling that knowing how to ask for that raise is a skill set you need to master in order to have a success career. I would say youb definitely need to learn how to negotiate for money but negotiating for a raise in our culture is tougher than negotiating for a great starting salary.

How many people are in a position to negotiate a raise? Not that many.

It seems that we have corporatized the annual pay raise to the point where for many it's more like getting your report card at the end of the school year. You know ahead of time the range of raises the company is giving 2.5% would be a C and 8% would be that coveted A plus.
Negotiation is not part of the conversation. The corporation tells you what your value is , not the other way around.

According to Ann Bares at the Compforce blog, the majority of workers received a paltry 3.3% pay increase in 2007.

According to survey respondents:

• The top 12.8% of workers (performance-wise) will get an average pay increase of 5.4%.
• The next highest 26.2% will get an average raise of 4.4%.
• The middle-rated 52.9% will get an average increase of 3.3% (note nearly half a percent lower than the competitive norm).
• The lowest rated 2.9% will average raises of 1.4%

Recently I was talking to a friend in a Fortune 100 and asked whether she could negotiate for a raise.; She looked at me like I had just landed from Venus saying, " The only time you can negotiate money in this place is when you are joining the company." Once you are "in" she explained,; management dictates when and the amount ( based on that pre-determined range); that you are eligible to receive.

Think teachers. Think state employees. People who work for unions. All of those annual salary bumps are negotiated ahead of time by others. Whether you are a star or a sloucher, your raise is predetermined. You know the date and the amount that you will see your raise show up in a paycheck.

There are some exceptions and work arounds.

We all know the situation where someone has asked for a raise, been denied, decided to look for another job and then when they inform their current employer about the offer, the employer suddenly "finds" the extra money that the person was requesting in the first place.

Or,when an employee doesn't get the raise they were hoping for is able to negotiate other perks like working from home several days ( saves gas money, lunch money and perhaps cost of clothes) , working fewer hours for the same pay ( I have a friend who negotiated this deal brilliantly) or more vacation time.

Certainly those of us who work in small organizations or are independent consultants need to learn how to ask for a raise and increase our fees.

Consumerism Commentary shares some great information in Secrets and Myths About Salary Your Employer Doesn't Want You to Know.

1. Secret: Your pay doesn’t necessarily reflect performance and seniority. If new hires are getting paid as much as you with your extensive experience, it might be time to mention this and push for a realignment.
2. Secret: There’s more raise where that came from. Your managers will tell you there’s only so much cash available, but they’re usually lying. There is a reserve for those who the company does not want to lose. If you’re one of those people, use it to your advantage.

Rachel Zupek, writing for Careerbuilder.com offers up 10 pitfalls to avoid when asking for a raise. The sentence that jumped out a me was one made by Jim Camp, a negotiation coach and author of "No: The Only Negotiating Strategy You Need for Work and Home." Camp suggests in this article that only two kinds of people can expect to succeed when they ask for a raise. Camp says, "“There are a number of requirements [for raises]. First, the job and what it produces,” he says. “Do you make it rain money or do you support someone who does?”

In other words, Camp seems to be saying that unless your job has a direct line to the bottom line, the chances of getting a increase in salary will be challenging to negotiate.

Joan Lloyd At Work also puts asking for a raise in perspective . Although this piece is dated 1998, the advice is sound. She offers up six different Don't Expect A Raise just because....

Don’t expect a raise just because you’ve got a big workload. Most people today are paddling as hard as they can, since companies are short-staffed. Work volume is not a sound rationale for asking for a raise. It is, however, a good reason to increase staff or explore other options such as outsourcing.

While many of us are developing strategies to get more money, its also good to know that our bosses may be holding back on compliments to avoid being presented with ammunition that could result in the dreaded, " I deserve a raise conversation."

Liz Ryan writes about this phenomenon n BusinessWeek online.

If you praise an employee, s/he'll expect more money.

This argument is easily countered if, when an employee asks about a possible uptick in pay, you share with him or her the financial drivers for your business. If you praise an employee and her response is "Thanks for the praise, now can I have a salary increase?" you can show her how the firm's operating expenses and its revenues tie together—and most important, let her know the specific results that would make bigger salaries possible. Those might include an increase in sales, a reduction in costs, or both. The more specific you can be, the more your employee will understand where the dollars in her paycheck come from, and what she can do to influence her earning power.

I beg to differ. The more specific you get will not increase the employee's understanding. It will not improve their morale. It will not make them a happy camper. This is all the la la land that HR executives live in. They fool themselves into thinking that if they give employees" their truth" that the employees will lap it up like a cat with a bowl of milk.

When someone musters up the courage to go in and ask for a raise they are not doing it as an intellectual exercise. They are doing it because they believe they are worth the money. And besides, they have all read the books that says if the company really wanted to reward them, there is money to do it.

What are your salary conversations like? Have you succeeded in getting a raise? Increasing your raise? What are some of your lessons learned?

Elana writes about business culture at FunnyBusiness