On Labor Day, readers seek some work advice

I am working around the clock for a company for the last three years and I am only being paid as an art director.  Each time I mention a raise the manager says that the company cannot afford it.  What shall I do?  I have two sons, am divorced and make only $48K clear.  I am a college graduate and now have taken in a boarder in my home to help defray some of the costs of keeping my house.  Have you any suggestions?
—Looking for Direction

This is the type of question I get often. People are wondering when their hard work will pay off, especially as they struggle to make ends meet.

You have to be assessing your job and career all the time. If you keep banging your head against the wall and it gets you nowhere financially or experience wise, then why stay?

Unfortunately, that is easier said than done. You sound like you’re going through serious financial pressures, and just walking away from a job isn’t an option for you. So you have two options: Start looking for a new job, or try a different tack at your present one.

If you want to try out the latter first, Rob Bennett, author of the Financial Freedom blog and author of “Passion Saving: The Path to Plentiful Free Time and Soul-Satisfying Work,” suggests getting on your networking hat right away. Connect with other managers in other departments if you can. Get friendly with them. Ask them to lunch. “By knowing the right person at the right time you can make big leaps in your career,” he says.

Don’t go overboard and start muscling your way into other managers’ offices. Feel people out and see if there is an opening for you to get to know them. For example, say, “I like what you’re department is doing and I want to learn more about it.” Also, take advantage of any mentoring programs at your work; or approach a manager you admire and ask them if they’d mentor you. But be sure not to alienate your present boss.

This type of relationship building can take time to pay off, Bennett stresses, but when a new position comes up at least you’ll be on the radar screen of more than just your boss.

If you see no room for advancement, you have to decide when it’s time to move on. Only you can answer that question.

I hope you can offer some advice to my "never-ending college degree dilemma." I'm a 30-year-old administrative assistant in Chicago. Prior to joining my current employer (a large consulting firm) I worked in a small investment company also as an administrative assistant. I've been wanting to go back to college for my undergraduate degree for some time and I've been postponing it for one reason: I don't know what degree to complete. I know for sure that: I don't want to be an administrative assistant for the rest of my life, I can't go for accounting or finance because I'm not good with numbers and never have been and I would like to stay in the business field.

Everyone I know advises me not to do business administration degree because it is nothing specific and won't take me anywhere.

At the same time I would like to incorporate my administrative experience with my new degree so they could complement each other. I really don't want to start at entry level again :(
—A.B. from Chicago

Go to college, my friend, and get there fast.

While I do know a few CEOs in the business sector who never went to college, for most of us, that route will only lead to dead-end or lower-level jobs in that field.

“No matter what position a person has, whether it’s entry level, or senior level, there is great value in continuing education,” says JP Sakey, president of recruiting company Headway Corporate Resources. And it doesn’t necessarily have to be connected to the industry you see yourself in. So go head, become a history major.

“If someone is constantly reading and improving education, that’s the kind of employees we want,” he adds. “To be successful you have to be good learner.”

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