There is an employee where I work who whines when she 2 things going on simultaneously. Although her hours are 8:30 -5:00, she shows up anywhere from 9:30 to nearly 2:00, and spends hours on personal phone calls and playing around. Meanwhile, I consistently come in to work at 8:00 and don't leave until 5:00 or even later, often eating lunch at my desk to get even more work done. But somehow she ended up getting a bonus this year when I did not. I don't get it!

- J. S.

Dear J.S.,

I totally understand your frustration!

Working hard alone does not necessarily get you better pay and recognition. A big part of succeeding within most organizations is also playing political game. If you work hard but people who matter don't know you're working hard or don't understand what benefit you're providing, it might go unnoticed.

From situation you described, I would imagine your co-worker who comes in late is much better at "managing" her managers. Her managers may even think she's doing a great job and that she should be allowed to come in late because she's a "star." Think about it: if you thought you had Michael Jordan on your team, would you let him come in late? Sure! You'd probably also give him a bonus because you wouldn't want to lose him.

Someone who works long hours might just be viewed as a worker bee. And if important people don't know what benefit you're providing from those long hours of work, they may just think you're inefficient and can't get things done within regular work hours. I know it sounds cruel, but this is how game works in Corporate America.

PRINCIPLES OF ACHIEVING RECOGNITION AT WORK

1. Don't treat job like it's your only hope of success in world. If you treat a job like you're dependent on it and like it's your only chance of success, your bosses will notice and may interpret your earnestness as desperation. If they think you have no other options, they really have no incentive to pay you more money or to give you a bonus. If they think job you have now is best you can do, they'll likely take you for granted. You should be generally aware of other job opportunities at all times. I don't mean you need to be aware of specific jobs, but you should have a general idea of what else is available out there.

HOW RECRUITERS SEARCH FOR CANDIDATES

Another way to increase your odds of being selected by a recruiter, which can be even more powerful, is by taking steps to increase chances your resume will be found when recruiters search job sites. The best way to do this is to optimize your resume for keywords recruiters might be searching for. Because there are so many resumes on job sites, many recruiters use complex boolean search strings to try to find someone who matches job description they're trying to fill. Just as an example, let's say job recruiter is trying to fill calls for an administrative assistant who can write letters, edit spreadsheets and handle email and scheduling. The recruiter might search for "Word and Excel and Outlook and administrative assistant." The resume that will come up first will probably be one that mentions those 4 things most. Guess what happens to an administrative assistant who knows Outlook but didn't mention it on his/her resume? They wouldn't even come up in search.