Robert writes:
As the new year approaches, I want to start earning what I feel I deserve. How can I get the salary increase and/or promotion that I feel that I deserve from my employer?
The Career Doctor responds:
The new year is a great time for setting your agenda for the year ahead — whether it’s something personal like getting more exercise or quitting smoking or career-related, such as finding a new job or obtaining a raise. Even though you can do these things at any time, the beginning of a year is always a time to take stock and make plans.
The good news is that most salary surveys I have seen in recent months show the first sizeable increase in raises in years. Whether employers are sensing the economy turning around or whether they see the writing on the wall that workers are looking to change jobs, most studies show they expect to hand out much higher raises than in the past few years.
So, you need a plan. It will be easier if you have a scheduled meeting planned with your supervisor, but if you don’t, you’ll want to request one. In the time leading up to the meeting you should document every accomplishment since your last promotion/raise. You want to document how your actions have impacted the department, office, company. Whenever possible, quantify those accomplishments. Please note that accomplishments do NOT have to be cost-savings or sales; you could have written computer scripts that made the company Website function more efficiently, created a staffing system that led to lower turnover, or you could have logged some number of customer service issues/complaints. Accomplishments are simply the outcomes of your job — and ideally show how you go beyond your job description to help your employer.
One final thing to do before the meeting is to get a sense of what people with your experience and training make in similar positions within your company and in other companies. Many professional organizations conduct annual salary surveys and there are also several online salary sources. (Find the sources in this section of Quintessential Careers: Salary Negotiation and Job Offer Tools and Resources.
At the meeting, you can either discuss your accomplishments with your list in front of you or present it to your supervisor so that he/she has something to help document why you should get the raise you request. Make a logical case for your raise; do not discuss how much you need it because your kids are heading to college or need braces…
And finally, be prepared to not get the raise you think you deserve. If that happens, you’ll need to take time to decide whether or not you need to switch employers to get the raise you deserve — which is the more likely scenario.
Finally, read my article, Getting the Raise You Deserve, published on Quintessential Careers.
