So have been working your tail off and you think that you deserve a raise? Congrats on all your hard work. Now you get the joy of navigating the murky waters of asking for that raise. The good news for everyone is that women are getting closer to men when it comes to successfully securing the raise and the ask rate for the younger generation is nearly equal regardless of gender.
Now that you got the courage to ask, let’s make sure that you are ready to ask for raise in a successful way.
Build your case and have good info
It’s likely not going to be good enough to simply say., “I’ve been here _(amount of time)_ and deserve a raise.” You need to build a case so that it is clear that you are creating more value than you had been previously. Think about:
- The responsibilities that you have that you didn’t have since your last negotiated raise or your hiring. Have you taken on additional roles? Been a team leader on things you weren’t before? Contributing more than others?
- What has been your impact on the numbers? Did you grow the business or add some new accounts? Share the financials and other metrics that are important to your boss.
- What is your impact on others? Have you been mentoring others? Have you helped lower turnover or increased retention?
Have the number
Don’t build your case only to lose your momentum because you don’t know what to ask for. It can be a percentage or an actual number, but you need to have it ready to discuss. If you aren’t sure where to start to do some research. Find out what the national average is for your type of role. Take into consideration the industry, company size, and geographical location. Sites like Glassdoor do a good job of estimations but don’t take their numbers as fact. I’ve seen them be both really low and really high depending on the role.
Leave your personal life at the door
I am an advocate that you should be involved and take an interest in co-workers’ lives as much as professionally possible. This, however, will be a time to say that it needs to stay at the door. You hurt your case when you include a need for a raise because of personal issues or want. You want to base the ask solely on what you have done for your employer instead of inadvertently guilt-tripping them into it.
Grace, patience, persistence
Even though you feel like you are deserving of a raise you may need to wait to build a stronger case for yourself. Have the patience to know when the right time is to ask your employer.
Be graceful when asking for a raise. You may have worked yourself up emotionally to get to the point where you ask for the raise, but you need to lean into your emotional intelligence to navigate this time successfully. Speak confidently, and clearly with a humble spirit.
You may nail all of this and still get a no. Take it with grace and realize there may be circumstances outside of their control (Budgets already set, freezes, etc). Ask when you can connect again on the subject and mark it on your calendar. If the issue is more that you need to do more, ask for feedback or steps to take and then set a goal timewise to make those changes.
Be ready, strong in your emotional intelligence, and know what you want. Go in with grace and have the patience and persistence to keep at it if needed.
Make a better tomorrow.
-ZH
Trackbacks/Pingbacks