You Want a Raise?

The American way of life has become, “You need to pay me more money.” The reality of the situation though is that you will not get more money until you have proven to your employer that you can do your job well and that you DESERVE to be paid more money. My advice to anyone who thinks that they can waltz into their boss’ office and ask for a raise when they have not demonstrated exceptional work habits in all aspects of their job is to turn the other direction. Your request will more than likely be met with the question, “Why do you think you deserve a raise?”

Unless you can sit down and readily justify your employer’s question, your request for more money will probably get pushed aside. Your employer does not owe you more money for simply coming to work every day and doing what you were hired to do. That’s what your current paycheck is for. However, if you have taken on new opportunities, responsibilities, and have become more than just the average-joe-on-the-job then you have every right to ask for a raise. However, you need to be able to accurately document your accomplishments. The burden of proof lies upon the requestor.

In a perfect world, your boss would know every single great thing you did for the company off the top of their head. Unfortunately this is not a perfect world and your boss has his or her own job to worry about. Here are some tips and things to think about before you go in to negotiate your raise.

- Do you really deserve the raise or do you just simply want more money?
- Have you excelled past the advanced level in your original job duties or taken on more duties since the last increase you received?
- Are your work habits such as attendance and interaction with co-workers up to par?
- Can you document specific examples in which you accomplished something that the company benefitted from?
- Have you come to the boss with problems AND solutions on how to fix the problem?
- Have you researched what others in your field are getting paid?

Put together a portfolio and be ready to answer the above questions in detail. If you truly deserve a raise and have done your homework on the subject, then by all means, walk right in and ask for more money. If you know that, deep down, you have not done the best job that you could possibly do, then don’t ask. Use your realization as a starting point to begin documenting all the good things that you do. In today’s competitive job market, you need more than just your word to show you deserve that increase.