With yearly performance review season upon us, we wanted to reach out to our community and provide some tips and advice on how to ask for the raise you’ve been wanting!
There is much to prepare and think about to prepare for the end of year one-on-one performance review meeting with your supervisor (if you don’t have one in calendar yet, request one!)
Make sure to spend a couple weeks leading up to the meeting preparing what you’re going to say to make the most compelling pitch for your raise.
Here are our TOP tips:
#1 – Stick to professional, not personal in your messaging
- Think in terms of your professional contribution and use this information to message why you feel you deserve a raise.
- We have heard the argument of asking for a raise because of change in a personal situation (spouse lost job, you have medical bills from an ill family member, daycare is expensive, you can barely afford your rent/mortgage) and while these things can absolutely strike an emotional cord with your manager, it’s not going to be something that makes it up the executive chain to provide a strong argument as to why they should make a raise happen for you.
- Think, you aren’t really asking your manager for a raise, you’re asking his/her boss’s boss for the raise. What does that person want to hear about you? They want to know your professional contribution.
#2 – Think in terms of numbers and write these facts down
- What amount of $ have you saved the company this year? Did you cut expenses?
- What revenue have you brought into the company this year? Have you brought any new relationships or clients to the company?
#3 – How did you perform this year?
- Did you win an award or receive recognition?
- Was there an email about your performance from either a client or internally that you can print and share during this meeting with the sender’s permission?
- Did you promote anyone on your team and/or hire great candidates for any much needed positions? If you don’t work in a hiring capacity, did you take any extra work off other’s plates to finish a high-visibility project on time and under budget?
#4 – Providing VALUE
- This is the biggest and most important piece of your pitch. Your supervisor / manager wants to know, how will you make his/her life easier and the company better by them investing in you? Think, they are going to spend more money on you than they did last year – WHY? It’s your job to help them answer this question.
- What have you taken off your boss’s plate this year? What have you helped to rally the team around project-wise? How have you increased team morale? Was there an idea you brought to the table this year that came to life? State your best contributions.
- Looking forward – What are your ideas for next year and what are you going to bring to the company that’s even better than what you provided last year?
- Think about the company’s vision and roadmap for your department. In which areas will you provide knowledge and value? In which areas can you contribute to ensure a positive 2020? Make sure you relate this back to not only your departments goals, but the company’s goals leading into next year.
We hope this helps! Best of luck and here’s to you getting the raise you deserve!
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