How to Get a Pay Rise
Asking your manager for a pay rise always is a difficult conversation. Most people will avoid confronting their manager, and remain unhappy in their current position or seek employment elsewhere. Others will challenge their manager, sometimes unsuccessfully. This article pulls together 5 tips that have helped me lift my salary:
1. Do your research. Keep the conversation factual. Highlight how much others are paid in your industry. Whenever possible, source information from people with a similar background, skill-set and seniority. You could run a search on job site, or turn to wage comparison service to compare your salary against others in your field.
2. Prepare your arguments. Once you know how much others are paid in your line of business, you need to prepare the case you will put to your manager. Identify one or more reasons why you believe you deserve a raise. Then narrow the list down to focus only on your strongest arguments.
3. Think like your manager. Think ahead about the objections and counter-claims your manager could raise. For each objection, prepare one or more arguments you could respond with. It helps to base your arguments on factual information. Source your data from an established job site or salary comparison service. If possible, print a salary report ahead of your meeting.
4. Prepare your exit. Think ahead about how you will bring the conversation to a close. Your manager is unlikely to agree to a pay rise on the spot. This is true even if you have made a strong and compelling case. More often than not, he will promise to look into this matter and get back to you at a later stage. However, he could also dismiss your request right away if your arguments are weak. Either way, think ahead about how you would respond in each scenario.
5. Keep feelings at bay. At all times, keep the conversation factual. Keep emotions and feeling at bay as they are unlikely to help. If the conversation becomes heated, try to use neutral words such as “market wages”, “salary survey” or “salary report” to focus your manager on the issue at hand.
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