How to negotiate a raise

Water Cooler Careers
#1

In my review - I always get either six out of sixes of five out of sixes. I’ve never had a four (promise you).

and they (my boss & my bossess boss) routinely tell me how valuable I am on this team. And I want to go ask for a legit raise.

Is it bad to just say I want this “explicit dollar amount”? how do I go about doing this?

#2

I asked my boss a while ago for an explicit dollar amount $10k above what I truly thought I could get and he ended up giving me just that. I did some research and explained to him that I was not even being paid the average salary for my current position. I knew back then that I could easily get a much higher salary elsewhere but unfortunately I was tied to my visa sponsorship so had to stick with them.

So I think it’s fair to ask him for an explicit dollar amount as long as you’re desired salary is not a ridiculous one given the avg salary for your position in your city.

#3

BAZZ, you’re the man.

#4

Good luck! Worst case scenario, just take the printer outside and beat the sh*t out of it

#5

I don’t think I’ve EVER received a raise by asking…

  • At a number of companies I brought up being below market, typical bureaucracy and excuses were the response, and eventually I took a higher offer elsewhere (proving I was below market).
  • At one company they gave me 60% in raises in less than 2yrs, for which I didn’t ask. :open_mouth:

So yeah, I gave up on asking, doesn’t seem to work for me.

#6

yeah, it really depends on the type of organization you work in. For smaller RIA or independent firm, much easier to have explicit figure and conversation on the topic. For big banks, it is completely out of question, I was recently promoted to a new post, however, they were willing to pay me the market price for the post, citing company policy that if they pay me the market price, it would constitute a 35% increase of my previous post’s compensation. The max. internal promotion increase can’t be more than 30%. What a load of BS!

#7

Thanks for your input gentleman. I don’t know how to take this right now. I’m definitely underpaid, and there are similar trade-ops roles in Denver that pay far more than what I’m making now. I have friends that jumped ship for these roles. I however, don’t want to leave my firm. So, I may have royally pissed my boss off, but, the writings gotta be on the wall that I’m not going to waste away in a back office role forever… so at least pay me, especially since I’m good at my job.

Now, on the other hand, I was approached to apply for a sales role (selling our firms proprietary portfolios to advisers) the day after I asked for a raise. So, maybe I have nothing to worry about.

#8

That sucks. I was in a similar position when I first joined my current company. I was extremely under-paid, but again, I was tied to my visa sponsorship so there wasn’t much room for negotiation. After I asked for a raise, they were acting as if they did me a favor of giving me a 40% increase. Some people don’t realize that jumping from $10k - $20k is a 100% increase but that doesn’t mean shit…

#9

Just going to leave this here.

If you’re going to make a change, now is the time to do it. Hot labor market, wage pressures, high turnover. You won’t have the opportunity to make a change if things start to slow down.

#10

I beg the difference in our industry. Most labor shortage are in labor service market (Blue Collar jobs). However, for our industry, I would say there are still a over supply of labor/worker out there.

#11

you want a raise? go to the CIO and say yo i’ve been killing it since day 1 here and i would like a raise otherwise I’m gonna dip.

#12

have another offer in hand, and then say goodbye when they don’t value you as high as the other company.

unless there’s a compelling reason to stay (like visa/green card sponsorship, option vesting, etc).

#13

Damian Lewis Axe GIF by Billions