I've written before on How to Ask for a Raise (several times actually) and, for me, it's a topic that's worth repeating every now and then. After all, your career is your most valuable financial asset, offering you many financial benefits. You can make the most of it by getting a college degree and managing your career to its full potential. Doing this well can earn you millions of dollars in extra income throughout your lifetime. One way to do this is to periodically ask for raises when it's appropriate.
This story from the Wall Street Journal Online offers ideas on making your case for a raise. A few of their key thoughts on how you should go about convincing your boss that you deserve a raise:
Laura Sejen, a practice director at Watson Wyatt, says employees should focus on what's most important to managers: how well you have done on personal targets or helped the firm toward broad goals.
Atlanta career coach Lori Davila suggests sharing a story with your boss that highlights an achievement and emphasizes the bottom-line result. Be clear and concise about your accomplishments because "we're in a sound-bite society," she says.
Managers respond to enthusiasm, Ms. Davila notes, so don't worry about appearing boastful by showing pride in your work.
Throughout the year, take advantage of opportunities to highlight your accomplishments. If you receive a complimentary letter from a customer or a co-worker, for instance, forward it to key decision makers with a note saying you want to share the good news.
Obviously, there's a fine line between being someone who's just reporting the facts of their success and a pompous, blow-hard who is full of self-promotion, so you need to be confident, yet not too over-the-top. My advice would be to focus on facts that can be substantiated: that you saved the company $256,000 by finding a new way of doing business, that you grew sales 8% versus the prior year, that you delivered that winning, new product in six months versus the standard ten months, and so on -- you get the idea.
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