Negotiating a pay rise for new qualification?

Hey Guys,

Considering ive just got my CCNP im thinking about asking for a pay rise. Im on decent money (about $55k) but alot of things like out of hours work and on-call i dont get paid for and i usually lose the lieu time. This has a rolling affect into my social/study life as a result. I would have a strong guess that im the lowest paid in our team, and to be fair, at time of employment i would agree but ive been more involved in alot of core projects like installing new QinQ rings, installing ASR9ks in the core network and so forth. Also my CCNP goes towards our cisco partner status - so if i revoked my association we would be downgraded, so they are benefiting from my cert too. One thing to note is that they did pay for 2 exams and 2 books to go with each one but all studying was done on my own time. It is also worth noting that sadly i did not agree in advance what if there would be a rise come the end of it. At the time i was happy for the chance and experience.

So a few q's

1) would you ask for a payrise in my situation?
2) how much of a pay rise would you say is fair?
3) how would you approach the company about this?
4) what would you do if they say no to the payrise? I dont want to revoke association or anything as it would be a painful experience and no doubt spell the end of me there.

For me, this is an interesting one, because if i do go for the CCIE it would put me in a difficult place afterwards.

Thanks

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Comments

the_Grinch

1) would you ask for a payrise in my situation? - Yes I would, I read an article where a large percentage of people left a company due to money and then found out that their company would have offered a raise if asked. Worse that can happen is they say no, which would put you where you are at now.

2) how much of a pay rise would you say is fair? - I'll let someone else answer this

3) how would you approach the company about this? - I'd go to my direct manager and ask if we could discuss something for a few minutes

4) what would you do if they say no to the payrise? I dont want to revoke association or anything as it would be a painful experience and no doubt spell the end of me there. - If you like the company, I would say ok for then and decide if you want to look elsewhere. I wouldn't threaten, but I would definitely see if the grass is greener somewhere else.

Couple things to consider though. First, did it state anywhere that if they pay for the cert you owe them a certain amount of time? Second, are you close to review time? I know we are currently in our review period so it may be wise to bring it up during that review. Third, do not speak about leaving. You don't want to put anyone in a bad spot and it could affect you down the road. IT is never as big as you think and people know people. That all being said, I would ask about a raise, as I said you already didn't get one so at worst you stay at your current salary. At best you get the raise and go out for a beer.

pert

You need to both ask for the raise without hesitation or reservation while not coming off as threatening or implying there will be consequences if they say no. If youre in a formal office setting try to schedule a meeting with your boss in advance, if you dont work in that sort of setting then try to do something to that effect. Make it formal, state your case, ask for the raise, then stay quiet until they give you a direct response.

Dont suprise people or come off as threatening.

If they say no they say no. Ask if they can set a plan for you to work toward a raise. Most of the time that stuff is BS, but it makes it clear youre not planning on bailing (which you implied you want to avoid).

itdaddy

the trick about pay raises is do you have leverage in the situation. you have to work your leverage.
do you save them money show it, do you save them time and money cause you are flexiable and it is hard to
find a good employee then use it. but the bottome line or trick is documented leverage...cold facts I am going thru same thing at my job...

SteveLord

the_Grinch wrote: »

I read an article where a large percentage of people left a company due to money and then found out that their company would have offered a raise if asked.

Meh...it's easy for an employer to tell someone that AFTER the fact and AFTER that employee is gone already to avoid bad press.

Zartanasaurus

SteveLord wrote: »

Meh...it's easy for an employer to tell someone that AFTER the fact and AFTER that employee is gone already to avoid bad press.

This was my initial reaction as well.