To ask for a payrise or to not

Hi guys

I have been with my current company for 7 months now and my first review is next month. I am seriously debating asking for a payrise, I don't earn a great deal now and I am young so feel the need to climb the money ladder as fast as possible which would be helpful in my later years, not forgetting wanting a place of my own/better car and to be able to save more.. do you think I should this early in the job? The company is good to me, but I have gained so much experience in the last 8 months I know I could get more money elsewhere if I really wanted, plus, I feel it won't hurt to ask, and feel if you don't ask you will rarely be offered..

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Comments

nXPLOSi

Personally, I wouldn't directly ask for a pay rise after 7 months. I think your in your right to ask about potential salary increases in the job, and the opportunity to move up in the future, but that's as far as I would go. Showing your ambition is never a bad thing, but to ask for a pay rise to a company that you say has been good to you after just 7 months, its probably pushing it. You took the job on 7 months ago, knowing the salary.

You say you feel its important to climb the money ladder as fast as possible as your young, and although its always nice to earn extra cash and take home a good salary, your experience is what you need to grow at the moment. Later in your career, or even your next job, you can demand the higher salaries due to the experience you have collected and built on with certifications. I'm not sure on your past experience, so its hard to judge where you currently are in that area.

This of course is just my opinion and different people, companies and bosses all do things differently. I've been lucky enough to gain raises throughout my time at the company I currently work for, and only once did I counter with "That's not really enough for me now", to which it doubled in the space of about 3 days. If I was in a different situation or had different experiences in my career my answer may be completely different!

Best of luck with the review, who knows, you may not have to ask, they may make the first move!

Essendon

Wouldnt hurt to ask I guess, whats the company's policy on pay raises? Do they do a salary appraisal every year, ask your co workers (choose carefully) if/when they got a raise. The other question is, how do you think you are worth more? You looked at job boards?

networker050184

Agree 100% with Essendon. Do you know if you are even eligible for a raise? I know a lot of places have a one year wait time. Are you ready to explain why you deserve more money? You need a sales pitch here. Are you working in an 'in demand' position? If any shmuck off the street can do your job for your pay you probably don't have much argument for a raise.

Good luck!

the_Grinch

Have to agree that it doesn't hurt to ask, but know as much as you can before you get in there. If your review is happening now, does that mean you'd have to wait another year to get a raise? If so, I would definitely ask. At my last job I started in Feb and our reviews were in December. I was given a raise that I didn't feel was enough for three reasons. 1. The company moved and the original raise only covered the gas I had to use to get to work 2. I was doing way way way more then the job I was hired to do (I was hired to work the NOC and open tickets, did that for a month before being "moved" to helpdesk while continuing my other duties) 3. A partner spoke with me privately and told me that I should expect a very good raise as they knew I was doing more then I was hired to do

When I had my review, I expressed my disappointment and that I would have to consider looking for another job. They countered with if they would double it would it buy them six months? I said yup and ended up staying another 10 months before leaving. So if you do it, you need to do your homework:

1. Current job duties versus what you were hired for
2. Certifications since you've been hired
3. Any major accomplishments (solved a big issue, saved the company money, etc)
4. Further education

Generally, I tend to think it is better to ask, but in the right way. You don't want to make them angry, but a lot of times you might have been given a raise if you just asked.

thegoodbye

Coming to work on time and completing tasks will generally get you a 3% raise most places. If you want something more, you have to go above and beyond what's expected of an employee. I could go on, but I'm generally curious what you feel you've done to deserve a pay increase after 7 months?

thronetm

Thanks people

I don't know if they have any pay rise policies, it certainly doesn't state them in our company handbooks

I have passed 2 Microsoft Server tests and am looking to get two more by July, I want to continue studying for years to come and my company are aware of my learning desires (I feel disappointed in myself if I haven't read a Microsoft book for a couple of days). I have improved my technical skills greatly taking on new things without any problems, I can say I am much more technically skilled than I was 7 months ago, so much so that some of the other engineers come to me looking for help with me having the least years experience. My job involves remote and on-site work, I was brought in for more on-site but this hasn't turned out the case, there has been much more Help desk work than on-site and I have made this clear once or twice before that I prefer the on-site work which I was told would be the main duty. (Help desk really annoys me some times, it's just the same thing over and over, day in-day out)

I do look at job boards yes, I always have, not becuase I want a new job, but I'm just interested in seeing the current postings and how the economy is doing (And yes I do see some with greater salaries and I could tick 4/5 of the boxes)

Thegoodbye, I'm not saying I definitely deserve a pay rise but I don't feel the need to sit back and say nothing, because I fear it could become a habit and the employer won't be complaining will they?

paul78

lfcgeorge wrote: »

I don't know if they have any pay rise policies, it certainly doesn't state them in our company handbooks

That sounds like an opening to the discussion. You don't have to explicitly ask for a pay raise. Just ask the question about how the company does pay raises. You can mention that you have been improving your own technical skills via passing Microsoft tests and that you are doing so to add value to the business. Let your manager answer the question and see what he/she says...

It's implied that you are interested in a salary increase without actually asking the question directly.

Good luck on your review.

BTW - it can help to practice the lines before you meet with your manager. So it seems more thoughtful.

thegoodbye

It sounds like you're working hard. From reading your original post, I didn't have enough information to say whether or not you warranted a raise or not. Now that you've given more detail, I'd say ask for one and list out reasons x, y, and z. It will be a good time (if you haven't already done so) to set up goals and training for the next year. Assuming you meet and surpass your goals moving into next year, you're setup to ask for another raise come review time. These annual meetings are also a good time to discuss what you'd like to work on and learn -- and to begin setting up training dollars to do so.

thronetm

Paul78 and thegoodbye, thanks.. I will not ask directly but talk about how the company manages pay rises and then also point out what I have achieved in the past months, and what my goals are for the next year.