The Career Coach: How to ask your boss for a pay rise
Career coach Angela Burke says that preparation is key when it comes to approaching a pay rise.
Let’s be honest, we all feel we deserve a pay rise but when it comes to successfully negotiating one with your boss, it’s best to focus on facts, not feelings.
You have to remember that you’re one person within a team of people that may be asking your boss for a raise, so it’s important to make it very clear why your job requires one.
Do you see what I did there? I took you out of the problem and brought your job into it.
At the end of the day, you need to be able to clearly articulate why the salary you’re receiving is no longer relevant to the job you’re doing.
Here are a few things to consider that may help you answer that question:
- What’s the price for your job within the employment market - are people being offered more than you’re currently being paid?
- Since you commenced employment in your job, has the scope of your job changed?
- Are you continuously exceeding the expectations required and therefore, operating at a more senior level than you’re employed in?
Remember, this kind of negotiation begins with a stellar delivery. Take the time to really prepare and get in the right mindset before approaching your boss. This is not a time to get emotional. Stick to the facts and focus on the job.
If you don’t get the raise you were looking for, all is not lost. You’ve opened the conversation so take it one step further and ask your boss what criteria must be met in order for you to successfully secure a raise. Start working towards that criteria while checking in with your boss along the way so that there are no surprises for either of you when the next pay rise conversation takes place. Good luck!
- Check out Angela’s online career workshops on theintegrativecoach.ie and @theintegrativecoach on social media.
