The Career Consigliere

Episode 39: Asking for a Raise (Part 2)

• America's White Collar Wise Guy • Episode 39

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We continue our series on asking for a raise with part 2:  Having the meeting with your manager.  This is the big showdown, the moment you've waited for - it all comes down to this.  The outcome of this conversation will determine not only whether your paycheck goes up, but will tell you A LOT about where you stand in the organization, in more ways than you might realize.

Today's episode will cover how you should approach this meeting:  how you should prepare, what you should say, how you should say it, and what to expect after it's over.  Enjoy!

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Whaddaya hear, whaddya say?  Welcome to episode 38 of the Career Consigliere podcast: your no frills, no BS forum for navigating the corporate job scene.  We’re back with you once again for what we hope to be a highly informative and engaging half an hour, or so!  Today, we continue the conversation about asking for a raise with the most critical component of the process:  the meeting with your manager.  Before I say anything else, be aware that episode 38 lays the foundation for everything that’s going to be covered today, so step 1, if you haven’t already, is to go back and listen to it.  But assuming you have, then stay tuned because we’re going to talk all about how you should handle this incredibly important, and highly delicate conversation so that you can set yourself up for the best possible outcome.  Podcast land, let's do it! 

An uncomfortable conversation

Like we said in the last episode, asking for a raise is one of the most uncomfortable conversations you’ll ever have, and let’s briefly talk about why.  For one, most people hate confrontation.  The average person has a very hard time facing their fears and plowing through the barriers.  But this is especially true in the corporate world.  Anyone with even a few months of corporate experience knows that the average white collar job involves dealing with people you don’t like, and putting up with their crap either because they’re above you in the organization, or you have to deal with them regularly in some capacity and it’s better to just “keep the peace”.  And often times, you face political pressure from the forces that be to push certain narratives and keep the status quo of whatever your function, team, or the organization at large is trying to do.  

So as a result, you wind up keeping your mouth shut and just “going with the flow”.  And over time, this becomes the norm.  Eventually, it gets to the point where you get so used to getting knocked around by the waves where it’s easy to become complacent and accept whatever the company throws your way as valid and reliable, under the comfortable illusion that the company is looking out for your best interest.  This can have TONS of implications, but in this episode we’re using this whole dynamic to reinforce the point that you have to advocate for YOURSELF in order for your paycheck to go up, because nobody else is going to. (3:47)  So, with that said, there is no bigger stand you can take than setting up a meeting with your boss to essentially say “Hey, the work I’m doing is worth more money than you’re currently paying me, and that’s no longer okay with me, so what are you going to do about it?”  And while those are not the EXACT words we use to have this conversation, that’s the message we want to send, so let’s get into how this all should look.

Setting up the meeting

Obviously, a meeting needs to be set up.  A lot of this was explained in Episode 38, but I’ll hit some of the highlights as a quick recap.  In my opinion, 2-3 weeks after a GOOD performance review is the best time to have this kind of conversation.  If your review was crappy?  Don’t even bother – you have bigger problems to fix than a few thousand dollars in your salary.  But assuming you had a solid review, and examples of stellar performance have been well-documented, 2-3 weeks after the review is the perfect time to have this discussion.  It allows enough time to go by so that it doesn’t muddy the waters of your review:  in other words, it makes it less obvious that you’re using the performance review as a means to an end and allows you and your manager to use the review as an objective evaluation of your performance.  But, this 2-3 weeks is also a SHORT enough time to allow all the highlights of your performance to be fresh in both you and your manager’s head, and that’ll definitely come in handy for this kind of conversation.  

For setting up the meeting, you’ll first want to give your manager a verbal heads-up that there’s “something” you’d like to talk about.  You DON’T want to give yourself away here:  if they know that you’re intending to ask for a raise, they have time to get their defenses up and concoct an excuse to give you.  You want their visceral, gut reaction during this conversation, because that’ll tell you what’s really on their mind and give you a pretty good idea of whether they’re willing to support you in this.  Get them on board with you setting up a meeting to discuss whatever topic, usually an ‘idea for a new project’ is a pretty safe and neutral cover story for this.  Get their verbal OK to set such a meeting up, and then get it on their calendar at an appropriate time, all things considered.  I’d book a full hour for this:  there’s an excellent chance this discussion will get pretty deep, and you’ll want to make sure that there’s adequate time to say what needs to be said and also address any points your manager brings up:  you don’t know exactly how it’s going to go from their end, so having a full 60 minutes to work with will be key.  

Adding Value in the Near-term

In episode 38, we went through all the research that you should have done to figure out whether or not it’s appropriate for you to be asking for a raise at all.  So if what you’ve found out proves that you’re within your rights to be asking for this, here’s where you’ll want to start putting pen to paper so you’ll have something to show your manager during this meeting.

In most organizations, Power Point, or some equivalent presentation management software, tends to be the gold standard for guiding formal conversations, so that’s what I recommend using.  I’d recommend dedicating the first slide or two to ways you can add value to the company in the near-term.  It would be bad business for ANY company to invest additional dollars into an employee that doesn’t plan on sticking around, so the first thing you’ll want to establish is that your near-term vision for how you can continue adding value to the company to justify the higher price point over the next few years.

Let me say this too:  When I say near-term vision, I don’t recommend going into specifics here on what promotions or specific titles you plan to hold in the future:  right now you’re asking for a pay raise in your CURRENT role – you’re not directly asking for a promotion here.  Instead, you should use this as an opportunity to suggest additional or different things you can do and how you expect them to add value to the operation.  A safe bet here is to come ready with 2-3 ideas for new projects that are within your scope and have the potential to be impactful in the not-so-distant future.  You don’t have to do a deep dive on any of it at this point (you won’t have time for it in this meeting anyway), but be prepared to at least answer some preliminary questions your manager might have.  After all, your boss came into this meeting thinking you wanted to talk about “project ideas”, right?  Gotta deliver what was advertised!

Ideally, these projects/initiatives should be ones that you’re confident you’re capable of from a knowledge/skills standpoint, and are also appropriate for someone at your level in the organization.  If you’re a junior finance analyst, then saying that you’ve got some genius idea that’s going to save the company $200 million over the next two years is going to get you laughed at.  Definitely suggest some ideas that show ambition, but keep them reasonable.  This not only shows initiative, but it also could help you even further down the road when it DOES come time to talk about promotions.  Doing progressively more advanced things in your role will show the organization that you’re capable of taking on more, new projects get you networking with more people, and all of this enhances your reputation as time goes on.  So look at that:  asking for a little old raise today could actually help set you up for something even bigger a few years from now!  Your manager will definitely appreciate the future orientation that you show by doing this, and that can only help your case for a raise.  

Presenting the Market Data

You opened with some good ideas that you had.  You broke the ice, and now you should have your manager’s attention, so here’s where you can make your transition into the financial end of things.  In episode 38, we talked about doing research to find out whether your current pay is in line with the market.  Make sure that the data you have on-hand is accurate, because this is the part where you’re going to show it to your manager.  And yes, it’s going to feel like you’re standing naked at midfield in an 80,000 seat stadium, but now it’s showtime!

As a segway, you can say something like “here’s what somebody doing the kinds of projects we just talked about should be earning”.  This is where the visual component of your presentation becomes very important.  You’ll want to show two things very clearly:  your current salary, and the range of where the market actually is for somebody like you.  It’s also a good idea to show some easy-to-read bullet points of the criteria you used to generate this report:  education level, geography, length of experience, whatever led you to these numbers.  Also make it very clear where you got this information, and have the full report ready in case your manager wants to see it, or if they want to do more research on their own later.  Basically, you want to leave no question in their mind that you’ve done your homework and ae being 150% transparent with your thought process and what you’re showing them.  

Ask for a Specific Amount

But a salary range alone is not going to cut it:  you’ll still need to show your boss a bit more than just a salary range.  You need to ask for a specific amount, an annual salary or hourly wage, depending on how your pay is structured, and the amount you ask for is going to be heavily informed based on where you currently stand in terms of pay.  Let’s use some easy numbers as an example and say that you currently earn $78K, while the market pay range from your research is $80-90K.  In a case like this, your best bet would be to ask for $87,500, and there are a few reasons why I say that.  For one, let’s just do some quick math:  from 78, a salary of 87.5 represents a $9500 annual increase, which as a percentage is just over 12%.   

Then you wonder, “If the numbers are accurate, why wouldn’t I ask for as much as I can get”?  Well, there’s one good reason why you shouldn’t.  Let’s say you asked for the full 90 and you got it:  well now you’re at the absolute top of the market for somebody with your job profile.  We don’t know if/when you’ll get promoted to the next level, so until then we have to assume that you’re going to remain in your CURRENT level.  A lot of corporations give you a raise every year to keep you current with inflation, typically right around 3%.  So if they bump you up to 90 and then you get that standard raise the following year, all of a sudden you’re OVERPAID for the work that you do. 

And what if things don’t work out in this job for whatever reason and you have to make a lateral move elsewhere?  Odds are you’d be setting yourself up to take a pay cut, which is never a good thing.  Asking for slightly less than the top of the range is a smart move because it gives you the best of both ends:  you still have the potential to earn noticeably more than you are currently, while still giving yourself some room to expand and “grow into” your new pay rate with time.  It very well could be several years before you have the opportunity for a promotion, and that’s an eternity in the corporate world.  Unfortunately, corporations are NOTORIOUS for not keeping wages up with inflation.  In many cases it’s a race to the bottom: organizations will post a job to the open market at a lowball starting salary, and just wait until someone uninformed or desperate enough comes along to take it.  So on the off chance that you wind up on the open job market again, you want to do everything in your power to avoid setting yourself up to take a pay cut when you join a new organization.  Making sure that you’re paid fairly without being OVERPAID is a very strategic way to go about this.

Also, here’s another thing that happens when you ask for a raise:  if the company supports it, the conversation will likely turn into a negotiation.  Episode 17 talked all about salary negotiation, so go back and check that out for a deep dive on how that process goes, because that’s a whole endeavor in itself.  But the 5-second version goes like this:  You ask for 90, the company comes back with 80, and you settle on 85.  That’s an extremely basic and grossly oversimplified example, but that’s the main idea of what happens in a negotiation.  So you’ll want to adjust what you ask for based on where you think you’ll realistically land.  So back to our example:  you’re making 78 currently, and you ask for 87.5.  The company is almost never going to give you exactly what you ask for.  In a situation like this, the best you can hope for is that they meet you in the middle, somewhere around $83K.  If you can pull that off, consider it a big victory!  And if they try to lowball it, try to come up with counter offers as close to that midpoint of the range as possible.  You work there, so your negotiation power isn’t as high as it would be if you were coming from the outside, but do everything you can to get to the midpoint of the market range.

Yes, asking for a raise is about the money:  obviously it affects your take home pay, which affects all aspects of your life, and that’s how the world goes ‘round.  But if you do this the right way, not only do you get more money, you also show the company that you’re savvy and very self-aware.  Going through an exercise like this displays INCREDIBLE business acumen and gives not only your manager, but anyone else involved in the approval process the impression that you understand your worth, as well as your relative standing in the company.  At the end of the day, no matter how well-liked you are in your organization, you’re an expense item on a spreadsheet somewhere in the finance department.  And if you handle asking for a raise the right way, it will speak VOLUMES in showing the organization that you’re an employee that understands very well how they fit into the equation, has RESPECT for the organization’s checkbook, but also has SELF respect, and enough balls, in plain English, to stick up for themselves and advocate for their own career.  These three things should bolster your reputation in that company in a lot of different ways:  people WILL remember this!

The Result

No matter how convincing your presentation is, no matter how much your boss might want to support your request for a raise, I can almost guarantee that you’re NOT going to get your answer right then and there.  At best, chances are they’re going to have to take this up the ladder and run it by THEIR boss, HR, payroll, and whoever else might be involved in that approval chain.  I’d say be prepared to wait easily a few weeks for all the right people to get in line and reach a verdict.  For better or worse, that’s probably the answer you’ll get initially.  As a next move, they’ll likely want you to send them the presentation you created with all the information you shared, so be prepared to send that as well:  this makes the request credible and serves as a written record of the conversation that took place.  

And now?  The only thing left to do is wait.  If the news comes back positive, then congratulations!  You’re paycheck is going up, you’ve built up your reputation as a savvy employee, and you can be confident that your company places value on you:  in many ways, this takes your relationship with the organization to a new level.  But if the news is bad?  Your manager will be the one to tell you what’s up.  And what he/she has to say may be difficult to hear:  it could be something on the company’s end, or it could be feedback they have for you specifically.  Regardless of what the reason is, you’ll have to really assess the feedback they give you and do some serious soul searching to figure out of this company is still the right place for you.  Having a raise request denied will definitely take the wind out of your sails, and you’re going to learn some things about your manager, the company, and yourself in the process.  It’ll definitely give you some things to consider about your future there, and what you might have to do in your career.  

My friends:  we’ve laid some heavy stuff on you today.  Lots to reflect on here, so let’s sum it all up nice and clean with today’s……consigliere curtain call.  The rumors are true:  the corporate world is NOT a place where you can truly be yourself.  In many cases, you’ll have to be a chameleon and a bit of a follower to have sustained success in the corporate landscape.  Standing up for yourself is never an easy thing, but nothing is more critical than the money you receive in exchange for the work you do.  If there was ever a time to get motivated to take a stand and have the uncomfortable conversation, then a pay raise would be it!  

Be strategic about how you set up the meeting with your manager.  2-3 weeks after the annual performance review is probably the best time.  Don’t be too direct about it:  definitely don’t lie or mislead them, but the fact that you’re asking for a pay raise shouldn’t be obvious until the conversation actually takes place.  When the showdown happens, start off with some possible near-term project ideas that you can do that would justify an additional investment from the company.  Then, present your market research:  your current salary, the market range for where you SHOULD be, as well as all the variables/factors that went into generating those numbers.  Finally, request a specific amount that falls within the salary range you discovered in your research.  You want to show that you’ve really done your homework and that you’re well-informed.  This will send such a strong, positive message about your worth as an employee from so many different angles.

And once you’ve done your part, all you can do is wait and see what happens.  Hopefully the news is good, but be prepared for how you’ll respond if the news is bad.  It could be the beginning of some decisions you’ll have to make in your career.  Coming up in episode 40, I’m going to share some true stories of what happened in times I asked for a raise myself.  You won’t want to miss that, so make sure you tune in!  

Sadly folks, that’s all the time we have for today.  But have no fears, and shed no tears, because I’ll be back with a new episode very soon.  As they say in the industry:  no listeners, no show, so do me a favor, and stay loyal!  If you find value in my content, please leave me a nice review, tell all your friends, and don’t forget to like, subscribe, and follow on whatever platform you use to get your podcasts.   Beyond the confines of your headphones, speakers, TV screen, or any other crazy contraption with the ability to stream audio, I also provide one-on-one career assistance, so visit my website at career-consigliere.net to learn more about me, book me for a private consult, join my email list, or explore some of the other career services I offer.  And to all of you out there in podcast land, remember this:  Who’s the boss in your career?  You, nobody else.