The Career Consigliere

Episode 40: Asking for a Raise (Part 3)

• America's White Collar Wise Guy • Episode 40

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Today, we conclude our series on asking for a raise with some real-life stories.  You'll hear all about how this conversation can go extremely well, and also tremendously terrible, and the outcome you get depends entirely on how you handle it.  We hope that you take this information, all the euphoric and graphic details, and use it to benefit your own career.  Enjoy!

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Whaddaya hear, whaddya say?  Welcome to episode 40 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, as promised, we close out the asking for a raise saga with real-life, personal stories of times when I’ve done this myself.  You’re going to hear two stories today:  the bad one that I completely botched, and the good one where I did it the right way and got an outcome that’ll make everyone proud.  Lots to learn in these stories:  you’ll hear what TO do, as well as what NOT to do, and the goal is for you to take both the good and bad and use them to help you in your own situation.  So, podcast land:  let’s do it!

First up:  the bad story.  I’ve alluded to this in previous episodes, but you’ll get the full version.  I was working for a large financial services company in New York City.  I was earning a $59,000 salary and wasn’t eligible for any bonus or incentive pay, and if you heard my episode on salary negotiation, you might remember that I did NOT negotiate my salary when I was first hired.  As a result, the $59K that I accepted was literally the minimum salary for my level of job:  the max was $89K – just to show you what I missed out on.  Granted, I wouldn’t have got $89 even HAD I negotiated, but knowing what I know now I could have most likely got myself up into the mid 60s.  

Ironically enough, the extra $5-6K that I missed out on by not negotiating may have actually prevented me from ever asking for a raise in the first place.  You see, I was working in that job when I was finishing up graduate school, meaning my student loans were on deferment.  My take-home pay was enough to keep me in the black on the balance sheet every month, but once the loans kicked back in I was going to be operating at a deficit.  My payment was $450 a month, which had I negotiated up to $65K, I could have been pretty close to breaking even.  I had realized my mistake about 2 months after signing on at that place, and that was a thorn in my side the entire time I worked there: it haunted me every single day, and made me a lot more disgruntled than I otherwise would have been, with nobody to blame except myself.   

I was in the very beginning of my career when this happened, so I didn’t really know how what to do about this.  So, figuring I had made an error beyond repair, my solution was to start applying for other jobs.  And would you know, I found one almost immediately:  didn’t take long at all.  It was 20% more money, HAD a bonus, much closer to home, minimal commuting cost, and I’d have enough in my pocket every month to meet expenses, and then some.  The trouble was that it was a much smaller company and not very well-known to people outside the industry.  And the reality is that sex sells:  having this kind of huge, well-known organization on your resume is the kind of thing that catches attention and, as a result, makes you marketable.  I knew the company would have a TON of opportunity and it was the kind of place where you could literally spend your whole career, bouncing around to different departments, trying new things if you got bored, and you’d always have the best of the best with everything.  So add all this up, and I really wasn’t dying to leave the finance company:  it was strictly a matter of dollars and cents.

So, when I got the offer from my White Knight, I went to my then current manager and basically said “hey, I got another job offer paying way more.  It’s going to take close to $80K to keep me here, what can you guys do to help me?”  Pretty cut-and-dry on my part:  I was definitely trying to right the ship from when I was first hired, and figured I’d use some outside leverage to help my case.  Now, in episodes 38 and 39, remember how I likened asking for a raise to vacuuming a carpet, and how it pulls up all the dirt?  This story is a lot of the reason why I say that.  I don’t want to get to off-topic here, so I can’t go into ALL the details, but let’s just say that management had their issues with me.  I always had a reputation for being outspoken, vocal, and not the kind of person who does well with authority or lets people walk on him:  the antithesis of the TYPICAL corporate employee.  Your typical corporate employee is someone who goes with the flow, doesn’t rock the boat, and says “yes” to everything for fear of going against the status quo and winding up in trouble, and I deviated from that norm quite a bit, ESPECIALLY in my younger years.  So you can use your imagination on how those characteristics might cause some consternation on the team when you’re dealing with big egos from people who have corner offices overlooking the Statue of Liberty.  

All that in mind, about a week after I told my manager what was going on, HER boss, our department VP, puts a meeting on my calendar simply titled “Touch Point” – that was the exact title, I’ll never forget.  It was only for 15 minutes, which told me that it was going to be all business.  Sure enough I get to the meeting, my boss and the VP were both there, and the VP goes “Hi, yeah, so we looked into this and there’s just no money in the budget to give you a raise.”  And my response was very brief:  Okay, then in that case, two Fridays from now will be my last day.”  Disappointing, but certainly not the worst outcome:  after all, I had another job lined up.  But it’s what happened in my remaining 2 weeks that really turned the knife.  As my replacement, they brought in someone else in the company that I worked very closely with.  Except he didn’t come from the next row of desks:  the company paid for him, and his entire family, to relocate from another country to New York to backfill my role.  They didn’t have anything else to give me to keep me around, but we gotta be talking close to 6 figures to move a guy and his family from another continent.  So I took the whole thing as a clear statement against me, and that’s where the conversation ended.  No raise, and now I had no choice BUT to leave, because clearly I was no longer welcome there. 

A lot to stomach on this one, so let’s play Monday morning quarterback here for a second and break down what happened.  I didn’t read the room properly:  clearly I was out of touch with where I stood at this organization.  No, I wasn’t doing anything bad enough to be fired, or even formally disciplined, but they clearly were in no mood to do any special favors for me.  And I wasn’t expecting a full $21K increase either:  I would have been more than happy if all they did was give me the $5-6K that I failed to negotiate for in the beginning.  But I went about this in a bit of a smug manner, and was met with equal smugness on the other end.  And the fact that their contingency plan for my exit cost probably 20 times what my raise would have was a clear indicator that I was no longer a fit for this place (16:49).  Now you understand why I say always be VERY aware of even the slightest indicator of where you stand relative to the social dynamic and status quo of your organization:  if ANYTHING  is off, even by a fraction of a degree, it’s going to rise right to the top when you ask for the company to make an additional investment in you.I also did no market research, didn’t explain how I’d continue adding value, did absolutely nothing to demonstrate how the additional money would be worth the company’s time:  it was basically “match my other offer or else I walk”.  And as a result?  All they had for me was a departing message that translated to “don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.”

Now, we transition into a much more happy and positive story!  I was working for another company for a number of years, and things had gone very well for the most part.  I worked on a lot of high visibility projects, traveled a bunch, and as a result had some good connections and a pretty solid reputation in the place.  With my function, my manager and I had built a lot of things together from the ground up, so we had a pretty good relationship, again, for the most part.  Nothing is ever perfect in the corporate world:  lots of times you and the people you work with wind up forming this big, dysfunctional family.  I’m not saying we didn’t have our moments, but for the most part the boss and I had a pretty good thing going.  But at the same time, I had been in the same role for the past 4 years, and I didn’t see any much of an advancement trajectory or any logical “next steps” at the organization.  All I saw was more work to be done, but that’s where I decided to use it to my advantage.  

Of course, you should always scour the open market.  You never know what’s going to happen with any given organization, so keeping other options and escape routes open is always a wise thing to do.  I had interviewed for a few other jobs and actually had an offer in-hand from one of them.  I wasn’t crazy about the offer:  it would have been a little bit more money, but very much a lateral move in terms of level within the organization and the kind of work I’d be doing.  I didn’t really see it as worth bailing on my current company where I knew everyone and was well-established, but I still wanted to use all this to my advantage.  So, it was time to have a conversation with my manager. 

Now, you can bet that THIS time, I did all my homework, everything that I talked about in the past two episode in terms of the research, setting up a good time to talk, I followed all the consigliere protocol.  Essentially, what I did was write a job description for a job that was one level up from what I was currently doing:  I specified a new title, what it should pay, and all the kinds of activities that such a job would include.  I set the meeting up with my manager and framed it as a discussion to suggest new project ideas (which wasn’t entirely false, because that did wind up happening!).  

I started the meeting off by explaining how I was at a pivotal point in my career.  I explained that other organizations were showing interest, but that I had a lot of respect for my employer, believed in what we were doing, believed in the organization, and wanted to stay put for the long haul.  Then I walked the boss through the outline I was proposing for the “upgraded” position, all the projects that I proposed working on, and the new pay structure, which included a 10% increase over where I was at that point.  It was all on a very nice Power Point Presentation, very clear cut and free of fluff, and made perfect sense.  I’ll give him a lot of credit on how he handled it:  he listened to everything I had to say, and gave me his full support.  Of course, he didn’t have the authority to wave a magic wand, but he gave me his word that he’d take this up the chain and would let me know what the outcome was.  And about two weeks later, he called me and told me that, not only did my request get approved, but that giving me a 10% raise wouldn’t be enough to coincide with the pay band of that level of position, so they had to bump it up to a 12% raise. 

So what was different here?  Why did story #2 have a much happier ending than story #1?  The short answer is that I did my research, showed respect for the organization and for everyone involved, and demonstrated the value I could add in a tangible way.  I also knew that I was well-regarded at the company, and that the people up the chain who would have to approve this were all very likely to get on board with it.  Basically, the tide was on my side.  I also had a lot of highly specialized knowledge and experience that happened to be very valuable at that point in time, and to risk losing me over a meager 10% raise request wouldn’t have been a smart move.  I was much better positioned and handled the request the right way, showing the company what was in it for them, and everything worked out better than expected.

So that leads us very nicely into today’s……..consigliere curtain call.  Everything we’ve covered in these past few episodes gives you almost a step-by-step guide to how to handle asking for a raise.  I won’t reiterate the specifics again, I’ve done that enough times at this point.  But it all really comes down to being aware of your surroundings and knowing if and when the time is right to make such a request.  There is a lot riding on this:  for better or worse, your experience at that company WILL change significantly as soon as the request is made.  If they say yes, it brings you to a whole new level of respect and potential with the organization.  They’ve willingly made an additional investment in you, and that speaks volumes about how you fit into their operation.  If they say no, you have to take a close look at why and really assess whether this company is still the right place for you to be.  A few thousand dollars is chump change for most organizations, so if they’re NOT willing to make the investment, I’d recommend doing some serious introspection and really taking a good look at what that actually means for you.  No two situations are the same:  it’s going to be WILDLY circumstantial, and the best I can do is give you some real-life examples of how this has played out, and hopefully you’ve gained enough insight here to charter these waters on your own when the time comes.  Asking for a raise consistently ranks amongst the most difficult, anxiety provoking, and all-around uncomfortable conversations you’ll ever have.  But if you commit to doing it properly, it could be one of the BEST conversations you’ll ever have.

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.