Asking for a raise.

[nothumb]

Ok. I definitely deserve a raise. I am the lowest paid staff in my department, making even slightly less hourly than a guy who was hired several months after I was and does far less, has less experience, etc. Partially due to my poor negotiation during the hiring.

I contribute all sorts of extra work and special projects, i.e. scoring systems for residents, training other staff in using our agency's database software, organizing volunteer tutors for our kids, etc etc. I am very good at my job.

One problem is that I'm very young and this affects how people view me and feel they can treat me.

My boss is not trying to give anyone a raise, he will claim short budget, may not be straight with me, etc. Same for his boss. You know how it is with human services. Tough to get blood from a stone, but it is overdue and I deserve it. What's your approach?

One possibly relevant item is that I will also be inquiring into an agency sponsorship of an MSW in exchange for a few years' service when it's done.

I suck at asking for raises.

Thanks,
NT

[wacki]

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0743526937.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

It comes highly recommended from my dad who is a very very good lawyer.

[nothumb]

Dude I'm broke.

Give me the condensed version.

NT

[daveymck]

How easy is it to get a job elsewhere in what you do?

Thats the key thing I would be going in with, starting off with good performance contribution to the team etc etc. Then ask for the raise cite market rates, comparable employees etc etc, say that you are committed to the team and company and dont want to have to be forced elsewhere to get your worth.

Then go from there and see what his response is, if they dont give you one and your skills are marketable then look for a new job.

[The Dude]

Take one of those 20+2's you were going to lose and buy the damn book. Seriously, it's like somebody dropping $100 at 3-6 then saying, "If I buy a poker book, I won't have any money to play with." Get over it, buy the thing.

That book is very good, by the way.

[wacki]

For a free copy of that book, click here:

Linky (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=library)

[partygirluk]

$10 on Amazon

[jakethebake]

You have to go in with ammo. Draw up a long list of all your accomplishments. Copies of any reports you've written. And this is important...tie them to increases in revenue/sales. Any kind of charts/graphs you can make to demonstrate your accomplishments are good too. But remember just doing the work and showing ehat you've done isn't enough. You have to tie it into how it benefits the company financially.

[OrangeHeat]

Your situation is exactly what I was facing. The best way is to shop around and get another offer that you can use as leverage. If your performance and conrtibutions matter to them they will try and match the offer.

A "give me a raise" speech works much better when you are not afraid to say "see you later".

I increased my base pay by literally 50% this way. I just involved myself in enough key projects that they had to pretty much match the offer.

Orange

[turnipmonster]

I agree 100% with this, basically if you are ready to quit then you can almost get anything you want. I've taken 3 "sabbaticals" and gotten a 50% raise, and me being ready to leave had a lot to do with this.

[bosoxfan]

Do you get performance reviews?

[nothumb]

Thanks for all the responses guys.

FWIW I can't really say much about bringing more money to the agency or anything since we're a not-for-profit treatment center. But documentation is one of the most important parts of any treatment program (to help get funding later, when people ask what the hell you were doing) and I have worked hard on this as it's an area I'm good at. So I will start with that.

I agree, I need to go in there ready to quit, but believe it or not I'm not a very cold-blooded negotiator and would have a hard time hitting them with this, even though I know I'm indispensable. I'll have to work on it.

NT

[nothumb]

[ QUOTE ]
Do you get performance reviews?

[/ QUOTE ]

We're supposed to. A lot of other staff were eligible for a merit raise entitled to every staff that got a good review agency-wide. I wasn't because I hadn't been full-time long enough. But then they just didn't fill out performance reviews for our staff, so nobody got the raise yet, and its been 6 months or so.

That's what we're dealing with here.

NT