So you’ve been in a job for a few years, and made a considerable amount of progress. You’ve grown within it, taking on more responsibilities, and you think it’s time your efforts were recognised and rewarded. Is it time to ask that awkward question? No one likes to speak about it and no one knows when to speak about it. So what do you do if you want to ask for a higher salary?
If you’re feeling undervalued or that you deserve to be on a higher salary than you already are then there is no way around it other than to just ask the question.
The key to asking is preparation – make sure you know exactly what you are asking for, why you are asking for it and have reasoning to justify why you are worthy of your proposal. Make sure you have thoroughly done your research by looking at the salaries of similar vacancies within other organisations or online salary surveys, providing examples to back up your request and evidencing that you have done your research.
Emphasise your willingness to want to work and progress and be diplomatic about why you believe you are worthy of a greater salary increase. It is also key to choose the right timing – don’t catch your boss off guard when they’re rushing away from one meeting, trying to get to the next. Set a pre-arranged time, a naturally convenient situation, for example, you may have an appraisal or scheduled review coming up.
What if you get rejected?….
If you do not receive the desired answer then ask about what you can do to achieve the desired salary increase and see if a plan can be put in place to try and achieve it, establishing a time when you can re-evaluate the situation.
At the end of the day if you don’t ask then you don’t get, so plan your proposal and do your research emphasising your seriousness about the situation – better to have tried than stay silent and become resentful!