Hello, this is Laura Lee Rose – author of the business and time management book TimePeace: Making peace with time – and I am a business and efficiency coach that specializes in time management, project management and work-life balance strategies. Steve Wynkoop and I talk a lot about designing and managing our professional careers on a weekly interview on SSWUG TV. This episode was about how to find a mentor. This article goes into more detail. And the IT Professional Development Toolkit DVD goes into further details on the who, what, where, when, and why of these topics.
Audio of this episode:
[codepeople-html5-media-player id=1]
Have this ever happened to you? You get a great performance review; they are very pleased with your work; they say they would like to give you a raise — BUT, due to budget problems, it is not possible at this time. What do you do to succeed?
The old adage of “hitting while the iron is hot” is significant here. First, congratulate yourself for recognizing and acknowledging that you have the power to make this situation better.
- Get the performance evaluation and desire to give you a raise in writing.
- If they cannot give you a raise at this time, it is reasonable to ask “when do they foresee that they will be able to give you the raise” . How you conduct yourself at this point plays an important role into getting the raise. From this point, act as if the raise is imminent; is going to happen (just not today). Take them at their word that you deserve a raise. Get that answer in writing.
- Request another salary review every 3 months or every quarter. This is a way to keep this discussion on the table. If they don’t know when they will be able to give you a raise, follow-up and schedule those quarterly salary discussions. (Squeaky wheels get the grease). You should already be having frequent one-on-one manager meetings (outlined in the Professional Development Toolkit) – so you merely have to periodically bring this topic up in the already scheduled meetings.
- Discuss alternative compensations that your manager has discretion over (outlined in the Professional Development Toolkit). This allows him to give you what you want without having to go above his head :
- 4 day work week schedule; flex time; working from home
- Additional vacation days
- Extra time off
- Allowed to do some community service or volunteering a few hours a month to your favorite charity during work hours.
- Reimbursement for professional association membership, industry related journals, subscriptions, magazines.
- Reimbursement for higher certifications, licenses, additional degrees in the company’s industry.
- Travel on the company’s dime via customer visits, speaking engagements at out-of-town trade-shows, user conferences, and technical seminars.
- Reimburse for home internet fees because you sometimes work from home
- If your company does donations or charity work – see if your charity is listed and/or ask it to be listed.
- Do your homework.
- Continue to excel in your performance and career (outlined in the Professional Development Toolkit). Continue to log, track and measure your own performance in regards to your individual development goals and business commitments.
- Conduct industry salary investigation. If you can show that you are currently underpaid in comparison to the industry standard in your region, you have additional ammunition on you side. http://www.payscale.com is just one website that can help you with your investigation.
There are certainly things you can do now, to re-start the salary discussion. If you would like more information on that, please consider purchasing the IT Professional Development Toolkit or invest in a one-on-one Coaching package.
The Book of Answers: 150 Career Critical Situations also covers the above in more detail as well.
Once again – I go into the who, what, where, when and why in more detail in the Professional Development Toolkit now available at <HERE>.