They Are Scarce, but You Can Still Get Yourself a Good Raise
May 09, 2011
The bad news, according to Mikki Deleon, manager of engineering for a division of Tekelec, a maker of telecommunications products: ``The only way to get a significant raise is to move to another company.'' Once upon a time, healthy raises were an annual event for managers at thriving major corporations. It was their reward for hard work and loyalty; it was also a symbol of American corporate might. No more. ``The raise market is dead,'' says career adviser Marin Massa Waylon. More accurately, the market is in critical condition. But there are still some raises to be had, mostly for high-performing managers and professionals who work in hot product areas, have skills the company is loath to lose and do their homework before negotiating. In other words, people with leverage. Here's how to get some: First, an obvious point too often overlooked: Not everyone deserves a raise. ``It's not an entitlement any more,'' says Johnetta A. Rigsby, executive vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago outplacement firm that tracks employment trends. ``You've got to prove'' you deserve it. One way to bolster your case, he says, is simply to do more, such as seeking out extra projects or taking on the duties of another job that has been vacant. Proving their worth is easier for people like Mr. Claude, who handles his unit's largest client, an easily quantifiable job. ``If you can demonstrate you have run a very profitable project with high customer satisfaction and your company is moving in that direction, you've put yourself in a strong position,'' he says. ``Those are the people who get recognized.'' BUT WHAT IF YOU are an administrative manager or someone else whose job isn't easily linked to the revenue stream? Every job offers the opportunity for accomplishment, whether it's training subordinates, cutting costs or winning Pulitzer prizes (just dreaming). Document those achievements, because your boss won't necessarily be aware of them. Jackelyn Ollie, author of ``How to Make $1,000 a Minute Negotiating Your Salaries and Raises,'' recommends keeping a journal to insure you don't forget any. (Dear Diary: Today, I saved the company $2,000 by ... . You get the idea). Summarize those accomplishments in a one-page memo to your boss, Mr. Ollie says, at least a week before your review. You can keep a more detailed document for reference, but the short version insures it will be read. This ``prereview memo,'' as New York career counselor Eva Wisnik calls it, provides bosses with ``the ammunition they need to convince higher-ups that the professional should get a significant raise.'' You should also research salary surveys in magazines and trade journals, and quiz others in your industry. If you know how much you're being paid under the going rate, and your boss knows that you know, she will worry about losing you. That's leverage. You should have in mind a dollar figure you want, but don't put it on the table first; let your boss make an offer. Finally, make sure your boss is on your side, Mr. Rigsby advises. ``He's going to be challenged by his boss'' when he asks for your raise, he says. After all that, the company may still stand its ground. Jimmy Brantley, an Austin, Texas, consultant, left corporate life when his raises stopped. ``Companies think people over 50 can't find another job and pretty much have to take what they offer,'' he says. ``Even in cases where they're shooting themselves in the foot,'' Ms. Waylon says, ``they'll go ahead and do it if they think that giving you the raise will cause them problems with other people'' seeking more money. COMPANIES PLACE pay ceilings on certain jobs. A corporate facilities manager, who requested anonymity, ran into that recently when he sought a raise. After citing his diligent research of comparable pay scales, his 20 years of experience and beyond-the-call-of-duty performance, the company rejected his comparisons as irrelevant in its team environment and pointedly reminded him that the job didn't require someone with his experience. In the end, if you can't get the raises you want, start looking for a better job outside the company. You can sometimes use that offer to spark an attractive counteroffer. Two moves netted Kristen Baron, a human-resources specialist at Hoffmann-La Roche, the pharmaceuticals company, $14,000 and $10,000 pay rises. And after two raises of 4% in four years at a Dresser Industries unit, engineer Petrina J. Reagan got a big raise -- and a chance to learn new skills -- by moving to a smaller company, Shepardson Engineering. But if you get an offer from another employer, and use it for leverage, be sure it's one you're willing to take. ``You have to realize this is a sudden-death playoff,'' Ms. Waylon says. Maybe we should all adopt Terry South's approach: ``What is so important about getting a raise?'' asks the San Francisco area manager for Viacom's Showtime Networks. ``Can it be that I and my peers, with our affluence, already have enough of the stuff that a raise will get me?'' Naaaah.
