SOYOUWANNA ASK FOR A RAISE?

2. PREPARE YOUR STRATEGY

Devising a strategy is all about research and preparation. You should know what the salary standard is for your industry, what objections the boss might raise, and how to deliver your spiel without backing down too soon.

Know the standards for your industry

It is ill-advised to suggest/demand a raise without knowing the salary range for your position and your level of experience because the boss will shut you down with explanations like "engineers don't get paid $100,000 a year unless they have three years experience." You won't be able to refute what sounds like a water-tight justification unless you know the going rate for someone with that many years under his or her belt.

Getting a raise requires knowing where you stand in your industry. The first way to combat your ignorance is to establish how much you should be getting paid. This can be done by calling professional associations (which often do national surveys on salaries), quizzing your other friends in the industry at other companies, asking your career counseling service (if you're still in or just out of college) and going online. The Internet is a great place to find such information. Some sites list salary surveys for free, while others command a price. The latter tend to be more detailed and specific to certain cities or geographic regions that you are interested in, thus offering you better information.

The general salary surveys are helpful if you need a ballpark idea of what to expect in your field, but they may not have specifics such as your degree of responsibility or experience. Being an accountant at one firm may not mean the same duties (and hence moolah) as being an accountant at a larger company. Location, demand, and ability all play into your paycheck. But here are some free sites to get you started:

• JobStar: This is run by a public library in California and will give you salary surveys in 50 fields, from accounting to wood & paper (whatever that means!), with a concentration on salaries in California. It also offers handy links to over 300 online salary surveys through various sites, some of which are listed below.
  
  
• Bureau of Labor Statistics: The BLS has 1998-99 salary updates.
  
  
• The Wall Street Journal: This fun little read also has surveys on numerous careers.
  
  
• America's Career Infonet: This site searches by state and field.

There are many other salary survey sites on the Internet. Try a search engine such as Yahoo!, AltaVista, or Dogpile, and search for "salary survey." To get more specific, try the name of your field plus "salary survey." Most of the sites command a fee that can range from $40 to hundreds of dollars. It's up to you to decide how detailed a study you want and how much money you are willing to pay.

Another way to figure out your worth is to check the classifieds. Just look at the salaries offered for jobs similar to yours to get an idea, but remember that the employers could be low-balling or high-balling the salary depending on the current demand for such professions.

Finally, try your human resources department. They may release pay ranges for job titles, especially if it is a large company. You may want to feel out co-workers on the topic but be very, very careful. If you work for a company where everyone knows what everyone else makes, you have something to go on. But other companies and people like to keep that information top secret. In fact, it can be a punishable offense at some firms.

Regardless of whether or not you know what others make, you should never ever reveal this during the talk with the boss. It can kill your chance for a raise before you've even begun. (See step 5 for more details.)

Figure out exactly what you want

You also must consider what other options exist besides a one-time raise. This will help you when it comes to bargaining time. Compensation is not just limited to money perks can be great too. You might want to think about more vacation time, tuition, stock options, a one-time bonus, getting a company-paid cellular phone, a lap-top computer so you can work from wherever, child care, or more flexible work hours. Do not get so focused on the raise that you can't see other ways of being rewarded.

You also should know what your company's raise policy is. Are raises merit based? Are they a fixed cost-of-living raise that everyone gets? Is there a percentage range depending on performance? That way you can have a more productive discussion once the issue is on the table.

Once you know your worth, you are just beginning the fun of figuring out what to ask for. (And how to spend your raise once you've scored it!)

Again, common sense reigns. If your salary is in the middle of the range, you can aim for the higher paycheck. If you are already at the top of your scale, start thinking about what other responsibilities you could ask for to increase your earning power or whether it is time for a new position entirely. You should prepare several raise packages that would make you happy. Make "Plan A" the biggest raise you hope for and "Plan D" something you can live with that is better than the usual cost-of-living raise.

Predict your boss's objections

If the boss says the company does not have money in the budget at the present time, ask when you might see the raise you hoped for. Better yet, if you have saved your company major money or generated piles of cash through your superior salesmanship and management skills, devise a way to share in the profits you brought in. Sometimes bosses need to be shown that a raise can be paid for out of the revenue you have created.

If the boss disagrees about your worth, you may have to bring up your least desirable "Plan D" option as a last stand. Or you can ask for feedback on what you need to do to get the raise you want and get a schedule of goals in writing so you both can remember what you agreed on. If the boss offers a completely different compensation package than you had thought of -- and it might be a better one -- you should ask to sleep on it before agreeing. If it's unfamiliar to you, the plan may have a drawback you haven't noticed.

If the boss delivers an outright "NO, PLEBE!" for an answer, you don't have to take it lying down. Naturally this is not the answer you want to hear, but there are ways of dealing with it. Try your spectrum of compensation options, ask for feedback and finally convey your sense of dismay about the answer. You can always tell your boss you would like to take this discussion to the next level and target someone higher on the chain of command who might agree with you and overrule your immediate supervisor. But be prepared to raise some hackles if you take this approach, because it is essential you do it openly and not behind your boss' back. Your boss WILL eventually find out anyway.

But getting no for an answer may also be your wake-up call that there is no room for growth at that company and that it is time to move on.

One suggestion career counselors have is to role play these potential scenarios with a friend. Creating and practicing your script will prepare you well for the real thing.