The Best Way to Ask for a Raise
Need a Raise? Who doesn’t?
So, let’s say you do deserve a pay hike but can’t afford to wait until your next performance review in six months or longer. If that’s your reality, such requests are best put in writing. Choose your words carefully – the letter below is an example of what NOT to write to your boss.
Franny Franchise
Dollar Road
Out-of-Town, USA
Dear Sir or Madam:
I have worked my knuckles to the bone for you and what thanks do I get? Not even a pat on the back. I need to make more money. It’s as simple as that. So, I want a raise. Let me know how much.
Workaholic Will
Diplomacy will promote Workaholic Will up the income ladder faster than a complaint. The following letter is a better approach because the writer is ready, “workaholic” willing, and able to take on more responsibility.
Hiring Manager
Big Deal Corporation
One Boulevard
Thousand Acres, USA
Dear Employer:
The past five years in your employ have proven to be a milestone in my career. As Senior Analyst, I have managed an increasingly complex business system. Recently I wrote and implemented a 500-page manual of standard operating procedures to ensure our leadership in global markets for the next five years. I worked many hours on this project, often on weekends, while handling my other duties. Since you expressed appreciation for my efforts, I hope you will agree that I deserve a merit-based increase retroactive to June 30.
If you are available this week to discuss my request, I can meet with you anytime at your convenience. Next week, I will be out of town Monday and Tuesday on the pending acquisition. As always, it’s a pleasure to accept this added responsibility.
I look forward to talking with you.
Respectfully,
Workaholic Will
Selling yourself and your skills/knowledge/abilities to an employer, in terms of how you can help the company, will do more to get you that raise than to demand one or complain, hoping you’ll get what you want.
The Ins & Outs of Cover Letters
You might wonder if a cover letter is necessary when you submit a résumé. Unless otherwise instructed, a cover letter should accompany every résumé. A cover letter compels your reader to review your résumé.
Your résumé presents factual information about your qualifications, experience, and educational credentials. You use the résumé to present yourself as a good match for a position based on the content in a job posting. It is common for job seekers to use one résumé for several employment contacts. While this is a customary practice, a cover letter lets you personalize your résumé package for a specific job opportunity.
You no doubt have value-added skills that are above and beyond those listed as the fundamental job requirements. These skills can distinguish you from other candidates. A cover letter lets you present this information and add value to your marketability.
In creating your résumé package, your cover letter is an informative and even fun way to demonstrate that you can communicate in a clear and concise fashion. You do this with the words you use, the tone of the letter, and the visual presentation.
Although there are no set rules to creating cover letters, the following are some guidelines:
Be brief – Cover letters are not essays. Use one page to communicate who you are, what you can do for your potential employer, and why you are the best candidate for the position.
Be professional, yet personal – Avoid using the same tone and language you use in your résumé. Address your reader as if you were speaking to him or her in person. Your cover letter should add to whatever is in your résumé, not repeat it.
Tell who you are – Open the letter with a clear statement of who you are and what you do. Don’t make your reader search for that information in the body of the letter or worse have to figure it out from the content of the letter.
Maintain consistency – Use the same heading format on all documents within your résumé package (résumé, cover letter, references, follow-up letters, thank-you letters).
Highlight your value added skills – Spotlight your skills that do not appear in your résumé such as your work ethics, teamwork ability, and skills that are not listed as requirements for the job but are useful to the organization.
Explain why you want to work for the company – Do you like their product or service, their financial standing, their position in the industry, or their direction for the future? Companies like to know what captures your attention.
Proof, Proof, Proof – Make sure that your letter is clear, concise, and error free. Make a checklist that addresses grammar, punctuation, and words that are spelled correctly but out of context (form instead of from, you instead of your, etc.). Use this checklist for your own proof reading and have someone else read it if possible.
A cover letter can make the difference between getting an interview and getting passed over. Use a cover letter to help boost your chances of getting the job offer.
Tips for Internal Promotions – Job Promotions or Lateral Moves
Because internal promotions and lateral moves involve individuals that are already known entities, the key is to come prepared with proof of past job performance and answers to any objections that might be made.
Of course, this process of rating one’s worth should begin the very first day on a new job and continue until a promotion is offered or a lateral move requested.
1. Keep Detailed Records of Your Job Performance to Justify a Promotion:
No matter how fair an employer tries to be, they don’t have the same vested interest as you in personal career progression. What’s more, they have many staff to consider, while your focus is understandably personal in nature.
Therefore, don’t assume that an employer will recall the good you’ve done for the company. Keep detailed records of past projects, ideas, and successes in which you were directly involved. Quantify all accomplishments with dollar figures or percentages and time periods. Specify what you’ve done to improve work performance, whether that involves continuing education or learning a new technology.
In other words, prove your worth on paper and be certain to provide copies to those involved in the interview process. Once the interview begins, be well prepared to speak about what you’ve already written down.
2. Create a Proposal of How You Can Contribute to the Company in a Lateral Move:
Whatever the reasons are for a lateral move (eg: a more personally rewarding position, moving to a more profitable division, a chance to get away from an intolerable manager or co-worker), you should be prepared to state how the move will benefit the company.
Detail in writing and verbally your transferable skills and what a good fit you would be with the new department. No company will move an employee from one area to another if major training or adjustments have to be made.
3. Overcoming kneejerk objections:
Few managers like change, especially when you’re a good fit within a certain part of the organization. Some of the objections you may have to overcome are from those who like things just as they are (eg: a manager who knows you’ll get the job done) or those who don’t want to rock the boat (management that is skeptical of how you can positively impact their division).
The key is to always be prepared, and be proactive about what you have done.
Additionally, presentation is everything. When providing details about your accomplishments and qualifications, be certain that your work is flawless, easy to navigate, and showcases your talents.
When You Have Multiple Career Goals
Contrary to popular belief, it’s not necessary to have completely different resumes for each career goal. After all, your professional and academic experience doesn’t change. That said, how you construct an effective resume for multiple career goals does depend upon prioritization and organization of data, and answers to these questions:
1. Are the career fields similar?
2. Are the career fields diverse?
SIMILAR CAREER FIELDS
Let’s say as a Registered Nurse you’ve taught nursing students, you have served as an administrator at a nursing home, and you have worked in a hospital. Three careers, but all related. A resume in this instance can be both general (for application to many jobs) and specific (targeting one job) – it’s all in how you organize and prioritize the information.
For example, your Professional Experience can be broken down into three categories on your resume – Nursing Experience – Administrator Experience – Teaching Experience, with the appropriate employer and daily duties listed within each section (in a reverse chronological format). When applying for Nursing positions, that section would be listed first. When applying for a Teaching position, that section would be listed first.
In this way, one resume, with minor modifications, can be used for many postings.
DIVERSE CAREER FIELDS
You began your professional career in real estate sales, but then transitioned to the paralegal field, and finally chose yet another career in bookkeeping. Three very different careers that would seem to require three separate resumes, but that’s certainly not the case.
To avoid producing resume after resume for each job, and if at least some of the skills are transferable within different industries, then a functional format is best for you.
Functional formats stress professional skills, rather than employers or industries. So, instead of providing a reverse chronological resume that clearly shows you’ve been moving from career to career and back (which some employers might find troubling), a functional resume states core qualifications beneath varying subheadings.
The example given above would warrant three or more subheadings, namely:
Contract Negotiation (Real Estate)
Sales (Real Estate)
Contracts (Paralegal)
Payroll (Bookkeeping).
These subheadings can be organized in order of importance to the targeted position (eg: if Sales interests you, then you would list your Real Estate Experience first, followed by your other experience). The subheadings can also show broad experience that could very well be valued in an economy where employees are expected to wear many hats and to perform many functions.
