What Not to Do When Asking for a Raise
I asked for a raise and didn’t get it. This is what I learned and what I would do differently.
On a Friday morning in March, I made a discovery. The only other recruiter in the office, (there were only two, including me) was making nearly $13,000 more than I was on salary. Suddenly I began to feel a pit in my stomach beginning to grow. The discovery left me in utter shock. As I made my way to my desk, my mind began to clutter with questions.
You know that feeling you get when you find out your boyfriend or girlfriend is cheating on you? The weight of the deceit and injustice against you hits your chest like a ton of bricks. You begin to ask yourself, why me? Am I not good enough? Haven’t I been loyal? Haven’t I been good to this person? It is weird, but that is exactly how I felt when I learned I was being severely underpaid compared to my exact counterpart.
My manager, lucky for me, was not in the office this Friday. This gave me time to put together a plan. In my head I began to juggle all my options: (A.) I could say “See YA!” and get another job. (B.) I can bring the issue to my manager or (C.) I could do nothing. After all, I loved my job and was content.
I immediately threw option C out the window, because that was no longer the case. I was no longer content and I was beginning to realize that my work and loyalty really didn’t matter to my company.
I decided to go with option B. I had a great relationship with my manager. He always made himself available to listen to my concerns and, I thought, he valued my work. I called my amazing friend Claudia Telles who was featured in several publications like Business Insider. She is a career development guru who made headlines discussing her salary negotiation strategy. She managed to nearly double her salary at her same employer and was eager to help others do the same.
Claudia guided me on how I should start the conversation with my manager. She gave me specific details on what information and numbers I should prepare beforehand to bring to my meeting with him. She informed me, “Pay attention to how your manager responds to your request. This will tell you whether you want to continue to work for him or not.” That was the best career advice I would ever receive.
Monday morning arrived. I walked into the office, greeted my manager, whose desk I pass on the way to mine, and plopped open my laptop. “Do you have time to meet today? Nothing super urgent but would like to speak with you soon.” That is the email I sent him that morning. He agreed to meet with me and replied with a calendar invite.
At our meeting, I started out with my very well-rehearsed opener: “It has come to my attention that the only other recruiter in this office is being paid significantly higher than me on salary for the same exact job.” I maintained direct eye contact; making it known I was serious. I could see his facial expression change. I could tell it was an “oh shit” moment for him. I continued by outlining my argument for a raise.
My argument was not focused on the other, very well-paid recruiter in the office. This recruiter is a dear friend of mine and continues to be one of the best recruiters I have ever met. There is no doubt, she is a beast. Instead, I focused on my accomplishments: I was a former club trending recruiter, who was a key player in growing my division. I was responsible for more than half of the hires on my team. I was a team player who did not mind staying late to assist other colleagues in their work. I was a mentor to other recruiters across the company. I went above and beyond and wrote newsletters to promote company culture and planned recruiting events. I was reliable and in my three years working for the company I only took one sick day.
You would have thought I mentioned all of this in my first meeting, right? Nope. Here it is: Lesson #1
Lesson #1: Do not assume
Although I prepared my argument for a raise in my mind, I did not mention all my points. I mainly focused on my numbers, which is a strong argument, but it is not the whole picture. The other nuances in a photograph are also very important in helping the viewer understand the picture as a whole.
I made the horrible mistake of assuming my manager and the company would acknowledge all I brought to the table. I was adamant he saw the value I brought to the team. Afterall, it was him who decided to reward my work with amazing prizes over the years. He was the one asking me for my recruiting strategies so that he can share with a new office he had recently acquired. As I mentioned earlier, him and I had a great relationship. I trusted he would look after and take care of the employees who worked hard for him.
At the end of our meeting he asked me to email him 3–4 points as to why I was deserving of a raise. He promised he would share this information with leadership to get the raise approved and he would follow-up shortly.
After this conversation with my manager early in March, I followed up with him at my scheduled bi-weekly one-on-one. After reviewing my upcoming hires for the month, I followed up on the only item I wanted to discuss: the status of my raise. My manager ended the conversation with a verbal promise that he was still “working” on getting my raise approved. He developed a plan of action. He said to me, let’s work on strengthening your numbers for the next three months. If we show upper management how strong your numbers are for these months, we will have an argument they can’t say no to.
Lesson #2: Don’t wait too long for an answer.
I agreed to the plan and I thought it was a fair one. My division was just getting through a slow season and I believed the next 3 months were going to be a better indicator of my abilities.
During those 3 months, I continued to mentor other recruiters in the company and I was keeping busy with planning a successful Cinco de Mayo themed recruiting event. The first of the 3 months was the only month I was 1 hire shy of my goal, but I was able to hit my goal every month after that. During this period, I met with my manager regularly to discuss my performance. He would end every meeting with compliments on my work and “keep doing what you’re doing.”
At the end of the 3 month period, my manager and I discussed the status of my raise once more. He had no updates for me. This would be the case for two more months. Yup. 3 months of waiting had now turned into 5 months.
How and why would I allow this? Yes, looking back, I should have seen the writing on the wall. However, I was drunk on the coolaid at the office. In total, I was 1 of 5 people on my team. We truly were a little family. We all took care of one another and cared about each other’s success on the team. It was this team culture that took my division from nothing to the division with the most growth in one year, and the reason why my manager got to go on an amazing beach vacation. I loved my team and I knew saying goodbye to them would be hard; therefore, I waited and trusted my manager.
Lesson #3 — Know your worth
My manager was travelling a lot in July. He had recently been promoted and acquired a new office in Michigan, which he was responsible for developing. In the midst of a hectic travel schedule, he assured me he would be in the office on a Friday in July and we would speak then.
We walked into the conference room together, sat down, and I could tell he was conflicted. My raise was not approved. The reason? He informed me that upper management could not justify a raise for an “underperforming” employee. However, he added, all my work and commitment was greatly appreciated.
I tried my best to keep it all business and stoic, but “underperforming” did not allow me. I was not on a performance plan. He had asked me a couple of weeks ago to write down my recruiting strategies for him to share with his new team in Michigan. Him and I had been meeting for months and not once did he mention I was underperforming. I was NOT an “underperforming” employee.
What I found most ironic was that my next move, according to my manager, was to help recruit in his new markert, in addition to my current market. The plan was to have me, an “underperforming” employee, assist in growing another market, just as I did for my own market. If I did well with this extra work, he said, he would speak with upper management again about a raise. I informed him I needed time to consider this option, along with others.
In the end I decided to hand in my resignation letter. By this time, it was clear to me that I was a loyal, driven professional and I knew I would be successful anywhere I went. It was my own acknowledgment and realization of my worth that created and opened so many amazing opportunities for me, and, yes, even allowed me to make more money.
Originally published on leadrecruitingllc.com
