advice requested...

[Sheila Marshall <sheila -at- STK -dot- COM>]

Scott:

I was in a similar situation last year at my present company, except that
there are no _standard_ reviews. I checked with a few of my coworkers and
was informed that if I didn't ask for one, I wasn't going to get one! This
being a totally new situation for me, I dithered for months, resentment
growing daily. Then when I began to detect a potential blow-up-in-my face
mentality (I was very short of money and was beginning to offer snide
comments without regard to audience, location), I finally made a plan.
First, I went to my boss and requested a performance review (this is an
unusual event). Then, I was actually forced to bug him about the review
over a period of a few months. I got discouraged about having to bug him
since I would work myself into a frenzy each time I talked about it.
Eventually, I began to gather supporting data that indicated that I was
severely underpaid and provided a value-added service to the company. I
gave him and HR a copy of the info and requested (yet again) a review.
Finally, we met, had the review, and I got a 33% raise. During the review I
told him that I had other offers and continued to keep informed about the
marketplace. This was NOT a threat, just a simple statement of fact.

Let me say that, during this whole annoying period, I knew that my boss
valued my work--he just had other things on his plate that he felt were
more important than my raise. When he realized that I wasn't threatening or
backing down but really did have other opportunities, he did something
about it. If he hadn't, I would have found other employment (money really
was an issue).

So here's my advice:

1. Ask your manager. If your manager hasn't been your manager for long,
make sure you can refer him/her to someone else who can provide info about
the quality of your work.

2. Be prepared with very specific info, such as a list of tasks completed,
potential sales that may have been influenced by a task, projects that came
in on or under budget, etc.

3. If you have a figure in mind, provide info that explains why this is a
reasonable request. If the raise is average, this won't be as necessary.

4. Write up a review of your performance and provide one to your manager
prior to the meeting. The review should include a list of tasks
accomplished (I know, I keep coming back to this), projects in work, future
projects, and any issues needing to be addressed.


Best of luck!

Sheila


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