Loading…

I stopped asking for a raise the normal way and it actually worked | Career Advice - Opinions Matter

I stopped asking for a raise the normal way and it actually worked

For months, I felt stuck at my marketing job in Austin. My boss kept saying 'maybe next quarter' when I asked for more money. So I tried something different. Instead of just asking, I made a one-page doc with three specific things: the extra $12k in client revenue I brought in last month, the project I finished two weeks early that saved the team time, and a list of two new skills I learned on my own time. I sent it over before our chat and said 'I want to talk about my value to the team.' It changed the whole talk. He came in ready to discuss those points, not just say no. We agreed on a $5k bump starting next check. Has anyone else tried showing their work like this instead of just asking?

3 comments

3 Comments

leo_murphy676mo ago

Wait, you saved them a bunch of time and brought in an extra twelve grand and they only gave you five? That math doesn't seem right at all. You did the hard part by proving your worth with real numbers. I would have pushed for way more based on that client revenue alone. Sounds like they got the better end of that deal.

holly_henderson866mo ago

Yeah, it's like that everywhere now... companies act like a small bonus is a huge gift, but they'll pocket the real value you create. Saw it at my last job too, where saving them ten grand on a project just got you a cheap lunch. They count on people being too tired to fight for more.

the_ryan6mo ago

Ugh, this is the whole game now. It's like when a store raises a price to $50 just to "mark it down" to $40 and call it a deal. They make the normal thing seem like a gift. You see it with phone bills, cable packages, anything. They bank on you feeling like you won something, so you don't notice they still came out ahead. Your bonus is their "sale price" on your extra work.