Everyone wants to earn more money. If you work hard all year and meet the performance goals that your boss has set for you, you deserve a higher salary. But when the moment of reckoning arrives – the annual performance and compensation review – many employees approach it with a sense of dread and fear.
Few people are comfortable talking about their compensation. Even the best negotiators may handle reviews poorly and sell themselves short. Keep these tactics in mind and your annual review can be a lot easier, and – hopefully – more rewarding:
Practice negotiating your review with a friend or in front of a mirror. Even better, record yourself on audio tape or videotape so you can review yourself and polish the presentation.
Match your boss’s communications style. How does your boss usually communicate with you? Does he like to put things in writing or does he tend to communicate verbally? Make your boss comfortable by utilizing the style he prefers.
Use the sandwich technique if you feel you deserve a pay increase. State your accomplishments for the year. State your salary request. Then close out quickly summarizing what you’ve done, followed by what you plan to do in the year ahead.
State accomplishments by quantifying them. Use concrete figures: percentages, dollars, numbers or time frames. Most people don’t like to brag, but your review is not the time for humility. Take credit for what you’ve worked hard to achieve.
Keep a list or a drop file of your accomplishments. Few people do this during the year; if you haven’t, then this actually is a step for next year. Many people only think of what they’ve done one or two months before their review. A year is a long time and it’s only natural that the things you accomplished nine or 10 months ago won’t be remembered as well by your boss. It’s up to you to keep the kind of detailed record that will allow you to gently jog her memory.
What if you have a marginal year? You’ve stayed out of trouble, but you haven’t exactly been your company’s star. Stress what you did accomplish and discuss unfinished business as if it is something firmly under control and that will be completed. Certainly, don’t whine, but if there were reasons you didn’t accomplish as much as you would have liked, bring that into the discussion. Really, the tone should be that despite extenuating circumstances, you were still able to do so much.
If you don’t have good explanations for you lackluster year, however, don’t harangue your boss with weak arguments for a raise. You may already be on thin ice, don’t make the situation worse.
Whatever your negotiating position, prepare carefully. Remember, a poor review can do more than limit your raise – it can damage your career.
Photo by laverrue
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