Ramit Sethi walks through how to ask for a raise outside the standard review cycle. The key: ask your boss directly what it would take, set those goals, hit them, then follow up with proof. Having other job offers in your back pocket makes the conversation stronger.
Ramit, I'm looking forward to semi annual reviews at my firm and hoping to ask for a raise at that point, I'm planning to justify the raise by showing performance superior to my peers, increased responsibility and scope over the last six months, and a sharp uptick in my own talent base as a programmer. The caveat is that I work in finance and from what I've heard, compensation is typically only discussed annually. Would asking for and either getting or being refused a raise at this time of the year hurt or help me during the bonus process? Do you have any tips regarding salary or bonus negotiations, etc. So you work in a fairly structured environment. You work in I banking in general. I banking is really, really structured and you're not going to have much luck asking for a bonus outside of that. With that said, I banking is one of the most structured places. In other words, they don't have a lot of flexibility at all. Most people. The reason I chose to answer this question was that most people who are on an annual review basis could actually get a raise during the year. Now, how do you do this? There's a few ways of doing it. First of all, I cover this in chapter nine of my book, how to Get a Raise. The main points in that chapter, by the way, you'll see the exact scripts to use, the timing, etc. The main things you want to think about are what does your boss want? Okay, you need to make your boss look great. Does your boss want to go home at 5 so you can play golf? Does he want his boss to see the results of what's going on in your team? You need to find this out. What he first says may not be the most accurate thing. Next, you need to let him know that you want a raise. Say, what would it take to get a raise? What would ultimate success look like to you? And then you need to let him know that you're working towards that. So a lot of people sometimes will just like they'll start doing all this amazing work, they'll stay late at work and they'll say if he really cared he would give me a raise or he should notice. No, wrong. You need to tell someone what it is you want and then tell them that you're gunning for that in a positive way. Okay, so in general, you can get a raise. I banking accepted. But most people could get a raise far more than once a year. And the way you do that is you ask what it is it would take to get a raise. Then you decide what it is you're going to do. You let them know you execute. And the fifth step is to circle back and say, you know, you. You said it would take X to get a raise. I've done X and more. I'd like to have a discussion with you about that raise. Okay. So that's the way you do it. By the way, there's one characteristic that will be very good for you to get a raise, and that is to have other options. So if you have other job options available, then if you're not getting the raise once, I can understand. But two times or three times, and you deserve it. Top performers always know that they have other options, so keep that in mind.
