How To Get a Raise with Ramit Sethi

First of all, I will totally admit it's very difficult these days to get a raise. But the first thing you want to be doing at work is making sure that you're doing an extraordinary job. If you're just doing what you've been doing, that's really not that effective. And I really think it's tough, considering a lot of people are losing their jobs. You want to be doing an extraordinary job. What you want to do is, first of all, ask your boss, say, look, I'm really looking to do an extraordinary job here. What would it take for me to do a remarkable job? And they'll say, well, let me think about it once you come back, okay, come back in two days. And you should come with your ideas. You should literally come with a type sheet of paper saying, this is what I've been doing, and this is what I would like to do. Right? And these are things that could be in your department, or it may just be something that's broken in the company and you want to take the responsibility on of filling it. All right? You sit down with your boss, and your boss may be surprised because it's rare that someone takes the initiative to actually talk like that. I can tell you, it's extremely rare. All right? So you come in with a list, and you hash it out with your boss. What would it look like to be remarkable? And you say, you know, to tell you the truth, I'm really looking to take a step up in terms of salary and responsibility here. And they'll say, well, you know, things are really tight around here. Blah, blah, blah. Okay, of course, you want to look@payscale.com and salary.com. okay? If you are being paid fairly, then, you know, you should take what. You should take that, and you should maybe try to iterate a little bit, try to get a little bit more if you can. But if you're being underpaid, well, that's an opportunity if you're doing a remarkable job. Okay, so you go in, let's say that you're being paid $40,000. And really, at payscale.com and salary.com you find out that you should be making $50,000 a year. That's a lot. This is a very, very common occurrence, especially for young people, because young people don't negotiate because we're stupid and we're inexperienced. And we think that if we try to bring this up, we will get fired, which is the furthest thing from the truth. All right? Bosses like people who take initiatives. Bosses know that it costs about five to six thousand dollars per college recruit. Not to even say how much it costs for more expensive recruits. So if they already paid that much to recruit you, they want to keep you happy. Okay? It's a two way game. So you go in and you say, look, I realize that I'm a little bit off on the ballpark of what I'm being paid right now, and I understand that times are tough. So what I'd like to do is kind of figure out what can I do to do an extraordinary job. I'm here, I've been trained, and I know I'm doing a good job. But I think I can take it to the next level in terms of responsibility and salary. And you come up with a plan for two months, three months, six months, okay? And then every month you check in with your boss. Here's what we said, here's how I'm doing on that. And at the end of six months, you want to go in so that there's no surprises, and you want to let them know, here's what we set out and here's what I have. And I'd like to discuss that, okay? And if you can get the raise, that's some of the easiest money you ever got. Because I help friends negotiate. On average, they earn $6,000 more per negotiation. Okay? And I'll write more about negotiation next year. You always want to be able to give your boss an out. There's two things about your boss. Your boss doesn't care about what you want to earn. Your boss cares about you making your boss look good and you helping the company. Okay? And if the boss can't or will not give it to you, that's fine. Just say, look, I understand right now, but let's set a time to come back and talk about this again. Seriously, let's set a time right now on the calendar for a month from now or two months. Don't put anyone into a corner, but rather give them an out.