Want a raise? Become your best advocate
Posted
May 16 2008, 03:12 PM
by
Karen Datko
Congratulations to "English Major," who just got an unscheduled $2,000 raise. This 24-year-old woman is learning a very valuable lesson: "I will not get what I do not ask for."
This came about because she told her boss she'd had another job offer and wanted to stay put, but also wanted a salary review in June, six months ahead of schedule. The result: that big bump in pay in May.
This post at An English Major's Money hopefully is inspirational for all workers. It goes against English Major's grain to sell herself. "I think a lot of people, especially young women, are scared to be seen trying," she writes.
We figure that if we have merit, our bosses will see it and reward us, and that if they're not rewarding us, we don't have merit. We are afraid to look foolish by trying, she says.
"So we sit still and we keep quiet and we cross our fingers," English Major writes. "As a strategy for getting oneself where one wants to go, this sucks."
The raise also should improve her net worth, which was up to $23,613 at the end of April.
