Steps to Your Next Raise

You landed a great job– congratulations! Now what?

So many articles and features are targeted at “the job search,” but what happens after? The goal is no longer to make yourself LOOK like a great candidate, you have to actually BE a great candidate. In the workplace, such characteristics are tracked and rewarded through a monetary-based raise and promotion system. Oftentimes earning a raise is much harder than actually landing the job. Dr Travis Bradberry describes this phenomenon best in his article “How To Get A Raise Without Asking For One“:

“You’re putting the work in, so why aren’t you getting rewarded? The answer is simple: you don’t get promoted for fulfilling your boss’s expectations.

Your boss’s expectations are the price of entry. Even if you’re making a great effort and doing all that’s asked of you, you won’t stand out. You’ll be seen as someone who completes the minimum requirements, and no one who builds a great career is seen this way.

The trick to advancing your career and getting paid more is to add value by making certain your contributions are worth more than you’re paid. You want to go above and beyond so that you’re seen as someone highly valuable—someone the organization can’t live without.”

Here are a few of our favorite Bradberry tips on earning your next promotion and raise:

• Go beyond your own professional development. Showing your boss that you have taken time to learn about the company– overall industry, competitors, trends, etc– will definitely make you stand out from the rest.
• Pre-empt the question. Rather than having the answers for your boss (or having to pause and gather your thoughts before giving an answer),anticipate those tasks she wants to stay on top of and send her regular updates– this will save her both time and energy (which certainly won’t go unnoticed).
• Rather than simply owning up to mistakes after they’ve been discovered, bring them to light yourself. Bradberry says it best: “Accountability is a lost art. Too many people try to cover up their mistakes, fearing the repercussions of admitting fault… When you make a mistake, just give your boss a simple heads-up, and have a solution ready… Everyone makes mistakes. You’ll stand out by showing your boss that you’re accountable, creative, and proactive when you inevitably make them.”

The take-home? There is no reward for punching in, punching out, and biding your time by contributing only the bare minimum. You must seek ways to go above and beyond your job description, above and beyond others’ expectations, and truly make yourself indispensable in any way you can– you must earn the raise.

Photo: retrieved from Pixabay, available under the public domain.