y, not much. was a really rushed evening. r had swimming. kaynen had a soccer meeting. L had a soccer meeting and practice. now we just found out that R’s practice is at the same time as L’s. we still haven’t heard about K.

work: got crm working finally.

tn: nothing. still must work on moving data sets.

e: 8

p: 7, haven’t exercised this whole week

s: 9

The boss (in his head only) wanted it done much before the deadline; he just didn’t tell anyone. As I was reading the email reprimand, I noticed that it was part of a long chain of emails, so I scrolled down. I normally don’t have time to scroll through long email chains; it was just that this particular one was very annoying since I was being reprimanded. At the very bottom of the email (the first email that started the chain), there was an email to the boss: Congratulations on a job well done! It turns out that the boss takes a lot of credit for my work and receives a lot of compliments for my work. When the boss passes the compliments on to me, they turn out as criticisms. It just goes to show that no matter how friendly your boss is to you in person, you can never trust your boss. The boss will tell you something in person and then act as if it never occurred. One step of learning how to ask for a raise is to make sure you have everything in writing.

Technorati Tags: how to ask for a raise, raise, salary increase, salary, job, get a raise, get the raise you deserve, how to get a raise

What are you worth? You can always check salary.com to determine what others in your field of work are making in your region. If you’ve been in your line of work for a substantial amount of time, you are definitely on the upper end of the salary scale. If you are just starting out, you should be near the middle. The range is so large because so many workers accept a low salary because they do not know any better. For instance, if you see a range of $75,000-$85,000 for an annual salary, the true starting pay should be close to $80,000. Avoid having to figure out how to ask for a raise by negotiating the pay rate you deserve in the beginning and also determining how often you will be given a raise.

How did you get the low salary you have now? If you are like me, you divulged too much irrelevant information early in the hiring process and accepted a low salary. Besides losing tens of thousands of dollars each year due to a low rate, this will come back to haunt you when you decide to search for a new job. Your prospective employer will ask for your current salary. You cannot tell the truth because then you will be no better off than before. You cannot lie because you have integrity. We’ll discuss this important issue at a later date as we search for the answer of how to ask for a raise.

Technorati Tags: how to ask for a raise, raise, salary increase, salary, job, get a raise, get the raise you deserve, how to get a raise

There are also training courses that are indirectly related to your job position. For instance, a time management course will help you in your current position. It will also help you in any other job that you’re in. It will also help you in your daily life. Ideally, you would want to take as many of these courses as possible. Don’t search for bargain courses either. Search for the most expensive. There is a saying, “You get what you pay for.” In this case, your company will be paying for the course. Really, the bargain courses are just as good as the expensive courses. The main difference is the the other students you will be with. Do you want to be with a group of bargain hunters who are only attending the course because they are being forced to attend? Wouldn’t you rather be with a group who is eager to learn and apply newly learned techniques to their lives.

How about an organization course? This will teach you to be more organized. A leadership course will bring out the leader in you. You already have leadership attributes. You want to take the initiative to learn how to ask for a raise.

Ideally, you want to take as many self development courses as possible. If you are forbidden, then take any courses that are specific to your job position. The reason for taking these courses is to make yourself more valuable to the company. These self-improvement courses will not only make you more valuable to your current employer, they will give you the opportunity to shoot for the stars with your next position. For instance, a senior management or a director.

The company has invested in you and will want to retain you. This will make it a lot easier for you to get the raise you deserve. Keep reading to discover more on how to ask for a raise.

Technorati Tags: how to ask for a raise, raise, salary increase, salary, job, get a raise, get the raise you deserve, how to get a raise

Do you need to work a 40-hour work week? Have you ever tried to cut back? Do you think you could work 30 hours and still get paid for working 40 hours? Realistically, you can. You’re probably on “company time” right now reading this. You’re still going to get your daily work done. You always manage to. When you’re given five days to finish a project, you start on day five and still finish on time. What you do with days one through four is your own business. When you’ve put in only eight hours in your forty-hour work week, you have effectively given yourself your own raise. If your hourly pay rate is $20/hr, you have effectively given yourself an $80/hr pay raise for this week (you are reading this, therefore you are smart and can do the math).

Is that possible? Is that realistic? Is that practical? Can anyone really put in only 8 hours in a 40-hour workweek? We’ll explore this topic later as we learn how to ask for a raise.

Technorati Tags: how to ask for a raise, raise, salary increase, salary, job, get a raise, get the raise you deserve, how to get a raise

I thought back my very first job in my IT career. My supervisor knew that he was taking a chance on me and offered me a low salary, $40,000 per year. It was low, and I did not know how to ask for a raise. Although the salary was low, to me it was great. I broke into the industry self-trained. Two weeks later, it was pay day and my supervisor called me in to discuss my paycheck. Thoughts about how to ask for a raise did not even cross my mind. My supervisor told me there was a “little extra” in my paycheck. It turned out that he immediately saw my potential and gave me a $5,000 dollar per year raise during my first week! About three weeks later, he called me in again to his office to discuss some responsibilities. He knew I was capable of more and told me my new salary would be $54,000 per year. This was great for me since I had no “real” experience. This is how the corporate world should operate. Your superiors see your superior work, and without even thinking about how to ask for a raise, you just receive a raise based on your work. I lived with this ill-conceived notion for a long time. I never imagined that I should learn how to ask for a raise.

Getting back to my current situation, you may be wondering why my salary is so low to begin with. $25,000 below average. Well, when I started 3 years ago, I was relocating. I was more eager to relocate since my wife and I both wanted to move to this area. A new job (even with a pay cut), was a good reason to move. I accepted the low position knowing that I would be evaluated and given an increase in 3 months. I took the job even though I received a pay cut. For one thing, the boss expects everyone to work overtime and weekends without compensation. At my previous job, I received either overtime or comp time. The benefits are lousy. I pay about $450 per month plus huge co-pays for medical and dental insurance for my family and myself. At my previous job, dental was completely free and medical was about $600 per month, but the company paid about 86% of that so my medical payment was only about $80 per month. Also, my previous company matched 10% of 401K contributions. My current company matches nothing. And how’s this for motivation: “You can be let go at any time and the company will continue to go on.”

The salary increase was a blatant lie. The excuse was that a “salary freeze” was in effect. The so-called freeze was non-existent. Needless to say, I did not get my raise. Since I did not know how to ask for a raise, I did not ask for a raise. Well that’s beside the point now. Finally, I was about to get my big salary increase. So big, that the boss decided to call me on the phone to tell me not to be surprised.

Well, I was not just surprised. I was in shock! The payroll department had not added the raise to my paycheck; they included it separately. I didn’t need to find an old pay stub and compare it to the current pay stub to calculate the raise amount. My “raise” had its very own check. The amount was staring me in the face. I was so looking forward to my pay increase. After all, my year one pay raise was only 2.5%. My year two pay raise was only 5%. Finally, my year three pay raise was here and it was going to be huge. So huge that I did not need to know how to ask for a pay raise; so huge that my boss had to call me so I would not be surprised. Finally, my years of outstanding work and loyalty to the company was about to pay off. I was stunned when I saw the check. I stared at it. The raise was retroactive to the beginning to the pay period, so it was a full two weeks’ worth of raise. Twenty-seven dollars. Yes, $27 for a two week period. I did the math and it was a 1% raise. I was in disbelief and was hurt. I desperately needed to learn how to ask for a raise.

Technorati Tags: how to ask for a raise, raise, salary increase, salary, job, get a raise, get the raise you deserve, how to get a raise