More than one in three employees say they plan to search for a new job if they don’t get a pay raise in the new year, according to Glassdoor’s quarterly Employment Confidence Survey, released Friday.
And nearly half (48 percent) the surveyed workers say they feel confident in their ability to find a new job in next six months — the highest level of confidence seen in the survey in six years. Moreover, only 13 percent of workers fear being laid off in next six months, the lowest level in six years.
If you’re one of these people planning to job-search if you don’t get a raise in the new year, here’s an action plan you can use to either get a pay increase or understand that it’s time to strike out for greener pastures:
Don’t wait for your employer to offer you a raise. For starters, don’t just sit back and wait to see whether you’re offered a raise and then launch a job hunt if you aren’t. In many companies, employees need to ask for a raise in order to receive one. This may or may not seem fair, but it’s often how things work — and there’s no point in leaving a job that you’re otherwise happy in over pay without first trying to resolve the problem.
That means you should start a conversation with your boss about your compensation. You can do that by saying something like, “I’ve really appreciated the change to take on new responsibilities and more challenging work over the last year. In light of my work doing X and my accomplishments in Y, I’d like to talk about adjusting my salary to reflect this higher level of contribution.”
Get the timing right. Timing matters in several ways when you’re asking for a raise: First and foremost, the right time to ask is when you have a sustained track record of accomplishment to point to. A raise is recognition that you’re now contributing at a significantly higher level than when your salary was last set — so you want to make sure that’s true and that you can show it!
Most employers don’t give salary increases more than once a year, except in very unusual circumstances. So if you’ve received a raise in the last, say, 11 months, or if you haven’t been on the job for a year yet, you might need to wait a little longer.
Be emotionally intelligent about your timing, too: Don’t corner your manager when she’s busy or having a bad day, or when you just made a big mistake on a project. Put some thought into whether the time feels right or not.
Lay out a compelling case for why you deserve more money. When you ask for a raise, you’ll need to lay out a case for why you’ve earned it. That means you should reflect on your achievements in the last year and the impact you’ve had on your team and organization. What have you received especially positive feedback about? What results are you most proud of? Where have you made the biggest impact?
Make sure you know the market rate for your work. Surprisingly often, people ask for a raise without knowing where their current pay fits into the going rate for their work. You can’t reasonably expect your employer to pay you significantly more than market rate, so it’s important that you know what the market rate actually is.
It’s not always easy to find that out. Salary websites often provide very broad data, but aren’t especially accurate at the individual level, especially because the same job title can often represent wildly different scopes of responsibility.
But you can often get good information by talking to recruiters, asking other people in your field for their sense of what salary they’d expect someone in your role to be earning and checking with professional organizations in your field. Make sure to factor in any noteworthy benefits your company offers, such as particularly generous retirement contributions or unusual amounts of paid time off.
Alison Green writes the popular Ask a Manager blog, where she dispenses advice on career, job search and management issues. She’s the author of “How to Get a Job: Secrets of a Hiring Manager,” co-author of “Managing to Change the World: The Nonprofit Manager’s Guide to Getting Results” and the former chief of staff of a successful nonprofit organization, where she oversaw day-to-day staff management.
More from U.S. News
15 Career Mistakes to Avoid in 2015
Famous CEOs and Executives Share Their Best Career Advice
How to Get a Raise This Year originally appeared on usnews.com
