Do You Deserve a Raise?

CNNMoney offers a self-survey to help you understand if you deserve a raise. Here are the six questions in the survey.

1. If you left the company, how easy or hard would it be for the company to replace you?
2. To what extent do you have abilities or possess knowledge that most others—both inside and outside the company—do not have?
3. If your company had to eliminate departments, what would happen to yours?
4. Is your department respected by other parts of the company?
5. How much does your business or division contribute to the profitability of the company?
6. Does it look as if your business will grow or shrink in coming years?

Call for Action

In preparing to ask for a raise or a promotion, or in preparing for a performance review, you need a strong understanding of arguments supporting your desired outcome and counter-points your boss (and other approvers) may raise. The above survey questions from CNNMoney can help you start gathering your thoughts.

The key yardstick that your boss will use to appraise you is the significance of your efforts to the organisation and the perceived promise/potential you hold. Review any expectations that your boss laid-out during prior discussions. Prepare a self-evaluation by documenting your accomplishments against these expectations and their significance to the goals of the organisation. Collect evidence: try to quantify and be precise as possible. Maintain a journal of all your achievements and summarize your journal in your self-evaluation.