How “Not” to ask for a raise

17 Jun How “Not” to ask for a raise

One of the funniest and weirdest things that has happened to me in my career has been once when I was asked for a raise by getting a compliment.

A couple of years ago, in a previous company I worked for, I had a DBA trainee that had been with my company over the last 4 months, and we are trying to bring this person full time with us.

So I had the talk with this trainee regarding that we are excited to have this trainee on board and be a full part of the company, I tried my best to explain all the perks we have for full time employees, as well as how the salary was going to be and how everything from here on out depended on this trainee work effort and how this DBA wanted to grow with the company.

So this trainee said If I could give her a couple of days to think about it, and obviously this is a big decision for someone coming out of college, so I said sure, if you have any questions , don’t hesitate to ask HR or myself.

After 2 days I get a meeting request from this trainee and here is where everything starts to get weird. In the email for the meeting, here is what I remember from it:

“René , you are a great man, you are kind, nice … , but can I get nk more per month”

My question is , how can you go up to your boss and ask that way for something by complimenting the boss, it really caught me off guard, and I couldn’t help it but giggle and feel really awkward about it.

I do want to make it clear that I didn’t give this trainee a raise, even though the compliments where were awesome.

Everything should be about your accomplishments and how you have made your company a little better or the value that you bring to the company.

But at the end what someone should take out of this, is when you walk up to your boss for a raise, don’t tell him he is a kind man, instead do some of the following when asking for a raise

• Prepare a list of your accomplishments, and this includes any tough deadlines, projects, process improvements,etc.
• Make a review of your work history
• Bring your goals and objectives to the table
• What and how much you are looking for?

I really thank the compliment, and that is not the way, but at least next time do it over drinks and I might consider it, lol 😀