Given my role, I have a lot of conversations based around current salaries, expectations and how a person’s experience sits within the market.
Invariably the conversation sometimes leads to people not being satisfied with the last outcome of their review, whether it is formal or over a cup of coffee.
That outcome being, either not enough or no bonus/rise/raise/increase…well you get it, not enough money….
Dig deep enough, and you will find that a lot of the time, people don’t get a successful outcome because they hadn’t articulated their worth in the review meeting.
They focus on hours worked instead of output, or they see it as a straight forward process, instead of a negotiation.
So here are 6 tips that will help you next time you go into an annual review/negotiation
1.Tip 1 right there, think of it as a negotiation
2.Prepare for the meeting- Review the year before, don’t focus on the hours, and focus on the output.
3.Get specific on where you stepped out of your role and stepped up: if you were 2IC on a project and you stepped into the Leader role, when the person was away, and received some great feedback from the client mention this.
4.Think of 3 Achievements that you are proud of from the year just gone, and use this as well. For example, Working to a tight deadline, mentoring a more junior team member, solving a design issue.
5.Think of 3 situations where you were challenged and you overcame them, and delivered. More examples: A tricky client, learning new software, a tight deadline.
6.Or if you want to reverse engineer it, think over the course of the year what have I learnt. In a career context, learning something new is invariably a new skill and adds value to the firm.
So review the year, prepare examples, and prepare for a negotiation.
Oh and if all else fails, then you know who to call or text, or email, just get in touch….