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Topic: Too soon to ask for a raise?
| Author | Message |
| MsWebWriter | Posted – 7/20/2007 12:26:42 PM | show profile Hey, I've been an entry-level reporter (daily beat for an online publication) for just over four months now. I hit my deadlines -- work late -- pay my dues -- and have been getting great feedback, both from in-house and others in the industry. I'm loving the learning experience, as this is teaching me to be so sharp and my writing has improved greatly -- but I'm broke! I live in nyc (didn't choose it, born and raised here!), have a roommate in a crummy apt, don't buy Jimmy Choos (did we ever find out if SJP in Sex and the City was based on a real writer?) and am not trying to be a diva by any accounts. I just wanna make some dough! So is it too soon to ask for a raise? I checked my salary calculator and found that I'm making in the top percentile for others in my position -- but its still not enough. I feel good about the feedback I've gotten, but I don't want to come off as cocky or anything like that. Any thoughts? |
| Mag Girl | Posted – 7/20/2007 2:31:31 PM | show profile Honestly, I think 4 months is too soon. Do you mind me asking how much you make so we can see how reasonable a future salary adjustment request would be? I would wait until at LEAST the 6-month mark to ask. I am guessing though, that you are going to have to suck it up until your annual review. Most journalists don't make enough even after having many years of experience. |
| MsWebWriter | Posted – 7/20/2007 3:07:37 PM | show profile | email poster Email me! Thanks for the response Mag. I also felt like four months is too soon, but I have some rather zealous non-journalist friends who are like "men ask for raises and get them all the time." I just wanted to temper those thoughts with some thoughts from people who are actually in the industry. If you shoot me an email I will send you my salary info. Thanks again! |
| UrbanMuse | Posted – 7/20/2007 4:57:34 PM | show profile | email poster We've all been there with the lower-than-low salaries. It's hard to take on another job if you're really working your butt off as a reporter but maybe you could freelance or babysit or bartend or something to make up some of the deficit? I used to work in telemarketing, which sounds heinous, but it was a good hourly rate and the people were very friendly (of course). ------ www.UrbanMuseWriter.com |
| Hannah | Posted – 7/20/2007 8:37:22 PM | show profile I think it's perfectly okay to inquire about a raise -- it's not like your boss is going to fire you for asking. But when you make your case, leave your personal poverty out of it. You need to convey your value to the business -- have you consistently operated beyond your job description since you came aboard? Landed a string of exclusives that drove traffic to your site? Those are the factors that will determine your manager's verdict. Don't be shy about selling your accomplishments! |
| Hannah | Posted – 7/20/2007 8:40:58 PM | show profile Oh, and I should add that I tried to land a raise at the 6-month mark when I was an entry-level (newspaper) reporter. My editor shot me down, but our relationship remained friendly and professional. No harm done! |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 7/21/2007 8:55:15 AM | show profile Unless a raise was discussed when you were hired ... ...absolutely not. Not even at six months. A year, at least. Why did you agree to work for such a low rate in the first place if it's such a problem? |
| upcoaster | Posted – 7/21/2007 11:18:50 AM | show profile A full 16 weeks... ...of "paying dues" and you're still only in the top percentile? Horrors. Demand a raise. |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 7/21/2007 12:22:45 PM | show profile Another example of "entitlement attitude" ... These kids today have no idea what "paying dues" really entails. If you're making in the "top percentile for others" in your position, but it's still "not enough", then obviously you need to look for another position. If you, as the original poster said, "just wanna make some dough!", then go into an industry where it's all about making money, like investment banking. No one ever said you'd get rich as a reporter working for an online publication. |
| fiddlestix | Posted – 7/22/2007 11:11:29 PM | show profile I think six months is a reasonable time to ask about increased compensation. That's not entitlement, it just a sane reaction to a ridiculous work environment. Starting salaries are barely higher than they were twenty years ago, yet rent in NYC is at LEAST ten times higher. If your employers value your contribution they will discuss your request, if they don't, you know it's time to plan your next move. Time is too short to blow your youth on a situation where you aren't appreciated. Don't feel bad if they don't give you what you ask for, the reality is that you won't experience real increases in compensation until you take a new job, where you can leverage big salary jumps. |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 7/22/2007 11:36:55 PM | show profile Not the employer's problem. "I think six months is a reasonable time to ask about increased compensation. That's not entitlement, it just a sane reaction to a ridiculous work environment. Starting salaries are barely higher than they were twenty years ago, yet rent in NYC is at LEAST ten times higher." No. Six months is NOT a reasonable time to ask for increased compensation. Not in this or any other industry in America. A year at the absolute earliest is standard. I realize that the younger generation has the attention span of a gnat, and six months can seem like a lifetime, but I'm afraid you'll have to suck it up like a big boy or girl and act like a professional. Again, if you think the salary is so "ridiculous", you should have never accepted the position in the first place. As long as there are kids out there willing to work for these "ridiculous" salaries, companies will continue to offer them. |
| noname1234 | Posted – 7/22/2007 11:59:49 PM | show profile I've been in situations where people have asked for and received raises after 6 months, for example, if their job changes quite a bit or if they got another offer and the first employer wants them to stay. Never hurts to ask -- assuming, of course, you can make a good case for why you've earned it because of the work you've done and are expected to do moving forward. |
| boxwood | Posted – 7/23/2007 12:43:37 AM | show profile Why all the vitriol? So MsWebWriter wants more money. Don't we all? I don't understand the anger directed at her. |
| MsWebWriter | Posted – 7/23/2007 7:21:53 PM | show profile Not Entitled at all Thanks for the feedback everyone. Just a quick note -- I don't have an entitled attitude. I took the job because I've always wanted to be a journalist and I am *thrilled* to wake up every morning knowing that I get to write for a living. It's just hard to make a living. As I said -- I'm not about luxury and decadence -- I didn't grow up with it, and surely don't have mom and dad to help. I *am* struggling, and no I don't think anything should be handed to me, I just wanted some perspective. |
| noname1234 | Posted – 7/23/2007 7:36:38 PM | show profile Go for it, MsWeb. I don't understand why many people complain bitterly about low media salaries, then complain bitterly about someone who is willing to go ASK for more (not always an easy thing to do!). Maybe if more people had the balls to ask for more, we wouldn't have so many pissed off, underpaid people in media. |
| Vox-o | Posted – 7/23/2007 8:30:14 PM | show profile I agree with Noname. You are getting bitterness from people who have lived their enitre lives according to The Way Things are Done. Don't listen to them. Ask, even though you will probably be turned down. And if you are turned down, it is a great opportunity to ask what they think of your performance thus far, and what you need to do in order to get a "yes" in another six months. Never listen to people who say things must be done a certain way. You are't applying for a passport, you are building a career. Good for you for having the stones to think about yourself. Women often take too long to do this, and that is why we make less money than men overall. Kudos to you. |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 7/23/2007 9:17:39 PM | show profile Come again? "You are getting bitterness from people who have lived their enitre lives according to The Way Things are Done. Don't listen to them." Great advice, Vox-o. Considering those people (including myself) are the ones making hiring (and salary) decisions today. |
| Vox-o | Posted – 7/23/2007 10:01:31 PM | show profile So am I Matt. I have a Director level position. And I like people with balls. Not those who have a little notebook featuring advice from people like you. Let's face it, it is hard to get a raise out of sync, but fuck man, there is nothing like a person who is hyngry and who cares. THAT is why I advised her to go ahead and ask, prepared to be shot down, then follow up with "what can *I* do to be good enough six months down the line." You advice is to keep her mouth shut and followw the system. Your advice is bad. She needs to speak up. With respect. But speak up. |
| noname1234 | Posted – 7/23/2007 10:14:36 PM | show profile Matt, I'm curious. If you had a staff member who was an excellent performer, who'd gone above and beyond, who'd taken on additional resonsibility from her original job desciption, and she came to you asking for a raise before the "official" company review period using all of the above as her argument, you'd really hold it against her for asking? |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 7/23/2007 11:11:56 PM | show profile No, I would not hold it against her ... ...but she would still not get the raise until after a year. What I can't stand from subordinates, however, is hearing them bitch and moan about how little they get paid ... even the good ones. I have a budget. I hired you to do a job at a compensation level YOU agreed to. If you don't like said compensation level, we'll discuss it after a year. A year is standard operating procedure in Corporate America. |
| noname1234 | Posted – 7/23/2007 11:58:38 PM | show profile I just disagree with a year being Standard Operating Procedure -- I have personally been hired at more than one job that had an official policy of reviews at 6 months. And every rule of this nature was made to be broken anyway. I have been told more than once that, say, a 3% raise was the maximum possible because of unbendable corporate policy, but you know what? When I pressed for more, I got it. And I never would have got it if I hadn't pressed. No corporation WANTS an employee to ask for anything. Standard Operating Procedures are set up by the corporation for its own benefit; the worker needs to look out for her own career. |
| fiddlestix | Posted – 7/24/2007 2:03:53 AM | show profile manhattanmatt you are one bitter, vindictive dude. Talented and ambitious newbeez should be encouraged to ask for their due, even from such hidebound and rigid Deciders as yourself. If they don't get it, fine, but there are no rules as to when to ask. Why are you so fixated on One Year? |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 7/24/2007 3:40:22 AM | show profile Fiddlestix ... ...you apparently don't handle budgets. Re-read my above posting. |
| noname1234 | Posted – 7/24/2007 10:08:23 AM | show profile Matt, I handle budgets |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 7/24/2007 8:33:08 PM | show profile NoName ... ...it must be nice to handle *flexible* budgets that allow you to hand out raises indiscriminately. |
