Few employees have
bargaining power to substantially increase their base (starting)
salaries and benefits in most organizations. Once hired, most
individuals have little say in determining their salary increases,
unless they possess critical, hard-to-replace skills and are in danger
of leaving for greener pastures. However, most people are replaceable.
Employers attempt to be both equitable and secret in determining salary
increases. The equitable strategy results in treating all employees the
same on the question of salary – give them cost of living increases as a
percentage of their base salary. This equitable strategy is also an
administratively expedient one that best conforms to the rigid systems
found in many organizations. It s also politically expedient should
employees discover how much others in the organization received in
comparison to them.
Initial starting salaries are the major determinant of future salary increases
for most employees. This means that your starting salary will be your most
important salary today and tomorrow. Most employers will continue to figure
salary increases as a percentage of an employee’s base salary. Therefore, it’s
imperative that you start at the highest salary possible, because this initial
salary will affect future salary increments within the organization. Unless you
become indispensable to the organization or receive a major promotion, the next
time you will receive a significant salary increase is when you quit your job
and get hired by another organization that is willing to pay you a substantially
higher salary.
Document Your Performance: If you do want to negotiate, you need to prove your
value. If
you verbally emphasize the importance of performance
determining
compensation, you must first document your performance
-
create a portfolio of performance which include
examples of Your Performance achievements.
Documentation gives you the necessary
supports
for justifying
what you're worth.
You should
document both your past and present performance by keeping records on your
achievements. Your past achievements should be documented as part of your
self-assessment -
one of the
first things you should have done in your job search. If you did not
complete this critical step at that
time, better late than never. One of
best ways to do this is to keep a note of your achievements. Complete the questions below for each of
10 major achievements related to your
previous work. This exercise helps
you identify your
motivated
abilities
which are also
your
strengths.
When focusing on
achievements relevant to particular
jobs and
employers, your motivated abilities and strengths become
your
performance.
By addressing the
questions in this form, you
detail each of
your achievements around employer's major
concerns.
If, for example,
an employer asks you during the
interview
"What are your
major strengths?
",
you will
be prepared
to detail
at least 10 strengths that also explain your past performance.
You should do more than just list 10 discrete activities you
engaged in that
demonstrate some degree of performance. Indeed, if you go one step further and
synthesize all of these achievements
into two or three
common strengths, you should be able to
communicate a
picture of past performance that also constitutes a
pattern
for predicting
future performance. Much of the information
you generate from this exercise should appear on your resume.
You should also
document your present performance as well as
prepare to
continue doing so in the future by keeping records of
your
accomplishments. While you and your employer may complete a standardized
performance appraisal form for this
Purpose, you
should go one step further in keeping
a
performance
diary
that
details your accomplishments. Again, avoid the tendency
to list duties and responsibilities that are on-going activities
related to your
job. You want to emphasize
outcomes
and
benefits
from
your performance. Include these categories of information
in your
performance diary:
Achievements:
-
How did I get involved?
-
What did I do?
-
How did I do it?
-
What did I especially enjoy about doing it?
-
Who benefited from what I did?
-
How was I recognized and rewarded?
A
Date:
1. What did I accomplish?
2. Who was involved?
3. Who or what benefited from what I did?
4.
How did I communicate this accomplishment to my supervisor?
For the four keys to career success, send an
email to
bs@futurevisions.org
with "MWS Career Success" in the subject and nothing in the body
