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I'm up for a 6-month review in a couple of weeks. What can I do by then or during the meeting that will increase my chances of getting a pay raise? [closed]
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I'm a web developer currently making $14.52 per hour. I'm also fairly new to the professional workplace, so I have no idea if that's actually a good wage for my position.
What can I do to increase my chances of getting a raise?
software-industry career-development salary negotiation
asked Jan 2 '14 at 20:08
Roach Lord
13018
closed as primarily opinion-based by jcmeloni, gnat, CMW, shivsky, CincinnatiProgrammer Jan 3 '14 at 12:44
Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
add a comment |Â
up vote
-1
down vote
favorite
I'm a web developer currently making $14.52 per hour. I'm also fairly new to the professional workplace, so I have no idea if that's actually a good wage for my position.
What can I do to increase my chances of getting a raise?
software-industry career-development salary negotiation
asked Jan 2 '14 at 20:08
Roach Lord
13018
closed as primarily opinion-based by jcmeloni, gnat, CMW, shivsky, CincinnatiProgrammer Jan 3 '14 at 12:44
Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
The pay does seem a bit low for San Diego (where your profile says you live). I'd expect to see this rate in a small city/town in a low cost of living area.
– jfrankcarr
Jan 3 '14 at 0:39
2
The question about pay might be good as a separate question.
– Simon O'Doherty
Jan 3 '14 at 7:42
add a comment |Â
up vote
-1
down vote
favorite
up vote
-1
down vote
favorite
I'm a web developer currently making $14.52 per hour. I'm also fairly new to the professional workplace, so I have no idea if that's actually a good wage for my position.
What can I do to increase my chances of getting a raise?
software-industry career-development salary negotiation
asked Jan 2 '14 at 20:08
Roach Lord
13018
I'm a web developer currently making $14.52 per hour. I'm also fairly new to the professional workplace, so I have no idea if that's actually a good wage for my position.
What can I do to increase my chances of getting a raise?
software-industry career-development salary negotiation
asked Jan 2 '14 at 20:08
Roach Lord
13018
edited Jan 2 '14 at 20:27
asked Jan 2 '14 at 20:08
Roach Lord
13018
asked Jan 2 '14 at 20:08
Roach Lord
13018
asked Jan 2 '14 at 20:08
Roach Lord
13018
13018
closed as primarily opinion-based by jcmeloni, gnat, CMW, shivsky, CincinnatiProgrammer Jan 3 '14 at 12:44
Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
closed as primarily opinion-based by jcmeloni, gnat, CMW, shivsky, CincinnatiProgrammer Jan 3 '14 at 12:44
Many good questions generate some degree of opinion based on expert experience, but answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise. If this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
The pay does seem a bit low for San Diego (where your profile says you live). I'd expect to see this rate in a small city/town in a low cost of living area.
– jfrankcarr
Jan 3 '14 at 0:39
2
The question about pay might be good as a separate question.
– Simon O'Doherty
Jan 3 '14 at 7:42
add a comment |Â
The pay does seem a bit low for San Diego (where your profile says you live). I'd expect to see this rate in a small city/town in a low cost of living area.
– jfrankcarr
Jan 3 '14 at 0:39
2
The question about pay might be good as a separate question.
– Simon O'Doherty
Jan 3 '14 at 7:42
The pay does seem a bit low for San Diego (where your profile says you live). I'd expect to see this rate in a small city/town in a low cost of living area.
– jfrankcarr
Jan 3 '14 at 0:39
The pay does seem a bit low for San Diego (where your profile says you live). I'd expect to see this rate in a small city/town in a low cost of living area.
– jfrankcarr
Jan 3 '14 at 0:39
2
2
The question about pay might be good as a separate question.
– Simon O'Doherty
Jan 3 '14 at 7:42
The question about pay might be good as a separate question.
– Simon O'Doherty
Jan 3 '14 at 7:42
add a comment |Â
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
up vote
12
down vote
accepted
In all honesty, if you've been working in a company for only 6 months, it's unlikely that you will get a raise. A couple things to think about:
Most raises are given yearly - incentives and bonuses can be more frequent, but a company will generally realign salaries and do promotions on an annual basis. Some will do this for all employees at a single point in the calendar, some continually assess and align each employee's increase with the point in the calendar at which they where hired.
There's a general assumption that if you were hired within the last year that you negotiated a salary that was fairly competitive for your skill set. It's unlikely that your skills or the industry have changed enough in 6 months for your current salary to far out of date.
The first 3-6 months of a new position are generally a time for learning. It would be wildly unlikely that you are so incredibly productive that you are exceeding your job range that you qualify for a promotion. Never say never, but for the most part, it's assumed that employees are going to have a learning curve for getting to know the corporate culture, getting to learn the job expectations and coming up to speed - in that first 6 months, the average new hire is not as efficient as anyone who's been in the company for a year.
To get a raise in the first 6 months, you'd have to be working in a company with an usual raise-giving structure and/or you'd have to walk in and be astoundingly productive. This can happen when dramatic circumstances arise, or when a person is hired for a position for which they may be overqualified. I've have real trouble believing in the likelihood for a new grad on a first job.
That said, the way towards getting more money IS to excel at the various reviews, which should also mean doing a good job on a day to day, week to week, month to month basis. I'd like to think that in most companies, the biggest bang for the buck is to always have a good work ethic and be good at your job.
That said, there's some nice political things you can do in that last few weeks before the review...
1 - Don't be "that guy"
Watch out for any behaviors that would negatively distract from a good, and meaningful review. There's always some basic rules that may not be a 1:1 tie in to productivity, but are a generally accepted part of most environments. Importance varies by company, but these probably include...
Don't be the guy who:
- comes to work late (or in poor condition)
- doesn't call when a crisis has happened and he MUST be late
- takes a super long lunch
- goes home too early
- is seen often socializing with coworkers
- is messing around a lot at work instead of working
- is late to meetings
- takes a crazy long time to get back to people who ask you for things
- doesn't do time cards on time
- doesn't follow policies about security, quality control, ethics, etc.
In particular, don't be "that guy" about anything that your boss has expressed particular concerns about.
2 - Know your Deliverables and Deliver on Time
I rather think this is the essence of doing a good job and something to do in general. But in that stretch before a review, it's always really good to pay attention to this, so that the thing on the top of the boss' mind is that you've been doing quite a good job lately.
Notice that there's two key components here:
Know your deliverables. It's easy to loose sight of all the things on your to-do list when one or two things are big, exciting, fun, or otherwise attention getting. Don't slip on the little stuff. I'm thinking, in particular of things like - completing action items from meetings, finishing any action items that came from a peer review of your work, finishing the feedback for peer reviews of other people's work, bug fixing, testing, responses to emails requesting information or other small errands. If you're not sure that you owe someone something, ask. It's much better to be the guy who did the work, and then checks in that it's done, than the guy who totally didn't do the work and didn't seem to care.
Do them on time - if you don't know the deadline on a task, this is a REALLY good time to ask. Assume that you probably don't earn extra points for getting a small thing done early - you earn points for getting EVERYTHING done at the time it was due. If you are very undertasked, then it is a good time to kick up the pace and get stuff done as early as possible, so you can show that you are really quite awesome and should get more work, more responsibility and hopefully a promotion. Watch out though - keep the quality up.
3 - Have YOUR thoughts ready
What are your ambitions? I don't mean more money, I mean what work have you liked? What parts of the company are really interesting to you? Do you want to keep rising up the chain in your field or work towards broadening scope? What do you feel your challenges have been? What can you do to improve them? Do you need resources from the company for that.
Yes, there are probably some things you don't want to bring up in the review - for example, if you hate the company and want to leave as soon as humanly possible - keep it to yourself. If you decided that your true calling is wildly different than your current career, then this may not be sharing time... but if you see opportunities that are a win-win for yourself and the company, have them in mind.
Being able to show passion and forethought is very helpful to those who want a promotion - showing this to your manager helps them figure out what challenges will suit you. Not every manager will ask, but there's nothing worse than being caught by surprise with the "so what are your career plans?" type question and then coming up with all the great ideas 20 minutes after the review is over.
4 - Be helpful, be learning
Another one of those - "always be doing this" type points. Being a GREAT worker is not just handling your own stuff, but doing a bit extra. Don't just think about what you have to do to be done with your deliverables in #2, also think about what might help the whole team. For example, if you got an annoying action item that has to be repeated, maybe it can be a script that everyone uses? Or if you are already doing something in the lab, maybe you can offer to watch over someone else's test, too, so they can go finish something else. Think about the stuff that is no big deal to help with, but which might mean a great deal to those who you are helping.
Secondly, a bit different, but on the 110% end - always be learning. You're expected to be learning enough to do your job adequately. That's a requirement. But also keep abreast of interesting stuff in your field. Have a project, read some articles, look into alternatives to current practices or technologies. Know a little something more.
In the first six months, extra learning may not be doable - often just learning the job and getting into the rhythm is exhausting enough - but have an eye on things you might like to learn - and fit that idea into step #3.
Lastly - it may go without saying, but ya never know - all of that goes double the day of the review. Be well rested, be on time, be ready to receive feedback. Don't be in hyper-mega-helpful-perfection overload. It's just a day in the office and you'll have many many more reviews in your life time.
The most important thing about a review is being ready and able to hear both the bad and the good about your performance. Don't be defensive, and don't let negative feedback destroy your feelings of self-worth. A decently thoughtful manager should have some points in mind that you can work on, and some thoughts of things you do well. No one is perfect, and getting thoughtfully worded points for improvement is one of the best things you can hear right now, since it's the stuff you can change to get better.
answered Jan 2 '14 at 20:56
bethlakshmi
70.4k4136277
add a comment |Â
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
12
down vote
accepted
In all honesty, if you've been working in a company for only 6 months, it's unlikely that you will get a raise. A couple things to think about:
Most raises are given yearly - incentives and bonuses can be more frequent, but a company will generally realign salaries and do promotions on an annual basis. Some will do this for all employees at a single point in the calendar, some continually assess and align each employee's increase with the point in the calendar at which they where hired.
There's a general assumption that if you were hired within the last year that you negotiated a salary that was fairly competitive for your skill set. It's unlikely that your skills or the industry have changed enough in 6 months for your current salary to far out of date.
The first 3-6 months of a new position are generally a time for learning. It would be wildly unlikely that you are so incredibly productive that you are exceeding your job range that you qualify for a promotion. Never say never, but for the most part, it's assumed that employees are going to have a learning curve for getting to know the corporate culture, getting to learn the job expectations and coming up to speed - in that first 6 months, the average new hire is not as efficient as anyone who's been in the company for a year.
To get a raise in the first 6 months, you'd have to be working in a company with an usual raise-giving structure and/or you'd have to walk in and be astoundingly productive. This can happen when dramatic circumstances arise, or when a person is hired for a position for which they may be overqualified. I've have real trouble believing in the likelihood for a new grad on a first job.
That said, the way towards getting more money IS to excel at the various reviews, which should also mean doing a good job on a day to day, week to week, month to month basis. I'd like to think that in most companies, the biggest bang for the buck is to always have a good work ethic and be good at your job.
That said, there's some nice political things you can do in that last few weeks before the review...
1 - Don't be "that guy"
Watch out for any behaviors that would negatively distract from a good, and meaningful review. There's always some basic rules that may not be a 1:1 tie in to productivity, but are a generally accepted part of most environments. Importance varies by company, but these probably include...
Don't be the guy who:
- comes to work late (or in poor condition)
- doesn't call when a crisis has happened and he MUST be late
- takes a super long lunch
- goes home too early
- is seen often socializing with coworkers
- is messing around a lot at work instead of working
- is late to meetings
- takes a crazy long time to get back to people who ask you for things
- doesn't do time cards on time
- doesn't follow policies about security, quality control, ethics, etc.
In particular, don't be "that guy" about anything that your boss has expressed particular concerns about.
2 - Know your Deliverables and Deliver on Time
I rather think this is the essence of doing a good job and something to do in general. But in that stretch before a review, it's always really good to pay attention to this, so that the thing on the top of the boss' mind is that you've been doing quite a good job lately.
Notice that there's two key components here:
Know your deliverables. It's easy to loose sight of all the things on your to-do list when one or two things are big, exciting, fun, or otherwise attention getting. Don't slip on the little stuff. I'm thinking, in particular of things like - completing action items from meetings, finishing any action items that came from a peer review of your work, finishing the feedback for peer reviews of other people's work, bug fixing, testing, responses to emails requesting information or other small errands. If you're not sure that you owe someone something, ask. It's much better to be the guy who did the work, and then checks in that it's done, than the guy who totally didn't do the work and didn't seem to care.
Do them on time - if you don't know the deadline on a task, this is a REALLY good time to ask. Assume that you probably don't earn extra points for getting a small thing done early - you earn points for getting EVERYTHING done at the time it was due. If you are very undertasked, then it is a good time to kick up the pace and get stuff done as early as possible, so you can show that you are really quite awesome and should get more work, more responsibility and hopefully a promotion. Watch out though - keep the quality up.
3 - Have YOUR thoughts ready
What are your ambitions? I don't mean more money, I mean what work have you liked? What parts of the company are really interesting to you? Do you want to keep rising up the chain in your field or work towards broadening scope? What do you feel your challenges have been? What can you do to improve them? Do you need resources from the company for that.
Yes, there are probably some things you don't want to bring up in the review - for example, if you hate the company and want to leave as soon as humanly possible - keep it to yourself. If you decided that your true calling is wildly different than your current career, then this may not be sharing time... but if you see opportunities that are a win-win for yourself and the company, have them in mind.
Being able to show passion and forethought is very helpful to those who want a promotion - showing this to your manager helps them figure out what challenges will suit you. Not every manager will ask, but there's nothing worse than being caught by surprise with the "so what are your career plans?" type question and then coming up with all the great ideas 20 minutes after the review is over.
4 - Be helpful, be learning
Another one of those - "always be doing this" type points. Being a GREAT worker is not just handling your own stuff, but doing a bit extra. Don't just think about what you have to do to be done with your deliverables in #2, also think about what might help the whole team. For example, if you got an annoying action item that has to be repeated, maybe it can be a script that everyone uses? Or if you are already doing something in the lab, maybe you can offer to watch over someone else's test, too, so they can go finish something else. Think about the stuff that is no big deal to help with, but which might mean a great deal to those who you are helping.
Secondly, a bit different, but on the 110% end - always be learning. You're expected to be learning enough to do your job adequately. That's a requirement. But also keep abreast of interesting stuff in your field. Have a project, read some articles, look into alternatives to current practices or technologies. Know a little something more.
In the first six months, extra learning may not be doable - often just learning the job and getting into the rhythm is exhausting enough - but have an eye on things you might like to learn - and fit that idea into step #3.
Lastly - it may go without saying, but ya never know - all of that goes double the day of the review. Be well rested, be on time, be ready to receive feedback. Don't be in hyper-mega-helpful-perfection overload. It's just a day in the office and you'll have many many more reviews in your life time.
The most important thing about a review is being ready and able to hear both the bad and the good about your performance. Don't be defensive, and don't let negative feedback destroy your feelings of self-worth. A decently thoughtful manager should have some points in mind that you can work on, and some thoughts of things you do well. No one is perfect, and getting thoughtfully worded points for improvement is one of the best things you can hear right now, since it's the stuff you can change to get better.
answered Jan 2 '14 at 20:56
bethlakshmi
70.4k4136277
add a comment |Â
up vote
12
down vote
accepted
In all honesty, if you've been working in a company for only 6 months, it's unlikely that you will get a raise. A couple things to think about:
Most raises are given yearly - incentives and bonuses can be more frequent, but a company will generally realign salaries and do promotions on an annual basis. Some will do this for all employees at a single point in the calendar, some continually assess and align each employee's increase with the point in the calendar at which they where hired.
There's a general assumption that if you were hired within the last year that you negotiated a salary that was fairly competitive for your skill set. It's unlikely that your skills or the industry have changed enough in 6 months for your current salary to far out of date.
The first 3-6 months of a new position are generally a time for learning. It would be wildly unlikely that you are so incredibly productive that you are exceeding your job range that you qualify for a promotion. Never say never, but for the most part, it's assumed that employees are going to have a learning curve for getting to know the corporate culture, getting to learn the job expectations and coming up to speed - in that first 6 months, the average new hire is not as efficient as anyone who's been in the company for a year.
To get a raise in the first 6 months, you'd have to be working in a company with an usual raise-giving structure and/or you'd have to walk in and be astoundingly productive. This can happen when dramatic circumstances arise, or when a person is hired for a position for which they may be overqualified. I've have real trouble believing in the likelihood for a new grad on a first job.
That said, the way towards getting more money IS to excel at the various reviews, which should also mean doing a good job on a day to day, week to week, month to month basis. I'd like to think that in most companies, the biggest bang for the buck is to always have a good work ethic and be good at your job.
That said, there's some nice political things you can do in that last few weeks before the review...
1 - Don't be "that guy"
Watch out for any behaviors that would negatively distract from a good, and meaningful review. There's always some basic rules that may not be a 1:1 tie in to productivity, but are a generally accepted part of most environments. Importance varies by company, but these probably include...
Don't be the guy who:
- comes to work late (or in poor condition)
- doesn't call when a crisis has happened and he MUST be late
- takes a super long lunch
- goes home too early
- is seen often socializing with coworkers
- is messing around a lot at work instead of working
- is late to meetings
- takes a crazy long time to get back to people who ask you for things
- doesn't do time cards on time
- doesn't follow policies about security, quality control, ethics, etc.
In particular, don't be "that guy" about anything that your boss has expressed particular concerns about.
2 - Know your Deliverables and Deliver on Time
I rather think this is the essence of doing a good job and something to do in general. But in that stretch before a review, it's always really good to pay attention to this, so that the thing on the top of the boss' mind is that you've been doing quite a good job lately.
Notice that there's two key components here:
Know your deliverables. It's easy to loose sight of all the things on your to-do list when one or two things are big, exciting, fun, or otherwise attention getting. Don't slip on the little stuff. I'm thinking, in particular of things like - completing action items from meetings, finishing any action items that came from a peer review of your work, finishing the feedback for peer reviews of other people's work, bug fixing, testing, responses to emails requesting information or other small errands. If you're not sure that you owe someone something, ask. It's much better to be the guy who did the work, and then checks in that it's done, than the guy who totally didn't do the work and didn't seem to care.
Do them on time - if you don't know the deadline on a task, this is a REALLY good time to ask. Assume that you probably don't earn extra points for getting a small thing done early - you earn points for getting EVERYTHING done at the time it was due. If you are very undertasked, then it is a good time to kick up the pace and get stuff done as early as possible, so you can show that you are really quite awesome and should get more work, more responsibility and hopefully a promotion. Watch out though - keep the quality up.
3 - Have YOUR thoughts ready
What are your ambitions? I don't mean more money, I mean what work have you liked? What parts of the company are really interesting to you? Do you want to keep rising up the chain in your field or work towards broadening scope? What do you feel your challenges have been? What can you do to improve them? Do you need resources from the company for that.
Yes, there are probably some things you don't want to bring up in the review - for example, if you hate the company and want to leave as soon as humanly possible - keep it to yourself. If you decided that your true calling is wildly different than your current career, then this may not be sharing time... but if you see opportunities that are a win-win for yourself and the company, have them in mind.
Being able to show passion and forethought is very helpful to those who want a promotion - showing this to your manager helps them figure out what challenges will suit you. Not every manager will ask, but there's nothing worse than being caught by surprise with the "so what are your career plans?" type question and then coming up with all the great ideas 20 minutes after the review is over.
4 - Be helpful, be learning
Another one of those - "always be doing this" type points. Being a GREAT worker is not just handling your own stuff, but doing a bit extra. Don't just think about what you have to do to be done with your deliverables in #2, also think about what might help the whole team. For example, if you got an annoying action item that has to be repeated, maybe it can be a script that everyone uses? Or if you are already doing something in the lab, maybe you can offer to watch over someone else's test, too, so they can go finish something else. Think about the stuff that is no big deal to help with, but which might mean a great deal to those who you are helping.
Secondly, a bit different, but on the 110% end - always be learning. You're expected to be learning enough to do your job adequately. That's a requirement. But also keep abreast of interesting stuff in your field. Have a project, read some articles, look into alternatives to current practices or technologies. Know a little something more.
In the first six months, extra learning may not be doable - often just learning the job and getting into the rhythm is exhausting enough - but have an eye on things you might like to learn - and fit that idea into step #3.
Lastly - it may go without saying, but ya never know - all of that goes double the day of the review. Be well rested, be on time, be ready to receive feedback. Don't be in hyper-mega-helpful-perfection overload. It's just a day in the office and you'll have many many more reviews in your life time.
The most important thing about a review is being ready and able to hear both the bad and the good about your performance. Don't be defensive, and don't let negative feedback destroy your feelings of self-worth. A decently thoughtful manager should have some points in mind that you can work on, and some thoughts of things you do well. No one is perfect, and getting thoughtfully worded points for improvement is one of the best things you can hear right now, since it's the stuff you can change to get better.
answered Jan 2 '14 at 20:56
bethlakshmi
70.4k4136277
add a comment |Â
up vote
12
down vote
accepted
up vote
12
down vote
accepted
In all honesty, if you've been working in a company for only 6 months, it's unlikely that you will get a raise. A couple things to think about:
Most raises are given yearly - incentives and bonuses can be more frequent, but a company will generally realign salaries and do promotions on an annual basis. Some will do this for all employees at a single point in the calendar, some continually assess and align each employee's increase with the point in the calendar at which they where hired.
There's a general assumption that if you were hired within the last year that you negotiated a salary that was fairly competitive for your skill set. It's unlikely that your skills or the industry have changed enough in 6 months for your current salary to far out of date.
The first 3-6 months of a new position are generally a time for learning. It would be wildly unlikely that you are so incredibly productive that you are exceeding your job range that you qualify for a promotion. Never say never, but for the most part, it's assumed that employees are going to have a learning curve for getting to know the corporate culture, getting to learn the job expectations and coming up to speed - in that first 6 months, the average new hire is not as efficient as anyone who's been in the company for a year.
To get a raise in the first 6 months, you'd have to be working in a company with an usual raise-giving structure and/or you'd have to walk in and be astoundingly productive. This can happen when dramatic circumstances arise, or when a person is hired for a position for which they may be overqualified. I've have real trouble believing in the likelihood for a new grad on a first job.
That said, the way towards getting more money IS to excel at the various reviews, which should also mean doing a good job on a day to day, week to week, month to month basis. I'd like to think that in most companies, the biggest bang for the buck is to always have a good work ethic and be good at your job.
That said, there's some nice political things you can do in that last few weeks before the review...
1 - Don't be "that guy"
Watch out for any behaviors that would negatively distract from a good, and meaningful review. There's always some basic rules that may not be a 1:1 tie in to productivity, but are a generally accepted part of most environments. Importance varies by company, but these probably include...
Don't be the guy who:
- comes to work late (or in poor condition)
- doesn't call when a crisis has happened and he MUST be late
- takes a super long lunch
- goes home too early
- is seen often socializing with coworkers
- is messing around a lot at work instead of working
- is late to meetings
- takes a crazy long time to get back to people who ask you for things
- doesn't do time cards on time
- doesn't follow policies about security, quality control, ethics, etc.
In particular, don't be "that guy" about anything that your boss has expressed particular concerns about.
2 - Know your Deliverables and Deliver on Time
I rather think this is the essence of doing a good job and something to do in general. But in that stretch before a review, it's always really good to pay attention to this, so that the thing on the top of the boss' mind is that you've been doing quite a good job lately.
Notice that there's two key components here:
Know your deliverables. It's easy to loose sight of all the things on your to-do list when one or two things are big, exciting, fun, or otherwise attention getting. Don't slip on the little stuff. I'm thinking, in particular of things like - completing action items from meetings, finishing any action items that came from a peer review of your work, finishing the feedback for peer reviews of other people's work, bug fixing, testing, responses to emails requesting information or other small errands. If you're not sure that you owe someone something, ask. It's much better to be the guy who did the work, and then checks in that it's done, than the guy who totally didn't do the work and didn't seem to care.
Do them on time - if you don't know the deadline on a task, this is a REALLY good time to ask. Assume that you probably don't earn extra points for getting a small thing done early - you earn points for getting EVERYTHING done at the time it was due. If you are very undertasked, then it is a good time to kick up the pace and get stuff done as early as possible, so you can show that you are really quite awesome and should get more work, more responsibility and hopefully a promotion. Watch out though - keep the quality up.
3 - Have YOUR thoughts ready
What are your ambitions? I don't mean more money, I mean what work have you liked? What parts of the company are really interesting to you? Do you want to keep rising up the chain in your field or work towards broadening scope? What do you feel your challenges have been? What can you do to improve them? Do you need resources from the company for that.
Yes, there are probably some things you don't want to bring up in the review - for example, if you hate the company and want to leave as soon as humanly possible - keep it to yourself. If you decided that your true calling is wildly different than your current career, then this may not be sharing time... but if you see opportunities that are a win-win for yourself and the company, have them in mind.
Being able to show passion and forethought is very helpful to those who want a promotion - showing this to your manager helps them figure out what challenges will suit you. Not every manager will ask, but there's nothing worse than being caught by surprise with the "so what are your career plans?" type question and then coming up with all the great ideas 20 minutes after the review is over.
4 - Be helpful, be learning
Another one of those - "always be doing this" type points. Being a GREAT worker is not just handling your own stuff, but doing a bit extra. Don't just think about what you have to do to be done with your deliverables in #2, also think about what might help the whole team. For example, if you got an annoying action item that has to be repeated, maybe it can be a script that everyone uses? Or if you are already doing something in the lab, maybe you can offer to watch over someone else's test, too, so they can go finish something else. Think about the stuff that is no big deal to help with, but which might mean a great deal to those who you are helping.
Secondly, a bit different, but on the 110% end - always be learning. You're expected to be learning enough to do your job adequately. That's a requirement. But also keep abreast of interesting stuff in your field. Have a project, read some articles, look into alternatives to current practices or technologies. Know a little something more.
In the first six months, extra learning may not be doable - often just learning the job and getting into the rhythm is exhausting enough - but have an eye on things you might like to learn - and fit that idea into step #3.
Lastly - it may go without saying, but ya never know - all of that goes double the day of the review. Be well rested, be on time, be ready to receive feedback. Don't be in hyper-mega-helpful-perfection overload. It's just a day in the office and you'll have many many more reviews in your life time.
The most important thing about a review is being ready and able to hear both the bad and the good about your performance. Don't be defensive, and don't let negative feedback destroy your feelings of self-worth. A decently thoughtful manager should have some points in mind that you can work on, and some thoughts of things you do well. No one is perfect, and getting thoughtfully worded points for improvement is one of the best things you can hear right now, since it's the stuff you can change to get better.
answered Jan 2 '14 at 20:56
bethlakshmi
70.4k4136277
In all honesty, if you've been working in a company for only 6 months, it's unlikely that you will get a raise. A couple things to think about:
Most raises are given yearly - incentives and bonuses can be more frequent, but a company will generally realign salaries and do promotions on an annual basis. Some will do this for all employees at a single point in the calendar, some continually assess and align each employee's increase with the point in the calendar at which they where hired.
There's a general assumption that if you were hired within the last year that you negotiated a salary that was fairly competitive for your skill set. It's unlikely that your skills or the industry have changed enough in 6 months for your current salary to far out of date.
The first 3-6 months of a new position are generally a time for learning. It would be wildly unlikely that you are so incredibly productive that you are exceeding your job range that you qualify for a promotion. Never say never, but for the most part, it's assumed that employees are going to have a learning curve for getting to know the corporate culture, getting to learn the job expectations and coming up to speed - in that first 6 months, the average new hire is not as efficient as anyone who's been in the company for a year.
To get a raise in the first 6 months, you'd have to be working in a company with an usual raise-giving structure and/or you'd have to walk in and be astoundingly productive. This can happen when dramatic circumstances arise, or when a person is hired for a position for which they may be overqualified. I've have real trouble believing in the likelihood for a new grad on a first job.
That said, the way towards getting more money IS to excel at the various reviews, which should also mean doing a good job on a day to day, week to week, month to month basis. I'd like to think that in most companies, the biggest bang for the buck is to always have a good work ethic and be good at your job.
That said, there's some nice political things you can do in that last few weeks before the review...
1 - Don't be "that guy"
Watch out for any behaviors that would negatively distract from a good, and meaningful review. There's always some basic rules that may not be a 1:1 tie in to productivity, but are a generally accepted part of most environments. Importance varies by company, but these probably include...
Don't be the guy who:
- comes to work late (or in poor condition)
- doesn't call when a crisis has happened and he MUST be late
- takes a super long lunch
- goes home too early
- is seen often socializing with coworkers
- is messing around a lot at work instead of working
- is late to meetings
- takes a crazy long time to get back to people who ask you for things
- doesn't do time cards on time
- doesn't follow policies about security, quality control, ethics, etc.
In particular, don't be "that guy" about anything that your boss has expressed particular concerns about.
2 - Know your Deliverables and Deliver on Time
I rather think this is the essence of doing a good job and something to do in general. But in that stretch before a review, it's always really good to pay attention to this, so that the thing on the top of the boss' mind is that you've been doing quite a good job lately.
Notice that there's two key components here:
Know your deliverables. It's easy to loose sight of all the things on your to-do list when one or two things are big, exciting, fun, or otherwise attention getting. Don't slip on the little stuff. I'm thinking, in particular of things like - completing action items from meetings, finishing any action items that came from a peer review of your work, finishing the feedback for peer reviews of other people's work, bug fixing, testing, responses to emails requesting information or other small errands. If you're not sure that you owe someone something, ask. It's much better to be the guy who did the work, and then checks in that it's done, than the guy who totally didn't do the work and didn't seem to care.
Do them on time - if you don't know the deadline on a task, this is a REALLY good time to ask. Assume that you probably don't earn extra points for getting a small thing done early - you earn points for getting EVERYTHING done at the time it was due. If you are very undertasked, then it is a good time to kick up the pace and get stuff done as early as possible, so you can show that you are really quite awesome and should get more work, more responsibility and hopefully a promotion. Watch out though - keep the quality up.
3 - Have YOUR thoughts ready
What are your ambitions? I don't mean more money, I mean what work have you liked? What parts of the company are really interesting to you? Do you want to keep rising up the chain in your field or work towards broadening scope? What do you feel your challenges have been? What can you do to improve them? Do you need resources from the company for that.
Yes, there are probably some things you don't want to bring up in the review - for example, if you hate the company and want to leave as soon as humanly possible - keep it to yourself. If you decided that your true calling is wildly different than your current career, then this may not be sharing time... but if you see opportunities that are a win-win for yourself and the company, have them in mind.
Being able to show passion and forethought is very helpful to those who want a promotion - showing this to your manager helps them figure out what challenges will suit you. Not every manager will ask, but there's nothing worse than being caught by surprise with the "so what are your career plans?" type question and then coming up with all the great ideas 20 minutes after the review is over.
4 - Be helpful, be learning
Another one of those - "always be doing this" type points. Being a GREAT worker is not just handling your own stuff, but doing a bit extra. Don't just think about what you have to do to be done with your deliverables in #2, also think about what might help the whole team. For example, if you got an annoying action item that has to be repeated, maybe it can be a script that everyone uses? Or if you are already doing something in the lab, maybe you can offer to watch over someone else's test, too, so they can go finish something else. Think about the stuff that is no big deal to help with, but which might mean a great deal to those who you are helping.
Secondly, a bit different, but on the 110% end - always be learning. You're expected to be learning enough to do your job adequately. That's a requirement. But also keep abreast of interesting stuff in your field. Have a project, read some articles, look into alternatives to current practices or technologies. Know a little something more.
In the first six months, extra learning may not be doable - often just learning the job and getting into the rhythm is exhausting enough - but have an eye on things you might like to learn - and fit that idea into step #3.
Lastly - it may go without saying, but ya never know - all of that goes double the day of the review. Be well rested, be on time, be ready to receive feedback. Don't be in hyper-mega-helpful-perfection overload. It's just a day in the office and you'll have many many more reviews in your life time.
The most important thing about a review is being ready and able to hear both the bad and the good about your performance. Don't be defensive, and don't let negative feedback destroy your feelings of self-worth. A decently thoughtful manager should have some points in mind that you can work on, and some thoughts of things you do well. No one is perfect, and getting thoughtfully worded points for improvement is one of the best things you can hear right now, since it's the stuff you can change to get better.
answered Jan 2 '14 at 20:56
bethlakshmi
70.4k4136277
answered Jan 2 '14 at 20:56
bethlakshmi
70.4k4136277
answered Jan 2 '14 at 20:56
bethlakshmi
70.4k4136277
answered Jan 2 '14 at 20:56
bethlakshmi
70.4k4136277
70.4k4136277
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The pay does seem a bit low for San Diego (where your profile says you live). I'd expect to see this rate in a small city/town in a low cost of living area.
– jfrankcarr
Jan 3 '14 at 0:39
2
The question about pay might be good as a separate question.
– Simon O'Doherty
Jan 3 '14 at 7:42