career advice needed... (somewhat long)

[sundell2]

hi all,
was wondering if anyone out there can give me some advice....my situation; (advice from seasoned professionals will be extremely helpful....) at my job im a very good worker...have even been called 'the best' to ever do this. (ok i'll be as unmodest as i can, hope no one misinterprets this as bragging, just trying to be crystal clear). when i go on vacation the rest of the people here stay till 9 at night with the work. but when they take vaca, i still manage to get everything done at the normal time. i presently do the work of two people since there are cutbacks in my department. today one of my co-workers announced her resignation. since i consider myself GROSSLY underpaid for the amount fo work i do, and the responsibility i have AND how good i do my work, i think i should be paid alot more $$$ (at least 30% more than what i make now). so with her resignation, i pretty much run the show here...without me here this place will pretty much come to a standstill.
so i am thinking of asking (or demanding if u wanna call it that) my boss for a raise, with the subtle threat that i will leave if i dont get it.
now what im thinking...
a.) they will give it to me, no questions asked knowing full well what a good worker i am and that i fully deerve it
b.) they'll give it to me, but in the future look to get rid of me because i will get paid a lot more than the rest of the people here at my level (which at the moment are none)
c.) they will call my bluff and i will have to resign out of spite...in which case im stuck cause im in a tough industry (wall street) and job openings are scarce.

thanks for reading this. i apologize for the long post. any and all advice is greatly appreciated.

what should i do????

 

[BruinEd03]

Lock up a job offer from another company first...then go for the raise...if they don't give it to you...jump ship All about supply and demand.

-Ed

 

[AaronP]

i agree with bruin

 

[sundell2]

kinda hard since jobs in my industry are very scarce given the market conditions.

 

[Rallispec]

i'd ask for the raise if you think you really deserve more money, and if you are the best- then you probably do deserve more. You might want to look around for other jobs first though, to make sure you have something to fall back on if it comes the point where you are forced to quit. I recently just told my boss that i thought i deserved more money for the amount of work i do, and he was surprisingly willing to pay up... so there is hope that it will all work out.

 

[NivekC4]

I agree with bruin also, I think you should always have your feet on firm land. Always have a sure thing before you drop a sure thing.

 

[AaronP]

what is your industry?

 

[StageLeft]

Bruin is right. If you can't secure another job first do not demand a raise. Definitely ask for one but be very polite about it. If they BS you around still be nice about it but then really go looking for work. The last thing you need to do is get pissed and resign, then find getting a job to be hard. Definitely that is a bad idea.

 

[sundell2]

<< what is your industry? >>



wall street, im an assistant trader.

 

[sundell2]

also, i must add....i do not hate my job...love it actually. but given the responsibility i have, i think i should be paid a lot more.

 

[montanafan]

Like you said, with the way the market is now, I'm afraid your employer has the advantage. Jobs are hard to find and there are many looking. He'll probably see it that way when you come looking for a raise.

It sounds like you're getting fed up with the working conditions, but need the job. If I were you, I'd start looking and looking hard for another job, very politely ask for a pay raise after objectively and succinctly documenting my value to the company, and not make any DEMANDS until I had something else lined up.

 

[KiltedFool]

Bruin hit it on the head, and we now have a Greek chorus backing him on it.

You don't ever make any implied threat of leaving without the stones and means to back it. You make the threat and they call your bluff you're either out a good job or spineless.

Start putting lines in the water, job mobility is a fact of life in today's market.

KF

 

[slanginhard]

start looking for another job and use your current employer as a reference. Then when people call your company to ask about you, your boss will know that your looking for another job. Then when you get another job offer, ask him for a raise, and he'll know that either he can pay you, or you already got a job lined up if he says no

 

[crystal]

Just express to your boss that you are overwork and under compensated. Ask for a raise by showing them your duties &amp; responsibilities are more than what the orginal contract called for. They will give you a raise if they value you as an employee. Good luck.

 

[sundell2]

thanks very much for everyones replies!!!!

as for explaining to them how overworked i am..etc. ive tried this before and they give the standard excuse of saying its against company policy to give people raises during the middle of the year and to wait till the end of the year...blah blah blah. of course if backed up against the wall...such as now...of course they will give a person a raise.

it looks like im gonna have to start looking elsewhere for a job.

but in terms of accepting a counteroffer, if someone else gives you a job...ive heard its never a good idea to accept a counteroffer cause then your employer will just look for excuses to get rid of you once they have someone else trained for your positon.

 

[KiltedFool]

If you are that thoroughly underpaid and you have marketable skills, get the other job offer in hand and tell your current employer you have an offer and you have x days to respond to it (x being however many days you arranged to be able to think about the offer).

Hiding behind company policy is generally the same as a Best Buy manager hiding behind store policy to avoid having to act. If they are not willing to pay you a fair wage for the actual work you do you will be leaving that company sooner or later. Whether you leave because they take their frustrations out on you because you held out for the money you deserve or because you accept another offer is moot. You will be working for another company soon, the only question is when and through what mechanism, accept and be prepared for it.

Yes, companies will lash back at someone who goes the counteroffer route occasionally. The alternative is remaining at your current pay another 5 months and hoping that they make good at salary time. And they will not offer you nearly the raise on your yearly eval that you could get with a job change. Eval raises tend to be 5% and job changes around 15% (strictly my experience here, YMMV).

HTH
KF