by Cody Hodge

Created on: April 03, 2009

When you are setting yourself up to get a raise, you need to demonstrate what you are worth to the company, and not how devoted you are. Just because you have been at a company for five years doesn't mean that you have the skills to make yourself a valuable asset to the company. While you would like to think that you have a special place in the heart of your employer, all they care about is whether it is worth paying you to stick around.

If you are asking for a raise, the first thing that should come to mind is what you have done for the company lately. It doesn't matter that you were the office hero five years ago, what is it that you do now that makes you worth more today? Putting in extra hours, doing extra work, and being available isn't worth anything if you don't produce anything out of it. Anyone can spend all day in an office and do nothing, and then claim that they were working late.

Update your resume before you ask for a raise, and go through it carefully. If you were looking over your resume, would you think that you are worth more money? Have you had any new training, experiences, leadership moments, or anything else that you could point to and say that you are definitely worth a raise? Did you increase sales, drive new business, or make the company profitable in some way?

If you can't point to anything that you can say is going to get you a raise, don't ask for it yet. Ask you manager for a special project, or find out if there any other perks that you can have to make yourself more useful. Would you settle for a chance to work from home, and be able to watch your kids? Maybe that would help your productivity, which in turn would put you on the right track toward getting a raise.

When you really think about it, salary is just a percentage of overall revenue that the company allocates to its workers. If you aren't earning your slice of the pie, you aren't going to get anything more than a cost of living increase every year. With so many companies not even giving that these days, it is even harder to get a company to give you any money.

Getting a raise takes some consideration on your part, as well as the employer. Remember it is always what have you done for me lately, and not what have done five years ago. Make sure you have solid reasons for why you deserve a raise, and what you might do when you get one. It takes some negotiating, and some politics, but if you can demonstrate your worth to a company, you can get your raise.

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