overdue reviewHI all, Well I started my first career job about 7+ months ago on the first Monday of October (the 5th I think). My Job: It’s nothing glamorous, in fact it’s not really what I set out to do originally but have found comfort and stability in it so I’m sticking with it. My official title is Assistant Internet Marketing & Design Assistant. How ever aside from answering the phones and other general office task that get handed to me there is nothing “assistant” about my job. (I handle projects, clients; make my own designs etc…) I’d like to consider myself more of a Web Developer who gets paid like and intern (20k Year in Cincinnati). The Company: The company is a small web Development firm, about 6 people large where 3 of them are owners. Financially we seem to be doing well, we are always busy and never have real downtime. Cutting to the chase: In my employee agreement I was promised a 90 day salary review, I composed a nice email and sent it to my supervisor whom never responded. Come 6 months I email my supervisor and the other company head who would be reviewing my performance. One which mentioned something about my Super getting my review ready, but I haven’t heard anything since and quite frankly I’m getting a bit inpatient. I have an associate’s degree in multimedia production and I do quality work, but I don’t feel like I am being compensated for this work. Finding another job has passed through my head way too much because of the low compensation but I like the opportunities I have here. What should I do? Am i being to greedy for only being out of schol for a year? I can't really keep up with my school loan payments and other living cost in order to move out of my parents house. Well, there are a couple of things you can do. First, start by talking to the appropriate person face-to-face about your review. Personally, I think e-mailing requests like this is way too impersonal, particularly in a very small company - surely you see the right person to ask once in a while! Just politely make the point that when you started you were promised a review after 90 days and that since that date was missed, you'd really like to schedule a time when your performance and salary can be reviewed. By doing it face-to-face you can hear the other person's tone of voice, see his/her reactions and expressions, ask follow-up questions and, hopefully, come up with a mutually convenient date for the review right on the spot. If the other person stalls in some fashion, I'd be tempted to quietly start a job search and see what else might be available in the job market. On the other hand, if you get an appointment scheduled, prepare a list of your accomplishments since you've been there - goals met, objectives achieved, initiatives taken, projects completed - anything that will clearly show that you're not only doing a good job, but more than the job requires. Make two copies, one for you and one for the person doing the review - so you'll both be looking at the same information. If you're asked what sort of increase you have in mind, I propose a range. I'd say that I was anticipating an increase in the 5% to 10% range and see what happens. Hope this helps. Paul W. Barada The Negotiation Expert It is too soon to throw in the towel on this job whether you get a review/raise or not. You need at least a year on your resume to move to something else. I think you should try talking to your supervisor face to face instead of sending emails. I get over 100 emails a day. It is a throw away form of communication and it is quite possible your email is lost in a sea of other stuff or he meant to get back to you but other things got in the way. Schedule a meeting with him if you need to or just pop into his office and ask when you can sit down and do a review so you can make sure you're on the right track. Don't approach it as "I want my raise!" Approach it as "I want to see what you think about what I've been doing so far." (Then have a list of what that all is). Tess I choose email primarly becuase it is the primary way we communicate, we are internet junkies and nerds at best and i wanted to create a paper trail. although i see your point about face to face communication... also i've been approaching the subject as wanting to sit down and discuss my proformance and set goals for the future, it is a small company and will be likley growing in the near future, i want to set a path for myself so im not an assistant forever. hopefully i can apporach my supervisor and talk to her this week
Thanks for your help and advice
-Drew You should have a two-pronged approach to this. First, you should be looking at other jobs and seeing what the pay and market is like. In reality, where are you going there? They have six people and if they double or triple their staff, it will still be a small organization. And what place will there be for a guy with an associates degree? So look around and see what a "Assistant Internet Marketing & Design Assistant" or web designer with your education and experience makes in Cincinnati. If you have to bail, better to know what you are bailing into. Second, try to nail down a face-to-face with who ever is responsible for giving you a raise and be armed with your accomplishments. Good luck. | |
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