Rachel speaks!
Rachel, I low-balled myself into this job
By Rachel
May 1, 2009 - 1:01:03 AM

Dear Rachel,
I work for a private company in New York where I'm the house media buyer. My responsibilities entail all of what a media assistant up to a media director would handle. When I applied I indicated a salary that I wanted and really low-balled myself. It's now over a year and still no raise. It's the type of company where you talk to the CEO and plead your case why you need a raise. Do you have any tips on how I should go about handling this, and if so is now a good time? I know other companies are in the toilet. Luckily I don't work for an agency, and our sales have been up, so the money is there. I'm very frustrated when I hear new people coming in the company making more money and doing less work. Please help.-- Confused.

Dear Confused.
Don't be. You're actually in a good spot, never mind that you low-balled yourself coming in.

You have two things working for you. First, the company is doing well. Management--the CEO here--can't say things are too tough to give out raises.

But no less important, you will be taking your case directly to the CEO. He can't pass the buck. He's where the buck stops--or starts.

While you don't say this, it sounds like he's a hands-on sort of guy who enjoys negotiating directly with the staff over issues like salaries, rather than hand them off to some blank-faced administrator.

He could be one of those smothering personalities whose real interest is control, and those are dreadful people to deal with. But I'm guessing that if the company is doing well it's because he's good at what he does. And a lot of what he does is negotiate.

Guys like this are often tough negotiators, but ultimately they'll give you the best deal. They think longer-term, and they also negotiate in the belief that no deal is a good deal unless both sides come away with all or a good share of what they wanted.

I would take your case to him, and now. Your first year is up.

Make your best arguments built around what you have done to improve media operations while saving the company money. That's always a winner, and as the CEO he will appreciate that.

In making your case, talk about what more you can do for the company. Sell him on a plan to make the media operation even more successful.

Don't pitch for a raise based on need. Your needs are not his needs, and the needs argument seldom works, in my view.

Be polite, friendly, and secure in your convictions and your reasoning. Let him do most of the talking.

Go into the meeting with a sense in your head of what you think he will offer you. Be prepared to take what he puts on the table as his first offer and up it a notch or so. In other words, don't let him low-ball you--again.

You should come out of your meeting making more money--and feeling pretty good about yourself. Good luck.

Oh, by the way, totally forget about new people coming in and making more money. That's the way things work. And what someone else makes is not your issue. Never go down that path.