Infinite Ideas - Everymans career guide

Everymans career guide

How to climb the slippery pole

Infinite Ideas

7. Blagging that pay rise

While some people seem to have the knack of demanding (and getting) pay rises, the rest of us are left pining hopefully for a beneficent boss to smile on us. Well wait no more.

You havent had a raise in ages. Problem is the economy is stagnant (isnt it always?) and your boss thinks youre worthless (which, if were painfully honest, may be true). No matter, a good blagger never lets little things like worthiness get in the way of getting the reward. A good blagger looks beyond the immediate and considers the long term a lifetime of getting away with it rather than snapping after trifles.

An assistant stage manager working in a theatre once did a bunk with the 100 she had been given to buy props. What a mug, said a more seasoned ASM. If she had waited a bit longer she could have gone off with five times that. So it is in business. Its only the people with no vision who fiddle their expenses for a couple of pints in the pub, or charge for a first-class train fare and sit in second. This is short-sighted in many ways. After all, do you need to impress anybody who sits in standard class?

Keep the big picture in view. Particularly at the start of your career, bear in mind that the rewards of getting to the top are very substantial. Dont whinge about your early salary. Tell yourself that you are investing for the future. Agree to small or no rises and even no promotions for the first couple of years, then go for the big hike when you have something to argue with. You might be better off doing an extra few months at 20k a year rather than causing grief by bellyaching. The eventual return could be well worth it.

When you are going into a new job make sure that they really want you to join them, and preferably have told other contenders that the job is not theirs, before negotiating the salary. Asking earlier has two disadvantages. First, you may discover that there is a big gap between their expectations and yours. At that time you are negotiating from a position of weakness, since they have not yet decided if they want you. Second, it makes you look a bit petty if the salary is the only reason youre taking the job.

Whatever anyone tells you, you can ask for more money at any time. The key here is timing: ask when your value to the organisation appears very high. Do it when you have just brought off a big deal, or organised the district conference or made a useful suggestion for change. Focus on what you have done and what you will do in the future. Use simple techniques of negotiation like saying Its only 10 a week rather than 520 a year.

The same timing works when youre looking for a promotion. Think, act and look as though you are already in the new job. Seek out, and go after, vacancies. The manager of a small sales team in Scotland heard that the manager of a large team in a higher job category had been promoted. As soon as he heard this he telephoned his boss, whom he knew, and asked for the vacant job. We suspect the boss was simply saving the time and stress of interviewing when he agreed but so what? Job done.

Heres an idea for you

Use recruitment agencies, the Internet and the HR department to work out the top and bottom ends of the sort of salary someone in your position gets. For a rough idea start by taking the salary survey at PayWizard ( www.paywizard.org/ ). Now work out why you deserve to be in the top 25% of the band. When you have a good case, take it to your boss. If you are already in the top quartile, look for a promotion.

8. Jumping job when youve been rumbled

Heres how to get another job with a fat-cat salary when in your current job youve done nothing, nada, nix, not a sausage, and until now youve got away with it.

Youve got away with it for two years. Youre a legend at work; people talk about your continuous inactivity with awe. Youve bumped up your working at home days to two and a half a week and youve got a team that covers for you. But, youve been sussed. Your boss has discovered, or more likely been briefed, that you are what you actually are a complete waste of space. Its time to move on.

We need to make another assumption here: its much easier to move on in the same organisation than a new one. Where you are, you already know the levers to pull and the buttons to press to avoid work and, more importantly, avoid trouble. Its just not the time to relearn all of that in another place. No, youve got to move on in the same organisation. But youve got to get a new job against the background that the boss youve got right now thinks youre a skiver. And as sure as eggs are eggs, any potential new manager will ask your current boss for his or her opinion of you. However, this is much less of a problem than it seems.

It may surprise you, but your biggest allies in this enforced change of job are the people in the human resources department. But, we hear you gasp, theyre the people who measure productivity, who check progress against objectives and generally are trained to spot skill gaps and non-jobs. Correct, but theyre also the people who make absolutely sure that managers adhere rigidly to dismissal and other personnel processes. Thats why theyre your best friends right now. Firing someone is very hard work and no managers want to go through the whole bureaucratic rigmarole if they dont have to, and that includes your boss. Think about it from your bosss point of view. The personnel department will dig for evidence. Theyll find and brandish your last appraisal where the person whos trying to fire you said such nice things about you and your dedication to the organisation and hard work. Theyll make your boss fill in forms, make statements and struggle through a long series of verbal warnings, written warnings, having witnesses at the meetings, offering you the chance to have a witness at the meetings and so forth. No one wants to do this; its like swimming in treacle or kicking a sponge. Most people will do anything not to have to do it.

You need a reference

OK, youve searched the house magazine and found a new job thats suitable. Its a bit more money (nobody believes that anyone voluntarily moves sideways) but its not so much that it would make your old boss jealous or even hopping mad. Youve gone to the interviews and knocked their socks off. Theres only one small cloud on the horizon the new people are bound to talk to your boss. Answer: get your retaliation in first.

Talk to your boss. You have two objectives. First, help him or her to understand that youre not likely to give up easily if they try to sink you. Make it quite clear that youre not going to go quietly. This one is going to end in court and theyre going to have to explain to a lot of people why they didnt realise that youve done absolutely bugger all for two whole years. Now find some positives. Why is the new job more suitable for your talents? Give them ammunition to fire that makes them enthusiastic about your ability and willingness to do the new job without saying anything at all about how youve done the old one. Remember: theyre only looking for reasons to advance your case; theyve already decided to avoid the pain of sacking you.Think about this reference business before you choose your new manager. Anyone your boss hates is a good candidate. Not only have I got rid of Ken, but hes gone to Roger. That should slow him down a bit. Anyone your boss doesnt know can also be the right person: Well, its no skin off my nose.

Heres an idea for you

Never treat an appraisal as an ego-trip. An appraisal is an important document to be used in evidence as you pursue your route to the top without actually doing anything. Think about the wording with the HR department in mind. All you need is to make sure it says that youve done what you were expected to do and that youre a loyal servant of the organisation. Those are the two things an employment tribunal are looking for.