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In today's economy, financia/
worries are a growing source
of frustratíon to mil/ions.
Money may not be everything,
but most of us feel we'd be a
/ot happier if we had a little
more of it. This article dis–
cusses one way to move
ahead on the financia/ tread–
mi/1: Get a raise.
J
oe Farmington was worri ed. " 1
don' t know what we' re going
to do." he con fided to hís wife
Jeanie. ' ' Ifwe do n' t get mo re money
coming in, we're going to have
trouble meeting our house pay–
ments. Our car insurance has gone
through the roof, and 1 real ly can' t
sec how we can a fford any new
clothes for th e kíds this yea r."
Fo r millions of middle-class ci ti–
zens, such financia ! concerns a re an
increasing source o f a ng u ish. l t
seems a lmos t everybody is st rug–
glí ng lo ea rn mo re. just to keep his
sta ndard of li ving on par wi th what
he had the previousyear. Especiall y if
you have a growing family. s tay ing
even with last yea r' life-style can
only be done by s ign ificantly increas–
ing thi s yea r's paycheck. lt's a game o f
surv iva l of the fi ttes t, and the eve r
p resent wage-price spira l is a n un–
rnerciful antagonist.
To ward off the vo racious wo lf o f
inft a tion. evera l strategies may be
efrecti ve: lea rn to manage your fi–
na nces more wisely. live on less
money. begin putti ng principies of
success into p ractice. e tc. Such tech–
niqucs may be temporari ly helpful.
bu
t
ma ny reach a stage where th e
only thing lha t wi ll o lve their
fi–
nancia! dilemma is more money.
How can lhey gel it? They mi ght
begin lraining for a highe r-paying
profession or pur ue an adva nced
degree. But this requires time - and
money.
Actua lly. one o f the fastest ways
lo bolster your ea rnings - o ther
than by robb ing a ba nk o r inhe r–
iting money from Howa rd Hughes
- is
to
ob ta in a raise.
Going After a Raise
Whal can you do to get a raise?
Some have a ltempted everyt hing
from offering sexua l favors to their
18
boss to blackmail. making lh reats.
o r init iating a work s lowdown .
These techniques, however, have a
low batti ng ave rage o f s uccess in the
lo ng run. and if you a tt empt some
of these techniques a nd fai l. it cou ld
mean absolu te disaster for your ca–
reer or fulure.
When you ge t right down to il,
ra i es a re won by those who have
sized up the comple te situation and
lhen hand led it with finesse a nd pa–
ti ence . rather tha n wi th gu ile or dis–
honesly.
When plotti ng to ge t a ra ise. too
ma ny lhink solely of
their
need ,
why they must have more mo ney,
and how they can get .it. But often
the bes t a pproach is to cl imb inw
yo ur boss' size twe lve shoes a nd
look a t th ings from his perspecti ve.
Ask yourself, "Why s hould he want
to give me a ra ise? What have 1
done to furl he r his bu iness or de–
parlment's goals? Am
l
actua lly an
asset to him. or just an expendable
lia bility?" Then do a n obj ect ive self–
a nalysis o f your performance on the
jo b.
Fina ncia! advancement is no t so
much hitring the boss fo r a salary
hike a t the right time as it i in–
ftuenc ing him lo give you high
ma rks for performance. Compa nies
pay you fo r essenti a lly two things:
th e impo rtance of your job and how
well you do it. Companies have
various systems designed to deter–
mine when to gíve you a pay boost
and the approxima te amount to
give you . T hey a re constan tly eval–
uating your work in what could be
classified as three ca tegor ies: per–
sona l tra its, job skills, a nd job per–
fo rmance . Make a n honest se[f..
ap pra isa l in each o f lhe following
ca tegories and see if you are falling
short in a ny areas:
l. Personal Traits
One of the first things a n employer
looks for in an employee is reliabil–
ity. An unre liable employee is about
as usefu l lo a n employer as a ca r
thal won't start. An employer wan ts
someone who wiU be on the job day
after day, enthusia tica lly churning
out commendable work, rather than
someone who perennia lly has a n ex–
cuse why he was absenl o r cou ldn 't
perform bis duties. Absenteeism
raises h avoc with p rod uc ti o n ,
HOWTO
GETA
RAISE
OUTOF
YOURBOSS
by Ji m
E. Lea