How to Ask for a Pay Rise in Your Graduate Job

It can be tempting to present your employer with an ultimatum if they don’t offer you what you want. However, voicing the good old ‘I need this pay rise or I’m leaving’, means that you must be prepared to execute it.

Asking for a pay rise in your graduate job?can feel awkward, especially when you’re just starting out in your career, but it’s a skill everyone should learn. You might not be comfortable talking about money, let alone negotiating with your employer how much you’re worth.

GRB’s Co-Founder, Dan Hawes, asked on?LinkedIn: Have you ever asked for a pay rise??The results showed that 54% of people voted ‘No’ or ‘Yes and it wasn’t successful'. It got us thinking that maybe graduates don’t know how to ask for a pay rise.

So, how do you?ask for a pay rise in your graduate job? Let’s jump into our top tips for knowing how and when to ask for a pay rise.

Read the Room…

First things first, assess the situation of your employer. Is there scope for a pay rise at this time? Think about whether they’re hiring new people or if they have laid of staff recently. If they’re letting staff go to reserve money, it might not be the best time to negotiate a salary increase.

On the other hand, this doesn’t always mean that you shouldn’t ask for a pay rise.?Perhaps you have taken on more duties to cover for the loss of staff. Recognising the difficult economic time for the company whilst proving that you have stepped up might just go in your favour.

Review Your Duties and Achievements

The strongest requests for a pay rise are backed up by reason.

Take a look at the job you were hired for, and note down all the extra duties you have taken on since you were hired (or since your last pay rise/promotion). Remember that you should be flexible to new duties in your job, but if you are working above and beyond what you were hired to do then it might be time to ask for a pay rise.

It’s also useful to bring up what you have achieved since joining the company. You can take these notes to your boss as a way of proving your value, and it acts as tangible evidence of how you are working above your pay grade.

“Since taking on the role of Junior Consultant, I have taken on X,Y,Z. I have enjoyed taking on these new tasks, but I believe that I am now working outside the scope of my role. By doing X,Y,Z I have been able to achieve A,B,C , which has directly impacted the growth of the company. Considering this... Read more about How to Ask for a Pay Rise in Your Graduate Job on the GRB Blog now!