Marcel Legros - Play the Game of Life

Everyone wants to go to work, be appreciated, and make more money. If you’ve ever asked your boss for a raise and walked away utterly disappointed, this article is for you.

Why didn’t you get that raise you asked for? (Hint: It has nothing to do with a tight company budget, lack of a university education, or knowing the right people.)

All businesses pay a handful of employees much more than the rest. The reasons you didn’t get promoted:

• You offered no additional value
• You weren’t prepared to walk away from a bad deal
• You didn’t document valid reasons for a raise.

Becoming Indispensable

If you’re serious about getting ahead, you need to provide value for your employer. If you get a promotion, more responsibility, or added workload, do not expect a big raise right away. Why should you, you haven’t done anything yet! Someone else will be happy to bring bigger profits and prosperity to the company and those people are the ones being promoted. No one owes you a paycheck just because you show up to work on time. Resist the urge to think you’re irreplaceable and begin to make yourself indispensable.

Apply cross-training to your career. Learn new skills, even if they aren’t related to your job. In a world of specialization, being well-rounded brings a magical and intangible quality to your work. It brings in new perspectives. Here are some ideas to try:

• Learn a new language
• Travel or read travel books
• Learn to paint or cook
• Read non-fiction books voraciously
• Take a public speaking course
• Explore computers
• Write in an idea journal

You may think that unrelated skills are useless but they’re not. When you bring unique skills and talents to your work, you are providing broad knowledge and value to your employer.

If you’re given a new job or more responsibilities at work, do the following:

1. Document when you started and what you’re currently doing.
2. Find ways to improve the new job. Manage your time and organize your work better than everyone else. Make more money for the company.
3. Let your employer know you want a performance review in 3-6 months - no later.
4. List your new responsibilities as you learn the new job.
5. Walk into the performance review with everything documented, including examples of how you made more money for the company.

If all goes well, you’ll get a good review. Now ask for your raise. Let your employer know that you deserve to be treated fairly. If you’re dealing with an unreasonable employer, don’t expect they will change in the future. Don’t quit your job without good reason - but don’t be held hostage and be forced into taking a bad deal. Some employers count on you being too scared to leave your job. If you’re scared, you have no leverage. A job is just a job. Be prepared to walk away from it if a fair deal isn’t on the table. If you pursue a promotion with this attitude, good things will happen.