(Part 5) 3 Things You Absolutely Must Do To Get a Raise
Toot Your Own Horn (a little)
Never assume that your manager at your law firm knows precisely what you’ve been up to. As I’ve stated before, your boss is probably overloaded with his/her own work that they only notice yours when there’s a problem or a fire to put out. You need to be providing your manager a succinct written summary every week. Usually email is the best way to do this. Email provides a way to save the “paper trail” and document when and what was communicated.I know within my court reporting firm, I communicate with my staff routinely via email. They provide me updates and status reports (as well as the occasional joke or two).
The best part about sending an email to your boss touting your weekly accomplishments is that it is not time-consuming for either party. Your boss can read the email on his/her own time. They will probably learn to appreciate being kept in the loop like this. Be sure to always be connecting the dots between the tasks that you are accomplishing and the firm’s goals to be more profitable.
When it does come around to your scheduled review, give your boss a complete summary of all those emails within a single report.
The Most Important Thing To Remember
Again, don’t just tell them what you did. Tell them how doing what you did either saved the firm money or made them money.
…to be continued…
Thursday, May 24, 2007
