Asking for a raise now

I'd e-mail the publisher demanding a raise. That should work.

 

Tell them about this offer you have from the Plain Dealer ...

 

mad - do this before you get called in and are given the standard 3 percent. tell your SE or editor (depending on the size of the paper) you LOVE your job, that you LOVE the city in which you live and that you'd LOVE to stay there forever but are having a difficult time making ends meet.

do this only if you think you're worth it and you believe your bosses believe you're worth it. if they really do value you, they'll find some extra scratch.

 

We don't care. We can probably get some community-college dropout to work for half of what you're making, and if we can, we will.

P.S. I hear Wal-Mart is hiring.

 

Writers such as myself, with high school gigs at smaller mid-size papers have absolutely no leverage. If I put my two weeks in today, they'll have 100 resumes waiting by my last day of work. And that new hire will be a college grad, and they can deduct the meager pay raises they've given me over the last few years.

In fact, I'm fairly confident I can walk into the editors office and say Paper X is offering me $500 more a year to go there... but I'd like to stay here (which I don't want to do, but play along for argument's sake).

The editor would say, well, good luck at Paper X. We'll miss you.

If that's the boat you're in, don't fucking bother. Why pay you more when they can just pay someone else less once you leave?

 

try this on for size. papers often try to adjust their entry level salaries to match the rising cost of living. So, they'll offer graduates a salary based on the 3.4 percent increase in living, but the employee that's been there for a couple of years keeps getting the 2-3 percent increase.
i've known people to make less with two years experience at Paper X, than the guy fresh out of college. now that's fucked up.

 

That's good advice as that's a perfect way to bring up the issue without being seen as unappreciative of the standard raises. Your caution, too, makes a lot of sense because if it backfires, it might be the type of thing where you'd like to have options when they call your bluff.

 

red - i think many people are more appreciated than they think. yes the industry is bad, but, if you don't ask for a larger raise, why should they ever offer you one?

people aren't rewarded nearly enough any longer for being a good employee, people are rewarded because they might leave. if you are good, and editors value you, they will throw you some extra coin ... nobody likes training someone new -- and taking all those damned phone called during the hiring process when you obviously listed the ad with 'no phone calls.'

 

I'm lucky now to work at a place where raises are annual and generous.

However, in previous jobs, I've seen various strategies used. I remember one guy who interviewed at a small paper in the region and got a nice financial offer, hoping to convince his current paper to give him a raise. His paper offered not a single cent more, so he decided that he wasn't valued and left for the smaller paper. I've also seen the same paper offer a 10K raise to another guy in order to prevent him from bolting. It's just a matter of being realistic about your value to the operation.

 

I believe in my chain, raises come from a pool of cash -- like the entire newsroom is designated for a 3 percent bump at raise time.
So if you give one guy more, the next guy gets less. It's doubtful that an editor is going to give somebody 5 or 6 percent and screw somebody over and give them 1 or 2 prcent unless they are trying to get them to move on.
If I were an editor, I couldn't do that with a clear conscience providing all of the staff was working hard.

Although, I might be inclined to give myself 8 percent.

 

Agreed Tom, if you seem content, there certainly isn't any incentive for publisher to go any further than they would have - however, you have to have a decent idea of how far you can push the envelope, especially since there is validity to that 100 resumes bit. It often amazes me how quick they pile up when we're hiring, and usually there are a handful of people who are genuinely qualified.

 

or that's what they tell you.