Been in the role about 4 years. When I applied the salary range was $105-125k. At some point in the interview process the HM informed me the req I applied for had been cancelled, but a similar req without the Senior had been opened. Naturally, at a lower salary range $75-95k. Felt kind of like a bait and switch, but I was unemployed, needed a job, and got along really well with the HM. Initial offer came in at the low end of the range, but was able to negotiate to slightly above mid range citing the Senior range as an anchor point and my industry experience as justification for the higher end. I also asked what their criteria were for a promotion to that title and salary and they said with strong performance getting there in 18-24 months wouldn’t be a problem.
24 months in my manager says great news, you are being promoted to the Senior role. Here is your new comp package. 5% salary bump. I must not have had as good a poker face as I think I do because he tried to qualify that really it was more like 10% because of the 4% merit increase the quarter before, and a slight bump in my bonus potential.
Sure Jan.
Anyways, I thanked him for the promotion and the COL adjustment, and said what do I need to do for the next promotion, and in the interim, how can I get my current salary more in line with the pay band advertised for this role 24 months ago. He gave me some things to work on, and said he would talk about the salary with our Director.
At last years review I didn’t push the salary as hard as I should have because I was six months into the new role, and had been pretty vocal about it the year prior, so I focused on having a “contract year” like many professional athletes. Thinking, knock it out of the park, start laying the ground work early and if they don’t get you what you want you have killer performance data to take on interviews.
We just completed our annual review process, and I started the discussions about salary and comp back in September, asking in our 1:1s how he felt I was doing, what could else could I do to secure either a raise or a promotion (I don’t care about title, titles don’t pay the bills) he said I was doing great, he had been talking about it with our Director and he struggled to give me things to develop/strengthen, as I am consistently driving change in the org.
We had just had an all hands meeting for our location where our President said that while we sold less units in 2025 than the year prior we finished the year $6m in revenue higher than 24. I mentioned that in my review, and then listed off four specific projects I had conceptualized, presented to stakeholders and then implemented in late 24 and early 2025 that contributed $2.5m in net new revenue in 2025. On top of the 3% reduction I was able to negotiate on categories managed.
His flabber was gasted. He didn’t believe me. I wrapped it up with something to the effect of, I have been asking you what I need to do to get a raise, by your own admission I have done that, but I have done more, and the 4% isn’t going to be satisfactory and I really deserve to be in the range that was discussed when I first interviewed.
Well, i got my merit raise last week, and despite being a “High Performer” got 3% and when I asked what could be done was told the next level up is dependent on certain location metrics and we are close but not there.
My question is, would I be out of line asking for a raise to the top end of the pay band without a promotion to the next level? Or do I need to look elsewhere?