My best advise would be to demonstrate what you've accomplished in the position in the past year. Give specific examples of what you've learned and how you put it into action. Also, talk about how you plan on furthering your knowledge of the business and using that to help the company succeed.

I've gotten very substantial raises, but my largest salary jumps have always been moving from one company to another. Especially at the low end, many employers aren't used to negotiating much for salaries, and it's really hard to get more than a very small raise. They already have you, and generally speaking, they want to pay you as little as possible to keep you.

I don't, btw, think it's a good idea to go job hunting and then tell your existing employer "Company Y will pay me more, will you match it?" I think once you start job hunting, you should go ahead and go; if you accept a counter-offer, you're often leaving yourself open to being dismissed shortly thereafter, when they find a replacement for your disloyal ass.

But you're not at that point yet. Document what a good job you've done, and point out how thoroughly you've fulfilled expectations. Thank them very much for taking a chance on you -- that's important. But diplomatically point out that you're tremendously more skilled than you were when you were hired, and that you feel you're worth a lot more to the company now.

Another thing to realize is that many employers think in terms of jobs, not people; they have X budget to fill that seat. You may be a superstar, but the job itself is still only worth X to them. Trying to get paid 2X for an X job can be pretty difficult, especially if it's not hard to find and train people to do it. After all, it worked out well with you: they may be perfectly willing to do it again.

If you still don't get paid what you think you're worth, given your job function and skill level, quietly start looking for something else. If you're willing to take the risk on a new employer, you can often do much better for yourself than staying. It's very rare to find a company that cares about or rewards employee loyalty anymore; if and when you do, try to stay there. But if it's like most companies, where you're a butt in a seat, moving around will advance your career more than staying.

First
Second, and in all sincerety, be prepared to state the points you made in your post with confidence. You know you have become a valuable asset to the company, and more than likely if your reviewer is doing his/her job, they will know too. I learned the hard way that if you don't go into the review with a firm stance on your own value, you will not get what you feel you deserve.

Why don't you wait until after your review, and see how they think you did, and what they are going to offer?

Any action before that is premature. You can go into this process with a number, but keep your mind open.

After they offer you something ( or not), if they are not offering you enough, think about what else they said. Your review process will probably include reviewing what you've done and what future training they have planned for you, and whatever you might have to add.

They might come back with training plans and or classes that will offset a wage increase.

Basically, wait and see. Your manager may put you in for a certain raise, and that may not be approved or lowered. You also need to decide whether you want to stay in this line of work or look for something in the field you studied in school. If you're not happy at work, is slightly higher raise going to help that much?

I'm going to guess on average typical raises are 4%, but considering you said you started out at perhaps the lower end of your position's pay scale because you did not have prior experience in the field, 10% may not be too much at all.

The tried-and-true Goodge method: finger->butt. Let us know how it turns out.

My advice would be to prepare yourself for the review, walk in with a positive attitude and see what happens. Have anything that your manager can use as a benchmark with you and remember that most of the time, the payroll adjustment decisions have already been made weeks ago. Reviews are really just sitting on the other side of a desk waiting for your boss to slide you that Post-It note with your new gross salary written on it.

Now, as far as salary adjustments, I may have been lucky but my first year out of college I really impressed my boss and managed to get a 12% bump on the pitiful little starting salary I had. Anything over 10% is definately the exception and not the norm. More than likely, if you do good work and meet your goals & deadlines you could probably expect to see a 4% - 8% bump. If you get a job title adjustment or other promotion then you will probably see something in the range of 8%-12%. The only time since that first 12% raise that I've managed to get over a 10% increase was when I left my secure job to go work for a startup. If you start shopping your resume around, you might find out that you are worth a lot more than your being paid but there's always risk involved.

Good luck to you!

[Insert penis joke here.]

My older brother told me that he gets a 2% raise a year just for remaining employeed. So I would think 10% is huge, but my friends that work there with me say otherwise. The one who's worked there longest, his first year he had a 37% raise, but that is quite an anomaly, I think. But the standard is 5% and if they've been doing very well, like another friend of mine, they've been 10-15%.

I would be happy with 5%, but I'm going for 10.

If your review is next Friday chances are they've already determined how much of a raise you're getting and it's too late to do anything significant about it. Just listen to the numbers and if you're unhappy say that you expected a little more and ask what can you do to prove you deserve another raise or a promotion in the next six months.

Yeah, may the Force be with you, being that today's the 30th anniversary of Star Wars.

Down at the ramrod club...

Fixed that for ya.

Congradulations!

Let us know if the manager comes through with the 10%.

Why is that? The more I think about it, the more I think that attitude is designed to keep a dude like Lester down.

Hey RichyRambo, I love your avatar! I have a variation of that image as my desktop on my work pc! Lol.