Ask for a raise? Just tell your boss what you've told us...

A partial note on topic. Never let rent be more than 75% of your before taxes income. Other wise you will go under.

What type of work is it and how long have you been doing that type of work?

@wizard

Just got one 2 weeks ago. It was 17.5% increase. That may sound substantial but considering my pay was really low, it didn't go up a huge amonut. I'm also very bad at approaching bosses regarding pay. I actually told my MD last year that my pay was crap and that what they were giving to me made me laugh. After being angry for 3 months over the 2% increase they gave me, i decided that i wasn't going to do that again.

@fd

I have been in the insurance business for 2 years and was my second job. I like to think of myself as a motor insurance underwriter (i'm not but i do like that title, my real title makes me sound like a pimp). My company specialises in motor insurance for TVR's (The Tuscan was John Travolta's car in swordfish and was the flying car in loony toons movie). I deal with the TVR side of things along with claim handling and i came up with loading suggestions for modifications. I have also been able to change insurance company policy wording (i work for a broker) which is no small feet in the insurance world. Because of my two years experience in the "Specialist" vehicle market, brokers and insurance companies alike are wanting people with specialist knowledge for schemes and such. With regards to wha you said about rent, with my current debt, only 10% will do

I still live at home with my parents, mainly because the rent's so cheap. I work at Wendy's and I got a twenty cent raise last week. Which brings me up to 6.15 an hour. I've had better paying jobs, but I really love the people here. Some of the coolest I've worked with. Hell, even the managers are fun. Wierd, huh? As for what you should do, Bret? Do whatever makes you HAPPY. That's the most important part.

"Guns don't kill people....I DO!!"

While you must always try to do what makes you happy, you shouldn't sacrifice your financial future. In the long-run, shortages of money could catch up to you. Sure you may be happy now, but I think it is wiser to be financially secure before you pursue happiness. You will thank yourself that you did it when you had the chance so you could enjoy decades of happiness with financial freedom thrown in with the mix.

Friends are just people who have used each other so often it has become habitual.

Bret, ask yourself something.

What is a future if there is nothing in it?

Whilst you have something good, do NOT stay out of fear you cannot find it again. One bad job should not make you stick in a poor paid good job as a safe haven!!

Ask for a meeting with the boss to discuss possbile career progression in your current work place. Ask what roles are available in the place of work, and what you need to be able to do to fulfil it! You have to show interest for them to be interested in you!

Talk to your boss/supervisor. Lay out the fact you have had offers - preferably if you have one now. Tell them exactly what is on offer, but let them know you enjoy working for them. Ask them what future you can have in your current role. Employers don't promote employees who don't show drive, iniative, ambition as well as the usual leadership qualities. Show some drive!! Find out what opportunities the company you presently work for can OFFER YOU!! Tell them what interests you, and see what might be suitable! Whenever you go for a job you find out what the company offers you! its the same for you current employer - what can they offer you now!! Any training? Any possibilities of progression? More experience/responsibility?

When you do look at other jobs (You should EVEN if your present one shows some interest in your future), ask about benefits - what can the company offer too? What incentives do they have.

If there is nothing really good on the horizon, or they don't have anything at all available, then leave! DO NOT STAY, there are HUNDREDS of thousands of jobs out there - and you will find other good ones. To progress in life you HAVE to move forwards, as especially living in England, if you don't - you will have no future - and i am not talking about the job!! I am talking financially as well - you will be crippled for life due to not owning a house, constantly paying out rent which accrues no capital, and unable to retire due to being unable to stay anywhere!!

Do you see insurance as your career? Or are you looking to move to something else? Your area of specialization, automobiles (our parlance across the pond), won't take you to the higher end salaries in the long run.

You'll need to move over and develop expertise in other lines of cover. Being young, you should look to expand your knowledge base early rather than later. ... if you want to stay in this business.

2 years in any field is early for a big raise. The average, is about every 5 years to get a good raise. In my field, Maintenance, the average is 3-7% which translates to $.25 and hour up to $.75 and hour. I have in the last 21 years gotten only 2 good raises. One was for $1.25 an hour due to increase in work load and the other, $3.95 and hour increase due to being an assistant at the time, but doing the Supervisores work while we had none. Bottom line, to get a good raise will require work, and work, and still more work. In your field, I would imagine that would translate into more policies underwritten for the company.

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One bad job should not make you stick in a poor paid good job as a safe haven!!

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Your right Chips. The future at my place does look bleak. Because its a small company the possibilty for a promotion is very slim. All of the higher postions have been taken up. With new EU regulations on financial services i would be required (paid for by the company) to take insurance qualifications. I know what you mean about the house situation as well. My plan is to not allow myself to get drawn in to renting, if i can avoid it. At my present salary i could get a mortgage of about 40k which is enough to buy me a box under a doorway down my way.

@indy

Yes, i would be looking at spending the rest of my working days in the insurance business. A lot of our clients are really nice people who want to do nothing more than to talk about their cars, which i love to do. I do however want to learn more and more which is something i strive to do. I want to move over a learn a bit more about the commercial side of the business as we insure a certain large game publisher.

@fd

My recent pay raise came about because of the effort i put into my job. After a colleague of mine left, i was lumbered with all of his clients as well as keeping my own. Amazingly, i was able to keep up with the sudden increase in workload and have continued to sustain the increase in work.

i wont pretend to be an expert in this, but i think, if you took a couple more years under your belt, whilst at the same time asking for some raises, no matter how small, then looking for jobs at other, larger companies. cause they'll be attracted to more experienced candidates?

anyways, good luck with these.

I sympathise - my earnings could get me around 50k mortgage (and that is working for a bank!!), and that would buy me a door handle. I was looking for a while, being fortunate that my parents want to invest for me, but even two bed houses in dodgy areas are over 80-100k now - its impossbile!! It would take around 10 years of hard savings after paying rent to have enough money to put a deposit down and get a mortgage! And that includes raises. I am very similar to you in the fact that although i have only been working for 5 months, I am already making noises about promotions and stuff. I haven't gone on about pay rises - they outlined what we get from the start - and it gets reviewed once a year in Feb - but I have started to push somewhat at the potential. I even chatted to one of the heads of the European arm of the bank at a conference on the banks future, and discussed their new "policies" which were to start to provide a "career path map" for employees - so they can chose which job sounds like what they wish to do, and see clearly the methods of being able to get there, and what to be able to do for it!


The one thing you mentioned that interested me is the qualifications. You MAY be better off staying there if your current employer puts you through some qualifications (buisness pays for it), as you will be MUCH more likely to find better paid employment in the same field with qualifications. If you go to another job - chances of getting in higher paid when your competitors may have those qualifications are slim....but with the qualifications it will give them a reason to pay you more than you are - it will show you have more value than without!! Actively badger your boss - show interest in getting qualified - ask if they have a policy of getting employees qualified, and if not - why not? Surely they should be investing in you to make you the best professional that they can have. If they won't do it, then definately move!!!! It can become a reason at job interviews too - your leaving as they was no chance of progression, or even further training qualifications relevant to your field!! Its a major motivator in moving jobs - promotion or qualifications!!

Although not the same field - in teaching (no - i no longer do, but my mother still does) - it was always said that to get anywhere you should be on the move every two years. Not too short to arouse suspision, but not long enough to be complacent and lazy. Enough time to pick up and develop and solidify the new skills you would have accuired whilst maintaining/building upon the old ones. It also shows drive and ambition. Generally they moved up in position, like teacher, form tutor, deputy head of department (subject), Head of department (subject),deputy head of year, year head, head of sixth form/lower school, deputy head 1, headmaster.

That is 18 years right there - and most of a career with the normal sort of positions. Normal jobs are different of course, but even with 4 promotions from starting, that is still 8-10 years to reach the top of a small company - not bad at all!!! You don't want to be grey before your a manager huh? So get ambitious - be proactive - take control of YOUR career by seeking the initiative. Do NOT sit back and wait for offers to come, especially in training or progression - SEEK IT instead. I wouldn't be suprised if you told your boss that you are thinking about the future, and about how your career can progress- cause right now its 2 years after joining, and hasn't gone anywhere. Ask if it would be possible to gain some qualifications to cement your practical knowledge with some formal qualifications. The worst they can say is no - and then you know to move!!!

Its bigheaded - but its time to think that its not that your fortunate the company employed you, but that the company are fortunate you CHOSE to go with them. What are you going to get as a reward for choosing them above others?? Where are those darned qualifications?! Get them!

Edited by - Chips on 8/28/2004 8:03:59 AM

If you still at home, stay where you're happy. If you live on your own and are not established, it's all about the money baby.

Life: No one gets out alive.

@BB

Insurance careers may be divided largely into two amorphous lumps:

Sales and Technical. Into both lumps go underwriting, claims, actuarial and technology.

The sales oriented track is the path of higher reward but, also, the more volatile in terms of stability of tenure. The technical track pays somewhat less but, assuming proficiency, provides a more stable outlook on employment.

So first, you'll have to think about where it is that you fit. That you do well talking with clients implies you may be a sales oriented person but to really be in sales you have to have a killer instinct. If you can't close a deal quickly, you've no business in sales.

@ indy

My long term goal is to be a technical underwriter. I don't have great maths skills to be an actuary. Unfortunately, i can't always close a deal quickly. For the proper anorack (sp?) client, my knowledge of cars will sway over actual cost of a policy. I am a lot better with keeping clients than i am at getting them more often than not. This is usually because I get to a border line personal relationship with clients. This obviously serving two purposes. 1) The clients are prepared to help you and 2) A lot of clients are company and managing directors, so there is usually a strong probability of getting other business other than their TVR. I will in the end have to leave the sales side of things and actaully move to the technical side. Being an insurnace bod yourself, you get a lot of valuable info from the sales side of things.

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i wont pretend to be an expert in this, but i think, if you took a couple more years under your belt, whilst at the same time asking for some raises, no matter how small, then looking for jobs at other, larger companies. cause they'll be attracted to more experienced candidates?

anyways, good luck with these.

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Thats very logical kimk. Also @chips, getting qualifications for the insurance industry over here is going to compulsory. The only way qualifications are going to seriously help is if i go above and way beyond the bare minimum qualification.

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and that would buy me a door handle

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Damn house prices!



Edited by - Bret Bretonian on 8/28/2004 12:12:11 PM