Stacking Promotions as Work Changes

manpreet Best Answer 2 years ago

I have worked at a very large, bureaucratic MNC for the past two years, and about five months ago, I got the raise and promotion I had been campaigning for in the ~6 months leading up to it. About a month after my promotion, my mentor up to that point gave his notice, and left on good terms. He and I worked very closely on an extremely legacy product that is not well known outside or even inside the company.

Since my mentor left, I have inherited a lot of the “overhead” type work he was doing, in addition to the more technical work I was. Right now, we have two others I have been actively training in this legacy product, but due to some personal goals of their own and other requirements, I wouldn’t say either of them has the knowledge base I currently posses.

Question: since my mentor left, I feel I have taken on a lot of work. Given that he was with the company for nearly a decade, I know he was making much more than I am now at the time of his departure. I feel that I should be reasonably compensated for the additional work and level of work I have taken on, but in such a large company, I am not sure that even if my manager wanted to, he could get another medium-sized promotion or raise for me so quickly after the last one. I know that the bi-annual period for raises is coming up. How can I effectively make my case for a promotion without appearing ungrateful or having to “play hard ball?”

manpreet 2 years ago

How can I effectively make my case for a promotion without appearing ungrateful or having to “play hard ball?”

You can't, you had a chance to negotiate and you didn't take it. So any attempt after the fact will appear hard ball at best and potentially much worse since it implies that you didn't know what you were doing in the first instance, or at least didn't put much thought into it. Not a great look either way for a recent promotion.

The best way to promote yourself is to discharge your tasks professionally and efficiently. Let your skills push for you. You may get a raise that way without rocking any boats.