Job: Project Manager, Information Technology (IT) (United States)

Since the company is usually compensated a fixed amount based on current contract terms, raises are not common because they cut into company profit margins. The best you can hope for is to grab the full amount your contract rate increases per year if such terms are built into your contract.

The best chance for a pay raise is to identify another company in need and change companies to work for them. This is especially true if the other company was just awarded the contract and does not yet have the personnel to start the contract when required. At that point, the new company has almost no options other than to hire you. This was my strategy when I moved from my last company to my current one and I negotiated a 25% raise without my current company knowing.

Most major corporations do not negotiate pay raises. The CFO sets the limit and that is final. Even though you may be at median range and have outstanding evaluations year after year, do not expect a raise because the coporate greed will not allow it to happen. The best negotiation you can expect for a corporation is "our way or the highway".

Companies do not use a source of payscale range that can be verified by employees. In most cases the delta between what is found in the real world versus what major companies say it is, in actuallity is 25-30% lower in major companies than the real world. Many major corporations stop pay scale raises once you are at the median range.

My advice is make dure that you have your payscale range along with yearly updates in your hiring contract. If you don't you find yourself at the median range with no hope of obtaining another pay raise unless you change jobs.positions within the company you are working for.

Insure you have evrything in writing at the time you are hired.

Do not let anyone speak for you. You negotiate for yourself

My company has a below nation average payscale based on what this site indicated. Low is $49,000 and high end is $110,000 per year. Futhermore once an employee reaches median salary range using my company's range, my company will not give any salary increases, siting that $74,000 is median and I am at $98,000 therefor I am 108% over median and not eligible for any raises. My company also states that all PM's should be PMP certified to be eligible for a promotion to the next level however getting certified doesn't garauntee a promotion in fact we are 6-4 years behind on promotions. There is at least a 4 year waiting list since our company is not promoting employees. Even though I have constantly had evaluation ratings, scale is 3 to 1 being the highest, of 2+ and 1 for 24 years. Bonuses are at 1-3 % of MBS, monthly base salary, if any at all are given.

Wait until after the position is offered. This allows you to have some control.

I would like to spend sufficient time with my family.

Someone once asked me, as I was complaining about my 70-hour work weeks, whether I thought on my deathbed I would say "I wish I had worked more hours at my job."