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I had a job interview a month ago. I signed my employment contract two weeks ago and I will officially start on September 9th. I passed my last exams last week and I will soon be graduating as an IT engineer.

A classmate working in the same company where I will start in September is planning to renegotiate his salary after graduation. Do you think I can make the same request, or would it be better to wait until the end of the trial period? Personally, I think I'm taking a risk if I ask right now.

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    Have you thought if they say "no" to your request... will you stay?
    – Bebs
    Commented Jul 15, 2019 at 10:09
  • Do you know how much your classmate earns? It could be he's going from less than what you are starting with, to be the same as you. Could you also add a location? This doesn't seem like a UK thing to do (you usually agree a starting salary and go from there year on year)
    – Smock
    Commented Jul 15, 2019 at 11:23
  • @Smock 1k more than my annual salary, but I have a bigger advantage if I go on a missions to Germany (+20k)
    – georges619
    Commented Jul 15, 2019 at 11:27
  • Negotiate at your trial period review meeting. Graduation, most likely, was one of the reason for hiring you, i am sure it came out during the interview cycle.
    – Strader
    Commented Jul 15, 2019 at 15:52
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    Recommend: No. There is a big difference between your position and your friend... He was working as a pre-grad "intern" and re-negotiating the salary after graduation would be appropriate. You were essentially hired with your graduation as a part of the condition of your employment. Even though you might be working the exact same position, he might still make more money than you because he has been at the company longer and has more seniority.
    – Phil M
    Commented Jul 15, 2019 at 22:20

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This doesn't sound like a good idea.

A classmate working in the same company where I will start in September is planning to renegotiate his salary after graduation.

Never base your decisions on someone else's thought process. Give it a thought keeping your own personal position in mind.

Do you think I can make the same request, or would it be better to wait until the end of the trial period?

It's better to wait till the end of your trial period/next appraisal cycle. You have recently interviewed with the company. Completion of diploma won't be a new knowledge for the company (most likely you are hired condition to the successful completion of your diploma). So this is not a skill/certificate that you are acquiring out of company's knowledge which adds value to your role.

Even if you are thinking along the lines of re-negotiating, it will sound good only if you are brining in new skills to the table that aligns with role.

Given the situation, it's best to prove your mettle by showing your work and negotiate a deserving pay with confidence in the next cycle.

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    Yes - OP, get your feet under the desk, do a good job and prove why you deserve the raise. Was graduating a precondition of employment? Suppose you'd done worse than expected (not necessarily failed), would you expect the company to drop your salary to compensate?
    – Justin
    Commented Jul 15, 2019 at 10:27
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    I had a similar situation -- albeit my degree was complete when hired -- with a 3 month trial period at a fairly low salary. After 2 months, my boss offered me a substantial raise(~25%) and praised my work. Just get in there, work hard, and you'll get a fair salary.
    – Steve-o169
    Commented Jul 15, 2019 at 14:07
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    @Steve-o169 being a hard worker is by no means a ticket to a fair salary. I'd contend those actually have almost nothing to do with one another, even if I agree with the advice to show the company your worth before renegotiating.
    – TemporalWolf
    Commented Jul 15, 2019 at 21:16
  • @TemporalWolf you're technically correct but I like to assume that companies will recongize good work and compensate accordingly. Maybe naive, but it's been the case in my professional career. When I exhibit full effort, it typically pays off. When I don't, things stagnate.
    – Steve-o169
    Commented Jul 15, 2019 at 22:26
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"Work" and "school" play by different rules.

At work, you get paid for what you do. Getting another piece of paper isn't likely to make any difference to that (since you had already learned the material to pass your exam before you were interviewed).

It's possible that in a bureaucratic company, getting some paper qualification automatically puts you into a different pay grade, in which case you don't need to "negotiate" anything. But more likely, your employer's reaction to passing an exam that you were expected to pass anyway will be "big deal - so what?"

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The proper time to negotiate a raise is either before you sign a contract or after you've been working for a significant amount of time. (What qualifies as significant depends on a number of different factors including the role you're in and the nature of your contract but that's a separate topic.) The point is, you've agreed to a set of terms and to people who don't know much about you beyond what they learned through the interview process, asking for an immediate change to your contract could easily be interpreted as you being the type of person who doesn't follow through on their commitments.

Give them a chance to form a positive impression by working hard and proving your ability to get results and generate revenue for the company. Once you've proven yourself, you should absolutely ask for a raise.

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Indeed there is a risk in asking for a raise, as it may come across as you being unhappy about the salary you get. You will be seen to be less loyal to the company, which will count against you when they will have to decide whether to keep you or not at the end of the trial period.

This will be especially likely if you cannot explain why do you expect a raise. If you didn't say anything about the upcoming graduation during the interview, telling them about the new diploma you've got would do (though it would've been better if you told them about it during the interview and asked for more from the start). If the company knows you're about to get a degree, they most likely already expect you to get it.

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The employer owes you nothing. You agreed to a salary they offered. So fulfill the contract. When I got my Bachelor's Degree my employer gave me a pay bump without asking, unexpectedly. You can hope they do that, but they're not obligated.

You'll see a raise when you sign your next contract, or at the end of your trial time. Work toward that, and prove yourself.

Having said that, it wouldn't hurt to informally mention to the boss that you graduated, and feel him/her out to see if it's an acceptable idea. Perhaps they'd give you feedback that it would be a good idea to request a raise. Perhaps they'd just give you one automatically upon hearing you graduated.

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  • This is horrible advice. While I don't agree with the OPs logic in this case, the idea of never requesting a raise/benefits and waiting hat in hand hoping for them to give you one is a great way to earn a fraction of what you're worth.
    – Gabe Sechan
    Commented Jul 15, 2019 at 18:43
  • @GabeSechan I didn't really say that, did I? I said he agreed to work for it, and it's not likely to be productive to renegotiate this soon. He signed a contract. Does that not mean anything?
    – Keith
    Commented Jul 15, 2019 at 19:19
  • No, it doesn't. They'd dump him contract or no in an instant and it's unlikely he signed a contract, just a normal employment agreement
    – Gabe Sechan
    Commented Jul 15, 2019 at 19:21
  • Perhaps a contract means something different in your country than mine.
    – Keith
    Commented Jul 15, 2019 at 19:23
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    No, I just understand a few things you don't. One is that nobody signs an employment contract. A contract is for a fixed term or fixed amount of work. He signed an employment agreement, not a contract- there is no period for him to work out and then get a renewal. But being he's a young person he didn't know the proper terms. Second being that in reality, contracts get renegotiated constantly. There is never anything wrong with attempting to improve a contract that is no longer fair.
    – Gabe Sechan
    Commented Jul 15, 2019 at 19:51

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