How To Ask for a Raise

Career GoalsInterviewingJob PromotionPerformance ReviewPay Raise

Apr 23

So, you enjoy your job, you’ve been at the company for a while, and let’s be honest - you’re pretty damn good at your job, too. You may be thinking it’s time to ask for a raise…but how? Maybe the idea of approaching your HR department or boss has you nervous. You play it out in your head - you’re confident and sure of yourself - but when it comes to actually being in front of them, you clam up.

That’s totally normal! Talking about money is practically taboo in our culture - after all, weren’t we all told it was one of the big three topics to NOT discuss with anyone ever?! This may have you feeling uncomfortable asking for more money.

Let’s get rid of that nervous energy and build a strategy to help you ask for a raise.

3 Step Strategy to Ask for a Raise

Step 1: Determine how much to ask for. Just because you want more money doesn’t make it a solid case to your boss. Before heading to the negotiating table, do some market research. Find solid salary data about your industry, position, location, and experience level to help justify why your company should be paying you more than what you’re currently receiving. Some helpful sites include: Glassdoor, Salary.com, and Fishbowl.

Now is a good time to think about additional things you would like outside of just money. Is there continuing education or a conference you would like to attend? Do you want more vacation days? Want a hybrid work schedule or shift in your core hours?
Step 2: Build Your Case. Figuring out the average pay rate for your position & field is a great starting point, but you may be able to command above the market average if you’re a standout employee with impressive or unique accomplishments and attributes. Focus on why you deserve a raise - not why you may need one.

Did you take the lead on a project that is outside of your job description? Perhaps you lead an effort that resulted in direct ROI for the company? What positive praise, whether internally or externally, have you received since your last review? Has your department or team had an increase of productivity under your leadership? Take some time to gather quantitative evidence about your performance and identify any tangible results that increase your value to your employer. Share this with your boss when you meet with them as evidence of your value.

Bonus Tip: Don’t forget to consider what you will be bringing to the team over the coming year, too!
Step 3: Be thoughtful about your timing. Your manager or boss is a human with normal human emotions. It’s important to be able to “read the room.” Use common sense when approaching your manager to discuss a raise. It doesn’t serve you well to ask to talk about your salary when your manager is frantically preparing for a big meeting or just told the team about impending budget cuts. On the flip side, if you’ve saved the day with an important client or project, garnered rave reviews, or your manager has seemed particularly happy with your performance lately, it may be a good time to make the request.

Bonus Tip: Think about your company’s fiscal year & budget cycle. Even if merit increase discussion happen in January, for example, those budgets were likely decided months earlier. You want to start laying the groundwork for this conversation way before the merit conversation takes place so folks could plan for it.