Asking for a raise
It seems that more than a few of my friends have been asking me for advice on how they can potentially ask for a raise. Unfortunately, I wish there was a single clear cut answer that I could give to all of them.
Here’s a few pointers that I’ve learned over the years and hopefully they’ll help someone out:
- Never start job hunting if your only motive is to throw the offer letter in your current employer’s face and see if they’ll match it. It’s only going to cause resentment from your manager and you’re probably going to shoot yourself in the foot when you decline the new company. (Trust me on this — been there, done that.)
- Do your homework early on. You need to start looking around to see if the salary you want is even realistic within your career, industry and geographic area. There are tons of resources out on the internet, you’ve got no excuse.
- Going along with that last item, you should refer back to your notes to refresh your memory on the millions of things that you’ve assisted the company with. What’s that? You don’t keep notes of your successes over the past few months? You better fix that — stop reading this and start writing that stuff down!
- Request a meeting with your boss but don’t tell them what the meeting’s about. This is all about maintaining the upper hand. You say, “hey boss(man|woman), can we meet later on today for a few minutes?”
Now that you’ve done your salary research and reviewed your personal notes, you’ve got your ammo all ready to go. Now it’s down to the meeting:
- The goal here is to make yourself appear confident (even uber-confident), but you definitely do not want to come across as “that cocky SOB” to anyone (especially your manager).
- Shut up. You talk to much. (Don’t worry, everyone does.) You’re going to sit down and say something along the lines of “hey boss(man|woman), I’ve been doing some thinking and I feel I deserve a raise. Here’s a few things I’ve done over the past few months: created _______, saved the ______ project from impending doom and scored us some new work with ______’s company” and then you shut up. The next person to open their mouth loses. Notice that we haven’t specifically asked for a number yet? (Good things come to those who wait.)
- If you played your cards right, your manager will start to probe you for numbers and reasons. You need to keep this vague and never, ever say that you need the money for personal reasons. You want to refrain from giving the managers numbers. Remember, you’re negotiating here.
- Let’s assume things are going well and the manager comes back with a new offer (in writing, of course). Regardless of how good (or bad) it is, you take that piece of paper and you walk away. You don’t accept or decline on the spot — never.
- If you accept, you go back the next day and do it. If you want to negotiate further, it’s going to get messy — but that’s what you did all that salary research for!
Keep in mind that this isn’t the know-it-all guide to asking for a raise, it’s merely a brief synopsis of the tips that I’ve learned through my own experiences over the last few years so your mileage may vary.
Good luck and don’t forget to send me my 5% advice fee. 
Here are some other resources you can use:
Forbes.com: Seven No-Nos When Asking For A Raise
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