Studies show more than 50 percent of American employees feel that they deserve more money than they’re currently making. Are you one of those underpaid workers? If you are, it might be time to ask for a raise – with a little help from these five tips.
Know What You Want – Of course, you know you want more money and you might even know how much money you want, but do you know how that amount compares to others in your position? Knowing what your position typically pays (with your level of experience) can help you build a case for getting the pay increase you’re hoping for.
Make a Case – Speaking of building a case, your chances of getting a raise are greatly improved if you go into the meeting with a list of recent accomplishments that warrant a raise in pay. What have you done in the past year? How have you helped the company win new clients, save more money, or become generally more successful? Create a list of at least five accomplishments and mention all of them to make it harder for your boss to say no to your request.
Focus on Professional Reasons – Tell your boss why you deserve a raise (see “make a case” above), but not why you WANT a raise. In other words, your boss doesn’t care that you need the money to pay off your rising credit card debt.
Let Your Boss Do Some Talking, Too – You’ll do some talking – in fact, you might do most of the talking – but let your boss talk, too. Ask questions about your performance, listen closely to the answers, and be ready to reply to those answers to help your case.
If At First You Don’t Succeed – You might not get a raise (or get the raise you were hoping for), but that’s okay. If you get turned down, ask your boss about a better time to talk … and then use the time off to prepare your next case for a pay increase!
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