1. Do Your Research Ahead of Time
Rule number one of asking for a raise is doing your research beforehand. The worst thing you can do it show up to the meeting without an idea of what you might want to get out of it. If you leave it up to your employer they might lowball you, deny your request and wonder why you haven’t prepared for this if it’s so important to you. At the end of the day, you will have wasted both of your times.
The number you want to ask for should be realistic. The average raise is about 1% – 5%, so you could use that as a starting point. Keeping this in mind, start researching your market value and check the average salary for your position (or something similar) in your geographical area. A big mistake employees do is they don’t take geography into account at all.
The more you look depending on your responsibilities and qualifications the closer you’ll get to an average salary for someone in your position. From there, you can start looking at what a typical raise looks like.
Finally, consider giving your manager a specific number. According to a study from Columbia Business School, you’ll be more likely to get a raise if you ask for $63,500 instead of $60,000 or $65,000, so keep that in mind. Don’t worry, you won’t come across as ‘weird’. In fact, it’ll prove that you’ve done your research and you know exactly how much your time is worth.
