How to Ask For a Pay Raise and Get It

By Talentwolf
Everyone wants to make more money, but are too intimidated to ask for a raise. It’s not an easy thing to go in and explain to your boss how you deserve more money. But if you don’t ask, you’ll never know if your boss will say yes. Learning how to ask for a pay increase is an essential skill that will help you throughout your career, so it’s important that you learn how to successfully negotiate your raise.

Here are some tips on how to ask for a pay raise get it:

Know what your work is worth

To know how much of a raise you should get, it’s important that you know what your work is worth. Take a look at your responsibilities, projects you’re working on and the like. You’ll want to make a complete assessment of yourself and your job to have a clear understanding of what you do for the company and why you deserve more money. Keep a record of what you do and your contributions to the company so that you have tangible evidence of what you work is worth.  

Do more than what’s expected

Each annual review, as your supervisor or boss what they’re expectations are for you for the coming year. Then, go out and achieve these expectations and go one step further by doing more. Going above and beyond what’s expected of you will help you later on when you want a raise. Your supervisor will see your commitment to the company and how you went above your work scope and will give you that much-deserved raise.  

Become a team member

Show that you’re a team member by asking if others need help every once in a while. If you’re able to do more work, ask your co-workers if they require your assistance on projects. This way, your supervisor will see how you’re a team player and be more willing to give you a raise when you ask for it. They’ll see how valuable you are to the company and that you go the extra mile to get stuff done. You don’t look out for yourself and genuinely care about your work and your co-workers.  

Become a go-to employee

If your boss asks you to lead meetings when they can’t or train new employees, then you’ve become a go-to member of their team. This means you’ve gained the respect of your co-workers and supervisor. If this happens often, record everything that you’re doing so that you can calculate your skills and knowledge for the organization when it comes time to ask for a pay raise.  


Have a reason

If you’re looking for a raise, find a good reason why first. This will be the first question your boss asks you when you finally go in to talk to them about it. You’ll first want to figure out who can authorize your raise and answer why it’s in their best interest to grant you your request. Just assuming that you deserve one based on your good work isn’t enough. Identify all other reasons why they should give you a pay raise. For example, if you've been helping out others or doing more work than required, it’s in their best interest to give you a pay raise because you’ve helped eliminate the need to hire more resources.  

Understand how your performance will be measured

There are many ways performance can be measured, so understanding how you’ll boss will measure your performance is key. Performance is usually measured at various levels, including company, department, team and employee levels. It would be wise to fully understand the company performance first before focusing on your individual performance. Regularly ask your boss how you can help them in the company’s success. From there, learn about how your company does business. Your boss will see your commitment to the company and will be more willing to compensate you for it later on.  

Keep a record

Always keep track of what you’re doing so that you have evidence of your contributions at work. Keep an agenda of what you’ve accomplished each day so that you can tangibly track your accomplishment and can prove how you’ve contributed to the company’s bottom line.  

Schedule check-ins

Don’t just wait for your yearly review and have monthly or bi-monthly check-ins with your boss to talk about your projects, achievements and get feedback to help you become a better employee. Be transparent about your goals and that your goal is to perform at such a level that’s deserving of a pay raise. Check in with your supervisor so that you can track your progress or where you can improve on things.  

Show how you helped the bottom line

If you can map directly how you improved the bottom line, do so and show your boss when you ask for a raise. You’ll be able to show how you helped the company make money or gain new business.  

Figure out if you are underpaid

Make sure to check out Salary.com or other similar tools to see if you are really underpaid. You’ll be able to see your position and what the average pay is. You’ll be able to show this to your boss when you ask for a raise and hopefully they’ll be able to match you.  

Get feedback

A great way to be efficient and successful at your job is to ask for honest feedback on how you’re doing. This will show you how you’re being perceived and help you see where you can improve.  

How to ask for a pay raise EXAMPLE

Subject line

This email is your written salary increase request, so you want everything to be as clear and obvious as possible. Include your name and explicitly state that this letter is about your salary increase request so that there are no surprises for anyone who might read it later on.

Here’s a script you can use to begin that conversation with your manager:

Thanks for taking the time to talk with me about my compensation. As I mentioned in my email, I would like to ask for a raise. Based on the work I’ve been doing and some market research I’ve done, I would like to ask for a raise to [your target salary].
Since my last salary adjustment, I’ve done things like [one of your accomplishments] and have gotten some great recognition like [one of your accolades], so I think I’m ready for this raise.
Can you help me with this?
You manager may give you immediate feedback or ask some clarifying questions, but then the approval process takes over.  


Follow-up on your request with a short email

Getting a raise is a top priority for you, but it probably isn’t your manager’s top priority. Even if you schedule a good time to talk with your manager and bring a strong case when asking for a raise, you may not hear back for a while. So you may need to follow up a few times to make sure your request doesn’t fall through the cracks. I recommend waiting a week or two before sending a followup email.  

 Another great way to prove to your boss that you deserve a raise is to create a free profile on Talentwolf to enhance your online presence and personal brand as a recruiter. As the fastest growing platform for review and reputation management in the recruiting industry, you’ll be able to show that you are the highest rated recruiter in your market.