Requesting for a pay raise is an intimidating thought to many, but financial author Anthony O’Neal says anyone can do it well with the right strategy. These are some of the reasons why — whether you have a job in tech, education, healthcare, retail, or anywhere else — getting a raise still looks the same.
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O’Neal shares key insights on how to navigate this process to help you increase your income.
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1. Understand Your Market Value
Do not ask for a raise unless you know what you should be paid. The first step, according to O’Neal is realizing just how much your skills are worth on the open market. In other words, how much are others in your industry and at your experience level making?
When you talk to your boss, you can’t just pull a number out of thin air; you need some data. For instance, Glassdoor, PayScale, and LinkedIn Salary Insights are all places that provide fairly accurate numbers of what people with the same job title as yourself earn.
O’Neal also notes the possibility that in this day and age, when remote work is becoming more mainstream, your salary could depend on your cost of living and where your company is headquartered.
Employers could use the pay scales to determine where the business runs, even if you work elsewhere. Balance these considerations and be ready to come to a compromise with your employer.
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2. Document Your Achievements
Simply doing your job is not enough to get a raise. You have to illustrate that you are going beyond the bare minimum.
Spend some time making a portfolio of your successes where you show just how powerful you are, suggests O’Neal. Have you contributed something meaningful, helped save the company money, or helped with some duties that would allow your leadership team to operate in a different capacity?
This is a huge plus when the time comes to ask for that raise because your resume mileposts will be displayed right there in front of them.
If you document your work for the company, especially if it aligns with its larger goals, O’Neal said it’s hard to argue against the value of your contributions.
3. Prepare for the Conversation
Half of getting a raise is being ready — not just for the ask, but the conversation that goes down after you drop your request.
O’Neal stresses the need to understand how your boss communicates and what will likely be expected of you during that conversation. Simply listing one accomplishment after another isn’t going to cut it; you need to be prepared for pushback and follow-up questions.
O’Neal warns that readers should not be caught off guard and think in advance about how their boss might answer because he comes prepared with the answers himself.
This may involve talking about what your boss feels is an improvement area for you, as an example. Use it to demonstrate that you are always improving yourself and providing more value for the company.
4. Align Your Achievements with Company Goals
A very important note: Demonstrate how your work is, in fact, streamlining the company towards better success.
O’Neal recommended positioning your accomplishments in a way that relates to what the organization was hoping to achieve. What did you do to guide the business in reaching its goals or to make it more reliable?
The more you emphasize how your contributions have furthered the company mission and core values, the easier it is to understand why a raise should be granted.
5. Set Realistic Expectations
O’Neal advises not to be “afraid to ask for a raise, but keep it real.” Overnight, you might not receive double your salary. There was an average raise in the U.S. of 4.6% in 2023. Knowing the average raise in your industry and state will help you go into the conversation with practical assumptions.
Still, O’Neal suggests requesting slightly more than you need because negotiations often end up as a compromise. Also, if they claim a high wage is out of reach, they should be ready to talk about other forms of compensation, such as bonuses or added benefits.
6. Be Grateful, But Confident
O’Neal tells people not to hesitate about these talks but instead go into them with gratitude and confidence. Keep that in mind — while you want to come off grateful for whatever chances your employer gave, make sure that this means something about how excited you are to join their team! But, of course, do not hesitate to assert why you are deserving of a raise.
Now, being grateful makes it clear that you’re a team player, but confidence lets your boss know you don’t play when it comes to your value. You can see those two things together, which gives you a hint of the conversation trader.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: The Quickest Way To Get a Raise No Matter What Industry You’re In, According to Financial Author Anthony O’Neal
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