How to ask for a pay rise: the conversation in 3 moves

The first question 90% of professionals ask themselves when thinking about requesting a pay rise is “how do I say it?”

I understand, because the conversation with your manager is the moment that creates the most anxiety. Yet, if you want to negotiate well, that question is one of the last things to work on.

A far more important question comes first: what is your request based on?

I know what you're thinking: “I deserve it”, “I work myself to the bone”, “I found out my colleague earns more”, “I'm good at my job”. But none of these arguments counts when it comes to asking for, and getting, a raise.

Here's why: it isn't about proving how hard you work. The heart of a negotiation is making it clear what value you are bringing to the company today, value that is greater or more relevant than when your current pay was set.

1. Start from facts

Before talking to your manager, take time to reconstruct the last 6-12 months.

Here are a few guiding questions:

• What responsibilities have you taken on?
• What results have you achieved?
• Have you improved a process, managed new clients, coordinated people, cut time or costs, solved problems that used to reach your boss?

Look for specific facts.

Let's look at a couple of examples together:

“Over the past few months I've become much more autonomous” is weak, it gets you nowhere.

“Since January I've been managing client X independently, which previously required my manager's direct involvement” is far more useful.

If you can translate your impact into economic terms, that's wonderful and very powerful. But greater autonomy, responsibility, managed complexity and decision-making ability are also elements of value.

2. Connect your contribution to the request

In other words, ask yourself: why should these elements justify a pay review?

This is where most people get lost: they collect a list of results but never build the connection to what they want to get.

Here's a simple example for you:

When my conditions were set, I was doing this role >> Today my contribution, my responsibilities or my level have changed in these ways >> That's why I believe it's right to discuss a realignment.

This is a far more solid and effective negotiating position than “I'd like to earn more”.

3. Decide what you want, precisely

A glaring mistake so many people make is “wanting a generic raise” without being able to talk about figures, percentages, levels or contracts. So, before requesting the meeting, get clear with yourself about the outcome you're looking for.

You don't need to predict every scenario, but you must know where you want to go. Because if you enter the conversation without a clear request, it becomes very easy to let others define the outcome for you.

So, before asking for a raise, don't waste time on the perfect sentence. Start from what your request is based on: that's what will make everything that follows far more effective.