How To Ask For A Raise: 10 Tips Every Woman Should Know
Knowing how to ask for a raise well is a vital part of climbing the ladder of success. If you’ve found a job that you’re great at, it makes sense that you would ask to receive a raise from time to time. Although it can be awkward, here is our advice on how to ask for a raise: 10 tips every woman should know!
1. Do Some Research
In the age of internet, there are many ways to research wages. You should be able to find a scenario with a person of your skills and experience, and an amount of how much money they should be making. Don’t go into a meeting with your boss, clueless about what you want or what you deserve. You are a valuable asset to your workplace, make sure you and your boss both leave that meeting in full realization of that fact.
2. Include Salary Ranges
My sister recently told me that she was going to give her boss her raise estimate. However, she said that he beat her to it, offering her more money than she was going to ask for. This is a good example of why you should include a salary range. If you give a static number to your boss, you could be selling yourself short. What would be worse, you could be selling yourself too high, which just looks tacky. So, always give a salary range.
3. Collect Feedback
So you’ve work at your job for awhile now. You should have feedback from bosses and supervisors. You should have evaluations and reviews from quite a few people. My advice on how to ask for a raise would be to collect all of those documents and have them with you in the meeting. These documents remind your boss of your value to the company, and it also reminds him of your hard work and achievements with the company.
4. Have Examples of Your Accomplishments
It is great to have a few of your recent accomplishments memorized or rehearsed before you enter a meeting. You have substantially contributed to the workplace within the past year, and you should bring those examples into the meeting with you as references.
5. Your Success Helped Your Company
Now that you have a list of accomplishments you’ve had within the past year, it would be good to remind your boss, that these accomplishments added to the company. Bosses tend to be interested in what you’ve added to their company and if the company should further invest in you.
6. Approach From An Angle
When thinking about how to ask for a raise, it would be good to think about an angle. You should come to the meeting with a humble spirit, but also with self-confidence. You know that you are a great worker, with valuable skills. However, it is great to let your boss know that you believe you deserve the raise, instead of only wanting the raise. Your boss would appreciate the fresh angle you are bringing to the meeting. Who knows? It could work out in your favor!
7. Proactively Exemplify Success
In other words, make sure you show that you can handle the responsibilities given to you. Furthermore, make sure that you are proactively communicating that you can handle more responsibilities. You should be picking up a few extra tasks, every now and then, showing that you are comfortable with a greater work load. This shows your boss that you deserve a raise.
8. Look to the Future
Set your personal goals in alignment with your company. In doing this, you will naturally be working to solve the problems you know are coming around the corner. This puts you in a good rhythm with the company, and it allows your job to run more smoothly. It also gives you a vision of where you want to go.
9. Have Confidence
It sounds like a no-brainer, but having confidence in yourself and your abilities can go far in the workplace. Work hard, hone your skills, and be positive. See yourself as a valuable part of the workplace, and you’re bound to act and serve in that role you’ve envisioned for yourself. When you go to ask for a raise, you have already been practicing confidence and rehearsing all the ways that your abilities are useful in the company.
10. Don’t Be Afraid to Negotiate
Women tend to shy away from negotiating, when it comes to the topic of how to ask for a raise. However, if you feel you deserve more and approach it with a great respect and attitude, you should negotiate. However, it is wiser to remember that cash is not the only negotiable thing in this meeting. You can negotiate for more vacation days or the option of working from home. There are many valuable things to negotiate that might not be cash.
