Things to Ask Before Asking for a Raise

Things to Ask Yourself About Why You Want a Raise

Your reasons can be personal, but your employer's decision will usually depend on role value, performance, market pay, scope, internal equity, budget, and retention.

Separate 'I need more money' from the business case you can actually present.

1. Has my role grown beyond the original scope?
2. Have I taken on responsibilities normally handled at a higher level?
3. Have my results improved materially?
4. Am I underpaid relative to credible market data?
5. Has it been a long time since compensation was reviewed?
6. Did I receive a promotion or title change without a meaningful pay adjustment?
7. Am I asking for recognition of current value or trying to solve dissatisfaction with the job?
8. Would a raise actually make me want to stay?

Things to Ask About Your Results

Build the case around outcomes. Work volume matters, but results are stronger when you can explain what improved because of your contribution.

Use numbers where they are meaningful, but do not force fake precision.

1. What revenue did my work help create or protect?
2. What costs did I reduce?
3. What time did I save?
4. What process did I improve?
5. What customer or stakeholder result improved?
6. What difficult problem did I solve?
7. What project would have struggled without my contribution?
8. What responsibility now depends on me?
9. What positive feedback have I received?
10. What evidence can I bring without sharing confidential information inappropriately?

Things to Ask About Your Scope

A raise is easier to justify when the role itself has expanded. Compare your current responsibilities with your job description and with the work you performed when your pay was last set.

Look for durable scope, not one unusually busy month.

1. What responsibility do I own now that I did not own before?
2. Do I manage more people, clients, systems, or budget?
3. Do I make more independent decisions?
4. Am I doing work associated with a higher level?
5. Have I become the default expert for an important area?
6. Has the complexity of my work increased?
7. What responsibility would be difficult to hand back?
8. Can I describe the change in scope in two or three clear sentences?

Things to Ask About Market Pay

Market data is useful when it matches your role, level, location, industry, and experience. A single salary website number is weak evidence.

Use several credible sources when possible and distinguish base salary from bonus, commission, equity, and total compensation.

1. What is the market range for my actual role and level?
2. How does location affect that range?
3. How does company size affect it?
4. Am I comparing base salary with base salary?
5. Do the data sources include bonus or equity?
6. Where does my experience place me within the range?
7. What competing roles am I realistically qualified for?
8. What compensation are current job postings showing where ranges are published?

Things to Ask About Timing

The best case can still fail at the wrong budget moment. Learn when compensation decisions are normally made and whether your manager needs lead time.

Do not wait until you are furious enough to resign unless that is genuinely where you are.

1. When are salary budgets set?
2. When are raises normally approved?
3. Is this tied to annual reviews?
4. Can off-cycle adjustments happen?
5. Has my manager already submitted compensation recommendations?
6. Is the company currently under a hiring or spending freeze?
7. Is there a major performance milestone worth completing first?
8. Would waiting one month improve the timing or simply delay the conversation?

Things to Ask Your Manager in the Conversation

Make the request clear. If you only describe how hard you work and wait for the manager to infer that you want more pay, the conversation may end without an actual decision.

State the adjustment you are seeking when you can support a number or range.

1. Can we review my compensation based on how my role has expanded?
2. How do you see my current level relative to the responsibilities I am handling?
3. What factors are used to determine compensation here?
4. Is my current salary within the range for this role?
5. What flexibility exists for an adjustment?
6. What would you need from me to support this request?
7. Who else participates in the decision?
8. What timeline should I expect for an answer?

Things to Ask If the Answer Is 'Not Now'

Not now can mean no budget, not enough evidence, wrong timing, or a polite no. Clarify which one you are hearing.

Ask for conditions and a date rather than accepting an indefinite promise.

1. What specifically prevents an adjustment right now?
2. Is the issue budget, performance, level, or process?
3. What would need to be true for this to be reconsidered?
4. What result would strengthen the case?
5. What compensation cycle should we target?
6. Can we schedule a date to review this again?
7. Is there an off-cycle process if responsibilities continue to increase?
8. Is there another form of compensation available in the meantime?

Things to Ask About Alternatives

Salary is only one part of compensation. When base pay cannot move, there may be flexibility in bonus, equity, title, schedule, remote work, education, leave, or other benefits.

An alternative is only valuable if it matters to you. Do not accept a title as a substitute for money if the title creates more responsibility with no meaningful benefit.

1. Is a one-time bonus possible?
2. Is additional equity possible?
3. Could the title or level be adjusted?
4. Could additional paid time off be considered?
5. Is there education or certification funding?
6. Could schedule flexibility be increased?
7. Could remote-work flexibility change?
8. Is a retention bonus available?
9. Which alternative would actually have meaningful value to me?

Things to Ask Before Mentioning Another Offer

A competing offer can create leverage, but it can also change how the company views your likelihood of staying. Do not bluff.

If you truly have another offer, decide in advance whether you are prepared to accept it if your current employer does not counter.

1. Would I actually take the other offer?
2. Am I comfortable if my employer tells me to take it?
3. Is the other offer genuinely better overall?
4. Would matching the salary solve the reasons I considered leaving?
5. Do I trust the current company to treat me normally after a counteroffer?
6. What deadline does the other offer create?
7. What do I want beyond a simple match?

Things to Ask After You Receive an Answer

If the answer is yes, confirm the amount, effective date, title or level changes, and whether the adjustment affects bonus or other compensation.

If the answer is no, decide whether the path forward is credible enough to wait for.

1. What is the exact new base salary?
2. When does it become effective?
3. Will I receive written confirmation?
4. Does anything else change with the adjustment?
5. When will compensation be reviewed again?
6. If the request was denied, what is the next realistic opportunity?
7. Do I believe the stated path is likely to happen?
8. What will I do if nothing changes by the agreed date?

How to Prepare the Actual Raise Request

Condense the case into a few points: how your scope changed, what results you delivered, what market information supports the request, and the compensation adjustment you want. You should be able to explain the case without reading a long document.

Practice saying the number out loud if you plan to give one. Many people weaken the request by becoming apologetic at the moment the compensation amount is mentioned.

Then stop talking. Give the manager room to respond rather than negotiating against yourself immediately.

1. What is the clearest sentence that explains why I am asking now?
2. What are my two strongest results?
3. What scope change matters most?
4. What number or range am I requesting?
5. What evidence will I bring if the manager asks?
6. What will I say if the manager needs time to consider it?

How to Use These Questions

Choose the questions that would genuinely change your understanding or decision rather than trying to complete the page in order.

When an answer matters, ask for an example, what changed, what the person means by a particular word, or what would make the answer different. Specific follow-ups are usually more useful than another prepared question.

1. Can you give me an example?
2. What part matters most?
3. What changed your mind?
4. What would make your answer different?
5. What important question have we not asked yet?

Things to Ask About the Number You Want

Before the meeting, decide whether you are asking for a specific salary, a percentage increase, a move to a market range, or simply a compensation review. A vague request makes it easier for the conversation to end with vague praise.

Your number should reflect credible market information, your current pay, the scope of the role, and what you would consider a meaningful adjustment. It does not need to be mathematically perfect, but you should know the difference between your ideal result, an acceptable result, and an outcome that would leave the underlying problem unsolved.

1. What salary would I consider a fair outcome?
2. What is the minimum adjustment that would feel meaningful?
3. What market evidence supports the number?
4. Am I asking for pay that matches my current role or a higher-level role?
5. Would a smaller raise plus another benefit change my view?
6. What will I do if the company offers much less than I requested?