Financial experts have three pieces of advice if you’re trying to get a raise…
1. Don’t wait for them to give you a dollar amount, YOU should make the first offer. If you let THEM offer a certain amount, that’s likely what you’ll get. It’s a lot tougher to negotiate UP from their offer than to work down from yours.
2. Don’t use round numbers. For example, instead of saying you want to make $65,000 a year, say 65,600. And justify the weird number however you want to. Maybe it’s exactly a 15% raise or something.
A study last year found that if you use a round number like $65,000, there’s a good chance they’ll cut it way down to another round number, like $60,000. But if you say a weird number like 65,800, they won’t cut as much, and might counteroffer with 65,000.
3. Ask for a raise DURING a big project, not after it’s done. A study in 2011 found that managers actually value their employees more DURING a project than after it’s finished. Even if you did a really good job on it.
