5 things NOT to say when asking for a pay rise

It’s not the best news to discover many industries are unlikely to get much of a pay rise this year, or in 2014.

Many workers out there are probably feeling due for a raise. But how do you convince someone to give you more money when there’s every indication you won’t get what you ask for?

While getting the courage to ask your boss for more money might seem difficult, there are plenty more things that can go wrong once you start the conversation.

Here are a few things to avoid saying when asking for more money:

“If you don’t give me what I want, I’m leaving.”

Any decent boss will not make you a counter offer just because you threaten him or her with another job – especially if you threaten to join a competitor. You’ll lose their trust and their respect, because suddenly you’re not as loyal as they thought you were.

“But Jack makes this much money, I want you to match it.”

What you get paid is a reflection of how good you are at your job. It’s a good idea to do some research to find out if you really are being underpaid, but otherwise your best option is to find multiple reasons why they should be paying you more because of what you do.

"I need more money because I’m getting married/having a baby/have a mortgage to pay.”

Newsflash – everybody has personal problems. Whining about them to your boss as a reason you deserve more money is never going to work in your favour. Penelope Truck, co-founder of Brazen Careerist told Huffington Post this tactic almost never works.

“You get a raise because you are worth more to the company. It is not their job to make sure your life works out.”

“Here’s that report you wanted… and by the way I want a raise.”

Choose your timing carefully and avoid asking for a pay rise...

a)      During a meeting about something completely unrelatedb)      After a bad performance review, orc)      When your boss is clearly busy and doesn’t have time to talk about your salary

Half the challenge of winning a battle is picking the right time to start one.

Nothing

Not asking for a raise at all is clearly going to work against you if you want more money. How will you get what you want if you don’t speak up about it?