People usually think the best times to negotiate your pay are when you're interviewing for a new job or at your year-end performance review, but they're not the only acceptable checkpoints to bring up compensation with your manager.
Even some HR experts say they wish they'd known this sooner, including Maddie Machado, a reverse recruiter in Tampa, Fla., who's previously worked for Meta, Microsoft and LinkedIn.
She says one big myth she wishes people understood better is that "you don't have to wait until promotion cycles or merit increase cycles to ask for more money," Machado tells CNBC Make It.
"There's never a wrong time" to revisit pay with your manager or HR, she says. "This is your money, and every week you wait to have the conversation is a week you're getting a few hundred dollars less than what you could be getting paid."
After all, she adds, "companies never feel hesitation negotiating contracts with other vendors or clients." She once alerted her boss she wanted to revisit her pay and got a 10% raise offer without having to negotiate.
The best time to ask for a raise, then, is when you're prepared to make a strong case for it based on your contributions and performance. Here are Machado's tips on how to ask for a raise the right way:
Recap your value
Your raise conversation should start off with the value you've contributed to your team and employer, Machado says.
She says she learned this from a former boss, a director of HR. When Machado raised the issue of revisiting her pay, she was advised to "go home and write down every project you've done, process you've improved, and anything you've done to save the company time, save the company money, or make the company money."
Another way to think about it, she suggests: "This is what I've been doing for the company, and this is what wouldn't have gotten done or wouldn't have gotten done as well if I wasn't here."
Gather your data
Once you've pinpointed specific ways you've added value in your job, gather some supporting data of your work, Machado says. Make sure to keep track of your achievements throughout the year as they happen so you can refer to them when making your raise request.
Also keep a running list or folder with any positive emails, comments or other feedback from your managers and peers about your work, Machado says.
Figure out your number
The first time Machado tried to ask for a raise, she made the mistake of knowing she wanted "more" without knowing what "more" looked like.
Instead of repeating that mistake, Machado recommends doing your research ahead of time to figure out the raise number you want.
There are lots of ways to find this number: Online salary databases like Glassdoor or Indeed are good places to start, as well as specific databases for your industry like Levels.fyi for tech workers, for example. Make sure to compare numbers for your job title, industry, years of experience and location.
You can get an even better idea of what range to expect by asking colleagues or peers at competitor companies; or, depending on where you live, your company might be required to list salary ranges on online job ads.
Make sure to have your firm number in mind, whether it's a dollar figure or a percentage increase, Machado says.
When making your ask, Machado says, "shoot a little higher than you'd be excited about, because they're going to negotiate it down." For example, if you're hoping for a $10,000 raise, you might want to ask for $15,000 knowing HR might counteroffer.
Let your boss know you want to set up a salary meeting
Asking for a raise out of the blue can feel awkward, and if you spring it on your manager without warning, you're not likely to get an immediate response. So, Machado recommends sending an email or message to your boss requesting time for a phone, video or in-person meeting specifically to discuss your compensation.
She recommends framing it this way: "I want to talk about the value I bring to the company, take a look at the compensation I'm currently receiving, and talk about an opportunity for an increase at this time."
Not only is this a lower stakes way to ease into the pay conversation, it can also give your manager time to prepare on their end. They can do some research to see: Is there room in budget for a raise? What documentation will they need to submit the request for approval? Can they put a raise on the table once you've completed XYZ accomplishments or projects?
Machado once did this while at Microsoft and, by the time she and her boss sat down for the meeting, her boss already had a 10% pay raise to offer, she says. It was higher than what Machado had in mind, so she accepted it right away.
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