4 Salary Negotiation Tactics Sure To Help You Get Richer Every Year, According to Millionaire CEO, Bernadette Joy

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As of 2024, the average annual raise for base pay in the U.S. is 4.5%. However, not all organizations are planning to offer raises this year, and the number of companies that are has decreased since 2023. If you’re looking to make more money on your paycheck next year, you’ll probably need to negotiate.

Bernadette Joy, a former recruiter turned online money coach recently shared some tips for workers trying to make the most of their salary negotiations.

Here are her four tips to help you negotiate your salary, why they should work, and what you need to know to apply them correctly.

Ask for a Raise Every Year

Many people feel uneasy about requesting a raise. However, if you don’t negotiate your salary, you can miss out on a significant chunk of earnings over the course of your career. For example, if you get a 4.5% salary increase every other year, your salary in 30 years will be almost double (1.935 times) what it is now. If you were to get that same 4.5% increase every year, in 30 years you’d be making 3.75 times what you’re making now. 

This means that regularly negotiating your salary could pretty much double how much money you make throughout your career.

You might not be able to get a raise from your employer every single year, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. If you don’t ask, the answer is always no. 

That’s why you should make it a habit to request a raise every year. Come with stats to back it up, showing your employer what your value is to the business. Highlight the projects you completed, the goals you met and the extra responsibilities you took on. 

Be Specific With Your Salary Request

When you ask for a higher salary, use an exact number, like $72,320, not a round figure like $70,000. This may seem like a silly thing to do, but there’s some psychology behind it. 

Have you noticed that almost all prices at the supermarket end in “.99”? That’s because stores know that people focus on the leftmost digit when comparing prices.

A $19.99 price is perceived differently than $20, even though they’re basically the same. If a company wants its product to appear to be premium, on the other hand, it may instead actually use a round number because such “pricing tricks” may come across as cheap in the consumer’s mind.

However, there’s another pricing psychology trick — using a non-rounded, “precise” number like $243.72. People who see this type of price may feel that there’s no tricky reason to ever use such a random number. In other words, the product has to be priced that way because that’s what it’s actually worth.

Instead of simply saying, “I want a raise,” you should give a precise number and tell your employer, “I believe this reflects my value.” This may convince your employer that you’ve done your research on the topic and that your request accurately reflects what you’re worth. However, you need to do the actual research to back this up so that you can respond accordingly if you’re pushed on it. The number you choose should be based on real arguments, such as the current market rate for someone in your position or the value you’ve been bringing to the company.

Highlight Your Achievements With Your Resume

Sometimes, the best way to get a raise is to find a different employer. When you update your resume, get rid of the nonspecific fluff that recruiters often see, such as, “I have great communication skills.”

Your resume should be specific to you and show why you stood out at your previous jobs.

Update your resume with clear examples of how you’ve helped the companies you’ve worked for. Did you boost sales? Save money? Improve processes? Sharing your successes can help you justify a higher salary.

According to Joy, the language on your resume should be streamlined and conversational, and your entire resume should be no longer than one page, no matter how much experience you may have.

Be Ready To Walk Away

The option to leave gives you leverage — if your employer realizes that you can’t leave your current job, they have no incentive to give you a raise or any other concessions. There are a few things you can do to avoid this.

First, keep applying for other jobs, even if you’re happy with your current one. You may get an offer that’s good enough to convince you to switch, or you may be able to use the offer as leverage to increase your pay at your current job. If your employer sees that you’re ready to put in your notice and switch jobs if you don’t get a pay raise, they may be more likely to give you one.

If you’re facing financial issues or don’t have the savings you’d need to quit and job-hunt for a few months, don’t mention this to your boss or coworkers. Talking about your salary with your coworkers is a good idea — it helps you figure out whether you’re making the right salary for someone in your position. However, it may be a bad idea to mention any additional details about your financial situation. If you keep that information to yourself, there’s no chance that it will be used against you in a negotiation later on.

Finally, the best thing you can do is to reach a financial position at which you’d be able to walk away when you need to. This can be difficult to achieve, but if you have your finances in order, you can afford to decline a low offer and move on. 

Focus on paying off any debt you have and saving enough money to build a three- to six-month emergency fund. This will pay off in the long run — your salary may increase, and you can also significantly limit how much a layoff or job change would stress you out in the future.

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