How to ask for a raise with one page of proof
Three results from the last year, the number you want, and a twenty-minute conversation. No speech about what you deserve.
Hristo Stefanov · Wildwood, New Jersey · Sep 23, 2026 · 1 min · Work
Write the page before you book the meeting
One page. Three lines, each a result your manager can check: what changed, the number, and the date. “Handled the inbox” is not a result. “Cut the weekly report from four hours to one, starting in March” is. If you cannot name three, you are asking early — spend two weeks collecting them, then ask.
Under the three lines, write the number. A percent of your pay or a dollar amount, not “whatever you think is fair.” Fair is how the meeting ends with nothing written down.
The conversation
Send the page the day before. In the room, use this order and then stop.
- “I want to talk about pay. I put three results on one page so we are looking at the same thing.”
- “The number I am asking for is [amount], based on that work.”
- Then wait. Do not fill the silence with a discount on your own request.
- If they need time, ask when you will hear a yes, a no, or a different number. Put that date on your calendar before you leave.
If the answer is not now
Ask what would have to be true in the next review, and write their answer down in the meeting. A raise conversation without a date is a compliment. A date plus the missing result is a plan.
