How to ask for a raise: Australian women on how they negotiated their salaries

Lessons in being assertive and negotiating a fair deal.

As a young woman entering the very adult-feeling world of superannuation, salaries and HECS debt, I often feel like I have no idea what I’m doing. Women are all too often left out of conversations surrounding money (see: girl math), which is likely the reason for my lack of financial literacy.

Thankfully, I’m lucky enough to know a couple of women who are trying to rectify this problem. Maddy Guest and Sophie Dicker make up You’re in Good Company (YIGC), a podcast that aims to educate people on how to invest their money and participate in the stock market (a predominantly male-occupied space, in my opinion).

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It’s easy enough to have conversations with your friends about ambition, knowing your worth and wanting more out of your work. But when it comes to asking for a raise, there are real challenges for women in being assertive and negotiating a fair deal – particularly when faced with an overbearing male boss.

I spoke to the YIGC duo to get a better idea of how to negotiate a raise – because I wouldn’t know where to start. According to Sophie and Maddie, the first thing to note is planning is paramount. As the saying goes, “A failure to plan is a plan to fail!”. The pair recommend starting your prep by “writing down your goal, including the time frame in which you want to achieve it”.

It’s a good idea to talk to other people in your workplace (or HR) about the pay or promotion process, as some companies have specific dates for when promotions are negotiated. When it comes to calculating how much more money you want to ask for, it’s important to do your research. Websites like Glassdoor or Owler are great resources to refer to.

Maddy and Sophie also highlighted that it’s important to be realistic about the business you work in: “If you’re working in a larger corporation, you’re likely working within salary bands for your grade”. Whereas, “if you’re in a start-up, the business might be constrained in their resources [and] what they can offer you in terms of pay”.

When it comes to the practicalities of negotiating your salary, YIGC recommends setting up a ‘short sunflower folder’ (because “Australians are notorious for tall poppy syndrome”). This is essentially the place to “keep track of your achievements, ready to share when the time for a performance conversation comes”.

You wouldn’t be totally prepared for a salary negotiation if you weren’t also prepared for rejection. When I asked Sophie and Maddie how to handle a potential knockback, they recommended facilitating open communication with your manager. This ensures that “when you have the final outcome conversation, the answer is less likely to be a surprise”.

It also makes sense to have a contingency plan in case things don’t quite go your way. YIGC also had some great advice in case you don’t get the raise you asked for. “If the answer is no, understand the feedback as to why”, and ask to review the decision in another six months. Below, two Australian women speak on their real-life experiences negotiating a raise.

Annie*, 23, Marketing Coordinator

How did you decide that you were going to ask for a raise?

I decided when I hit [the] one-year mark and realised that my job description had completely changed since I first started. I’d taken on more responsibility by leading several aspects of our marketing campaigns when my role was initially supporting rather than managing.

Did you feel confident knowing that you deserved one?

I was nervous… but there was this confidence inside me that knew I would be supported in my decision to ask for a raise, given I’ve always received positive reinforcement from my boss. As she’s also a woman, I knew she would get it.

However, my only (and quite significant) dilemma was that she didn’t have the power to give me the raise, and I knew it wouldn’t be easy to convince the higher management. Thankfully, I didn’t need to [meet] with them, and my boss vouched for me instead (my confidence would be a different story otherwise).

How did you prepare to ask for a higher salary?

I took two directions with this. Firstly, I compared my salary to other marketing coordinators in Melbourne (I only checked Melbourne, as each city varies). You can look on LinkedIn job listings to check these salaries, or if you’re comfortable, you can message people in these roles on LinkedIn, explain your situation and ask if they’re willing to share this information.

… Secondly, I presented my initial job description compared to what my current day-to-day had become. I explained how they’re no longer aligned and my job is more advanced now… You can incorporate the roles and responsibilities of people in a similar role (back to LinkedIn) and take note of the key differences.

Did you ask in person or over email/messages?

I asked in person with my boss during our one-on-one catch-up. I think this is the best approach as you can be candid while professional, and it’s easier to provide extra context as to how you landed at the figure you’re requesting. I also came ready to the meeting with a prepared document laying out all my points, which my boss could forward straight to management.

Did you get the raise that you asked for?

No, I didn’t receive any raise at all – which was disappointing at the time. However, I was offered a bonus one-off payment and that was a nice surprise. While not ideal, bonus payments can motivate you… to ask again for a raise later.

Did you have a plan for how to handle being rejected, or a contingency plan in case things didn’t work out?

My plan was to ask again at the start of the following financial year, as this was their reason for not giving me a raise. I requested a raise in April and I’m asking for another review in July. I think that if you aren’t provided with a solid answer as to why you didn’t receive the raise, I’d recommend asking to lock in a date for a performance review in a few months… after all, you deserve to be heard and valued!

Milla*, 28, Senior Journalist and Copywriter

How did you decide that you were going to ask for a raise?

This was at a different company to where I am now, and my manager was a major part of this decision-making process. I’d been hired on a short contract, and when my contract ended I was told there wasn’t enough money in the internal budget for them to keep me, [although] they wanted to. So, we found a loophole where they could hire me on a different kind of contract [that] was managed externally.

Then, about four months into my contract, they suddenly found money in the internal budget to hire me for a full-time, permanent position. When they told me this, my manager instantly started telling me about the pay negotiation process and how to go about asking for a raise.

Did you feel confident knowing that you deserved one?

I think if my manager hadn’t encouraged me to ask for a raise, the thought wouldn’t have crossed my mind. I’ve always just thought if I could comfortably pay my bills, I’d be happy. It wasn’t until this conversation opened up that I actually sat down and started thinking about how much I actually deserved to be paid. I felt more and more confident about asking for a raise… [once] I realised how much knowledge and experience I actually brought to the table.

How did you prepare to ask for a higher salary?

Honestly, I didn’t really prepare at all. I thought of a number and then I wrote a draft email explaining how much knowledge and previous experience I brought to my role and I sent it to my manager, thinking she’d make edits or push back, but she didn’t!

Did you ask in person or over email/messages?

My manager encouraged me to ask for a raise in person, but the actual request was done over email. Everything had to be done in writing.

Did you get the raise that you asked for?

I ended up getting the raise I asked for. I sent the draft email to my manager and instead of getting push-back, she sent my email straight on to her boss, who was responsible for approving this kind of thing, and it was approved within a couple of hours.

For more on negotiating your salary, head here.