How to ask for a raise on a call, with a script

Before the call

Know your number. One figure, with a reason behind it. The reason can be what the role pays elsewhere or work you have taken on since your pay was last set. Bring both if you have them.

Ask for the meeting by name. A pay request dropped into a weekly catch-up gets a weekly catch-up answer.

"Could we take twenty minutes this week to talk about my pay?"

Pick the week. Right after something went well is good. The middle of a crisis is a bad time, however strong your case.

The script

Open with the subject.

"Thanks for making time. I'd like to talk about my salary."

Make the case in three sentences. What you took on, what came of it, what you are asking for.

"Since last spring I've run the onboarding project and taken over the two largest accounts. Both renewed. Based on that and what this role pays elsewhere, I'm asking for 62,000."

Then stop. The silence is your manager thinking. If you fill it, you will start lowering your own number.

What you will hear

"There's no budget right now." Take it at face value and ask about time.

"I understand. When is the next point that could change, and what would you need to see from me by then?"

"Let me think about it." A fair answer. Attach a date to it.

"Of course. Could we put fifteen minutes in for next Friday, so I know where it stands?"

"You're already at the top of the band." Then the conversation is about the next level.

"Then I'd like to talk about what the next level needs, and how far I am from it."

"Why now?" Have one sentence ready.

"Because the job I'm doing has changed since my pay was last set."

"Yes." Thank them and get it in writing.

"Thank you. Could you confirm the figure and the start date by email?"

End with a date

Whatever the answer, the call should finish with a next step that has a day on it. A review in March, a follow-up on Friday, an email by Monday. An answer without a date tends to stay an answer forever.

Afterwards, send two lines that repeat what was agreed. It is polite, and it is your record.

Rehearse it

The hard part is saying your number without softening it. Say the three sentences out loud until they come out the same way every time. Then practice with someone who answers back.

In murmur, the ask for a raise call does that: your manager picks up and asks what you wanted to talk about, and you have to state your number and hold to it. Run it a few times before the real one. If this is your first job, negotiate a first salary is the closer fit.

Updated 11 November 2026.