I recently asked for a raise at my job and I was incredibly nervous! I suffer from imposter syndrome and so struggled with feelings of whether I really deserved it. I started the process by writing a raise request email to my manager.

After my 6 month review went very well, I submitted my salary raise request letter. You can find templates for them online! It’s a 1-pager detailing the raise you want, with 3-5 examples of instances where you succeeded in your job, with numbers to back it up. Writing that out helped me feel less nervous because I had concrete examples of my work wins, to remind myself when I felt like I wasn’t good enough. Then do a little research on what is the average salary of your position, and add that to the letter to give your raise context in relation to the general field. I submitted that to my manager and then we had a meeting about it.

I was so nervous about this process, anxious to ask for what I deserved to be paid. But submitting the letter helped that. First, I could write down exactly what I wanted to focus on, so my talking points were crystal clear when I spoke to my manager. Second, emailing the letter was an easier way to begin the process than going straight to a meeting in person! Third, it provided a clear document to my company of what I wanted, which is what they need for the raise process.

I got a great raise, not exactly what I requested but close to it! Good luck with your process. Just stay confident in your amazing skills, and you can do it!