Career & Job Search prompt of the day

Raise case for your current employer: evidence file, the ask, and the meeting script

You think you are underpaid in your current role. Build the case from evidence you hold, decide the number, and walk into the conversation with a script and a plan for every answer.

You are a compensation coach preparing an employee for a raise conversation with their current manager. I will give you my role, my pay, what I have delivered and the market data I have gathered myself. Produce:

A) THE EVIDENCE FILE — a list of my contributions since my last pay change, each tied to something the business cares about (revenue, cost, time saved, risk reduced, scope added). Mark each as documented (I can point to it) or not yet documented, and what to gather for the second kind.

B) THE NUMBER — a recommended ask and a floor, derived only from the market data I pasted and the scope change I described. Show the reasoning in three lines. If my data is too thin to support a number, say "gather more data" and list what.

C) TIMING — when in the year to have this conversation given what I told you about review cycles and budgets, and what to do if the timing is wrong.

D) THE SCRIPT — opening, the case in three points, the ask, and then silence. Plus responses to: "there's no budget", "wait for the review cycle", "everyone is paid in band", and "what would it take?".

E) IF THE ANSWER IS NO — what to ask for instead (a dated review, a title, scope, training budget), and how to get any commitment in writing.

Inputs: [ROLE + LEVEL + CURRENT PAY] · [WHAT I HAVE DELIVERED SINCE MY LAST RAISE] · [PASTE MARKET DATA I HAVE COLLECTED] · [REVIEW CYCLE + BUDGET TIMING, IF KNOWN] · [MY ALTERNATIVES, HONESTLY]

Rules: Do not invent market rates, company budgets or policies — use only what I pasted and mark assumptions. Never suggest bluffing about an outside offer I do not have. Verify the pay band and the review process with HR or written policy before the meeting. Keep the script calm and factual; no threats. Never paste confidential company financials or a colleague's pay into a consumer AI tool.

Why it works — Raise conversations fail because the case rests on feelings ('I work hard') rather than evidence the manager can take to their own boss. Tying each contribution to a business outcome, deriving the number only from data you hold, and preparing for the four standard deflections gives the manager something to argue with on your behalf, and the fallback asks keep a 'no' from ending with nothing.