If your company has pay ranges

The U.S. continues to add jobs, even if at a snail's pace, and pay raises are slowly becoming more common.
Saving more is a regular strategy for pumping up retirement accounts. As the economy improves, you should also look for ways to boost your pay.
Aon Hewitt, human resource consultant and outsourcer, projects U.S. pay hikes will average 2.9% this year.
In 2009, 48% of firms froze workers' pay. By last year that was down to 5%. Aon Hewitt expects that to drop again this year.
"Pay raises are no longer extremely rare," said John Challenger, CEO of outplacement consulting firm Challenger Gray. "But the old, routine 4% annual increase is not back yet either. If you want a pay raise, you've got to go after it."

Your odds of success increase if you follow some moves.
• Do your homework. You greatly boost the odds of landing a raise by backing your request with facts and figures.
Find out how much you're worth to your company.
For information about national average pay grades, check out the Bureau of Labor Statistics' data at bls.gov. Go to its occupational employment statistics page.
You'll find links to tables that group data by regions and metro areas. You can also do searches at sites such as salary.com, erieri.com and payscale.com.
• Be precise. That means assessing how much someone with your years of experience as well as your skills and credentials is worth to your employer and in your specific location.
"Salaries for the same job vary from state to state, city to city," said Stacey Carroll, director of professional services for payscale.com. "If you're not specific, you can lose the debate before you even start."
• Put things into context. If your company has pay ranges, include those in your presentation.
If you want to be paid more than your company's norm, explain why that would be justified.
• Forget the sob story. "Never base your request on how you need the money and can't afford not to have it," Challenger said. "Always put your request in terms of how you have earned a raise."
This makes the discussion a business decision — which is what it boils down to for your employer.
Explaining how you've earned a raise is also a way of pointing out what you can do for the business.
"Focus on the metrics that are important to your business," Carroll said.