/raise-case

---
name: raise-case
description: >-
  Build an evidence-based case for a raise, promotion or new role: collect
  the user's measurable results, turn them into money or time saved, find
  a defensible market range from named sources, and write a one-page case
  plus the exact words for the conversation, including answers to the
  three most likely objections. Use this skill whenever the user mentions
  asking for a raise, salary review, promotion, performance review,
  "am I underpaid", "how much should I ask for", "my boss said no budget",
  counter-offer, or negotiating a job offer. Do NOT use to write fake
  achievements, to invent salary data, for legal disputes with an employer,
  or to negotiate on behalf of someone else without them.
---

# Raise case

Most people ask for a raise by describing how hard they work. Managers
cannot take "I work hard" to their budget holder. They can take "she cut
the month-end close from eight days to five, which saved the team 40 hours
a month". A raise is approved by someone who has never met the user, so the
case must survive being forwarded without them in the room.

People in finance are good at building cases for everyone except
themselves. This skill does the same job they do for a capital request:
results in numbers, a benchmark from a named source, a clear ask, and
answers ready for the pushback.

## Workflow

### 1. Collect the facts

Ask in one round, numbered:

1. Current role, salary (gross, per year) and when it last changed.
2. What do you want: a raise, a title, a new role, or a mix? Your number,
   if you have one.
3. Your top three to five results since the last review. Anything with a
   number: time saved, errors cut, money found, revenue supported, people
   trained, projects delivered.
4. What changed in your job since you were hired (more scope, people,
   systems, clients)?
5. Who decides, and when are budgets set?
6. Any outside offer or market data you already have?

If the user cannot name results with numbers, help them find them: "How
long did that process take before you changed it? How many people use the
file you built? How often did that error happen?"

### 2. Turn results into value

For each result, write one line: action, number, and value to the
business.

```
Rebuilt the cash forecast in Excel → forecast error down from ±15% to ±5%
→ treasury cut the overdraft buffer by €200k.
```

Rules:
- Use the user's numbers only. If a value is estimated, say "about" and
  show how it was estimated, so the user can defend it.
- Prefer money, then time, then risk avoided, then quality.
- Separate what the user did from what the team did. Overclaiming a team
  result is the fastest way to lose the manager's trust.

### 3. Find the market range

Search for salary data for the role, seniority, city or country and sector.
Use named sources only: salary surveys from recruiters, government
statistics, official pay scales, job adverts with stated ranges. Report
each with its date and what it covers. Give a range, never a single
"market rate". If search is unavailable, say so and tell the user where to
look; do not produce numbers from memory.

### 4. Set the ask

- **Anchor**: the top of the defensible range, given the results.
- **Target**: what the user would happily accept.
- **Floor**: below this, the user asks for something else (title, date
  for the next review, training budget, a day of remote work).

Say which of these the user should say out loud (usually the anchor) and
which stay private.

### 5. Write the case and the script

```
## Case for [role/raise], [name], [date]

**The ask:** [new salary or role, from when]

**Results since [date]**
1. [action → number → value]
2. ...

**Scope today vs when hired:** [2-3 lines]

**Market:** [range, sources with dates]

**Why now:** [budget cycle, new responsibilities, retention]
```

Then the conversation script:

- **Opening line** (one sentence, says the ask early).
- **Proof** (the two strongest results, in spoken words).
- **The ask again** (the number, then silence).
- **Three objections with answers**, chosen for this case. Common ones:
  "There's no budget" → ask what would need to be true, and when, and get
  a date in writing. "You're already at the top of the band" → ask about
  the next band and what it requires. "Let's wait for the annual review" →
  ask for the decision criteria now, so the review is a formality.

## Judgment rules

**Facts or nothing.** Never write an achievement the user did not give you,
and never inflate a number. A manager who catches one exaggeration discounts
the whole case.

**Calm, not threatening.** Mention an outside offer only if it is real and
the user would take it. A bluff that gets called ends the negotiation.

**The document must travel.** Write the one-page case so the manager can
forward it to their own boss unchanged.

**Plan the no.** Every script ends with what the user asks for if the answer
is no today: a written plan, a date, and the criteria.

## Example

User: "I want a raise. I do a lot of reporting."

After the interview: "Automated the weekly sales report: 6 hours a week
down to 1, for a team of 4 who use it, about 260 hours a year." "Found
€38k of duplicate supplier payments in the Q2 review, €31k recovered."
The ask moves from "I do a lot" to "I'm asking for €52k, from €46k, the
upper part of the €47-54k range in the 2026 [named recruiter] survey for
this role in Lisbon, based on these two results." The manager now has
something to take upstairs.