As we round out 2023, I was planning to write about acing your annual review, but a quick survey showed there is seemingly NO consensus on when these reviews actually happen anymore.

So, we had a team meeting… if end-of-year reviews are all over the place, what is THE most helpful thing we can give you NOW?

The team voted for a Best-Of post. The BEST resources we’ve ever created, all in one place. 🙌

If you’re doing end of year reviews now, here’s your guide. If you’re doing end of year reviews later, skim his now and then SAVE IT to make that process as easy as possible when it happens.

So… drumroll please…🥁

Here they are – the best of 10 years of research and 3 years of writing – all in one place for you.

1. Figure out what you want to ask for – and ask for more than just one thing!

When you ask for only one thing, you position yourself to walk away with potentially nothing. However, if you ask for multiple things – say, 3 – then if your boss can’t approve one of those, they are more likely to give you SOMETHING.

Don’t know what to ask for? Check out our list of 75 things we’ve seen women successfully negotiate.

2. Understand what your ask is REALLY worth.

Oftentimes I encounter women who don’t want to deal with the hassle of negotiating to get their salary up 2%.

However, what our brains tend to miss is the value of that 2% over our career, which is why we built this calculator to highlight the true financial benefits.

For example, a 30-year-old woman who is able to negotiate an additional 2% raise just made an extra $94,913.92 over the course of her career. That’s an extra $100K from a few conversations.

If you are a high earner (defined as 250K/year) that 2% raise will allow you to bank an extra $316,379.72 before you turn 65. 💸

Go ahead and play around with the calculator – it’s a fun way to see how much a seemingly small change can benefit you over time.

Not sure how much to ask for? Check out our Ultimate Guide to Benchmarking Your Salary.

3. Leverage research to ask in the most effective way.

New research by Laura Kray shows women are now negotiating at the same rate as men (yay!) but are only successful half as often (boo!).

Luckily, there’s a solution.

We call it Worthmore’s Relational Ask Equation™ (aka: The “WRAE”): Past Performance + Future Vision + Ask + Stop Talking.

You can read more on how to use it here and the exact words to use when negotiating here. After you make your ask, then engage in a collaborative discussion to further improve your chance of success and minimize the risk.

4. Give yourself the support you need.

We’ve taken 10 years (and consumed over 13,000 pages of research) to know exactly how to negotiate specifically as a woman and turned it into a step-by-step process. Now you can walk through that process in less than an hour, whenever YOU need it – check out our online courses on negotiating a job offer and negotiating with your current employer.

5. REWARD yourself!

We are more likely to be successful when we can walk into these conversations without a sense of dread.

And how are we supposed to do that?!

By planning a reward for yourself that you will get simply for having the courage to have the conversation.

Need an idea? Check out our list of 101 rewards! 😊