Need advice about asking for a raise

Gee, I wonder where the OP went…

Based on your post, over 4 years you have seen your salary increase 10.67% - with most of the increase occurring in the first year - letting you have all of that money up front. If I do a quick 4 year check of inflation, it has gone up 8.35% (I had to use 2006 - 2010 data instead of your 2007 - 2011 benchmarks).

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl

So you are beating inflation during high unemployment. I would not complain.

That said, there is nothing wrong with asking for more money during a review. Be prepared with the following thoughts:

  1. Are you doing great things? Can you show them? Have you improved collections, timing of payments, bad charges, etc? Are you making more money for him?

  2. What is the market like for your job. Can you tell him that there are openings for your position that pay more? Can you show that you are being paid below market?

  3. Have your responsibilities changed? Are you doing more than you did before?