How To Ask For A Raise

Traditionally men have been more assertive in asking for additional compensation while women have tended to wait for their bosses to acknowledge their hard work by offering raises.

CBS News This Morning Correspondent Thalia Assuras got some helpful tips on maximizing one's wages from Bernadette Grey, editor in chief of Working Woman magazine.

"Women, on the other hand are taught: You quietly get noticed," Grey continues. "[Women] don't go out and seek it."

"The first thing you should do is you should do research. You should be prepared and have some benchmarks done," Grey says.

"We have a salary survey where we give average salaries for hundreds of careers. Depending on the city you live in, you should talk to people in your industry. Talk to headhunters; they know what the going rate is for someone in your position," she adds.

Women should talk to other employees in their position to put their own salary in perspective, Grey says. Trade publications and the Internet are wonderful resources, but determining the salary of a man in an equivalent position is also essential, she adds.

Most importantly, however, is timing, she insists. "You shouldn't be surprising your boss. All along the way, you should be expressing an interest in a promotion, more responsibility. You should be tooting your own horn," Grey explains.

"When you go in, your boss knows what is going to happen at that meeting, and you know exactly what it is you're going to ask for," she says.

"A really good time to go in is after you have masterminded a project, after you have done something where everybody is saying, Â'fabulous,Â'" she continues. "A point when you're feeling indispensable and they know you're pretty darn indispensible - I think that's a good time to go in. I think a bad time to go in is after you have another job offer."

She describes scenario of women who have been unhappy with their jobs but have never asked for anything: "They go, they get another job offer, then they go to their boss and their boss is totally caught off guard because there hasn't been communication."

Unemployment is currently less than 5 percent, which is as low as it has ever been. "In this economy,Â…employers are really desperate to keep you," Grey says. "There is no reason to stay in a dead-end job. If it's that bad and you're not getting the money that you feel you need, you're resenting it, you move on."

"You should be a good negotiator. I think that you should know exactly...[what] you're expecting. Say you're looking for a 10 percent increase, go in and ask for 15 percent. Then if you negtiate down, you feel good; your boss feels good," Grey explains.

"If they are not able to give you that money, ask for a bonus, ask for a cell phone, ask for a car, something else," she says.

Corporations that can't offer major pay raises might be able to offer other incentives. Benefits such as signing bonuses and stock options may be just as profitable.