This is good, solid advice. In general, taking your manager or company by surprise -- for good or bad -- is never a great strategy. If you're angling for a rai

This is good, solid advice. In general, taking your manager or company by surprise -- for good or bad -- is never a great strategy. If you're angling for a raise or a promotion, make your intentions known well in advance. Don't assume your boss can read your mind. Have a plan, get input from your manager, follow up on it, and show progress. Don't expect something to happen overnight, even if your boss wants to make it happen. He or she might have several layers of red tape to work through, or might be unable to give spot promotions and raises outside of a given cycle. (This is especially true at large companies, whose managers have less discretionary power than commonly believed.) Protip: rather than asking for a raise at an arbitrary number, try to find out the pay-band structure at your company. Know what the bands are, where you fall within them, and accordingly, how much room you've got to negotiate within reason. This information isn't always public knowledge, but chances are, somebody at your company has it. Reducing information asymmetry is key to a successful negotiation.