Thinking About Quitting Or Asking For A Raise? Read This HR Advice First Before Making A Move

You've drafted a resignation letter in your head. You've complained about your paycheck more times than you can count. Maybe you've even searched "how to ask for a raise?" Before you actually make a move, human resources (HR) expert Crissy Rollan wants you to take a pause. 

Rollan spent over 20 years helping companies hire, build, and retain people—first with global giants like Ernst & Young and Boston Consulting Group and later with fast-growing Philippine startups like Growsari and GoTyme. These days, she runs her own boutique HR practice, as well as her own content platform Crissy Talks HR, where she speaks to employees, employers, and fellow HR professionals with a goal to offer advice that actually helps people make smarter, more honest decisions at work. 

SPOT.ph spoke to Rollan to ask some of the most common (and some of the trickiest) questions about work—from feeling stuck, to asking for a raise, to what HR people really look for when hiring.

We spend most of our waking hours at work, so it's no surprise that for many people, a job becomes more than a paycheck. What happens when that job no longer feels fulfilling?

Before jumping ship, Rollan encourages people to take a long, honest look inward. 

"The problem is people lean on their jobs for fulfillment, identity, and validation," she explains. "The problem with that is that if you don’t have that intrinsically, how can you expect others to give that to you? It's a merry-go-round because your manager is probably feeling the same way as you."

So if you're feeling stuck or lost at work, Rollan's advice is clear: don't let your work define you, and more importantly, don't expect your company to fill a void you haven't tried to address on your own.

It's a question that keeps people up at night, but Rollan warns against making the decision impulsively, especially when you’re still emotionally charged about the decision. People get too caught up in the fantasies of resigning that they forget about everything else. 

Resigning is not just about ending but also starting something else. That "something else" needs to be clear before you make a move: If I do resign, what happens next? That shift forces you to think about direction rather than escape. 

Rollan isn't big on checklists as a way of approaching big life decisions, but we can't deny that people love a good pros-and-cons list—just make sure it's transferable. What the HR expert means by that is identifying the things you want to change and making sure your next job actually addresses them. Otherwise, you're just job-hopping to a dead-end. 

"If you want to go through a checklist, the checklist needs to be transferable to the next place," she says. "You have to be very mindful that the other company ticks the box."

There are two questions every job-hopper should have the answer to:

If your issue is a lack of growth, identify which skills or experiences you're missing—and whether your next opportunity can realistically offer those. You need to be specific about it: Is it mentorship? Is it exposure to new skills? Leadership training? Once you know, use those criteria to vet future employers. 

If your issue is financial, Rollan has tips on how to ask for a raise in the next section.

Then there's culture. Too often, candidates focus on the prestige of the brand name but overlook the inner workings of a company. What's the leadership style? Is feedback encouraged or discouraged? Is there a high turnover rate? These questions matter just as much as pay or title—and they can't be answered by scrolling through a company's LinkedIn page. 

"As a person applying for a new job, it is your obligation to know these things. This is what we call due diligence," Rollan says.

Most people freeze at the thought of asking for a salary increase. Culturally, we're raised to either be too shy or too entitled, but Rollan reminds us there’s nothing to be ashamed about because work is, first and foremos,t a transaction. 

"The first thing I tell people is: it's okay to ask,” Rollan says, but you need to do it smartly. She wants employees to stop thinking of salary discussions as "utang na loob." Your compensation is part of a transactional agreement: you've delivered work and you're paid for it. "Okay lang to feel bad na mababa sweldo mo. What's not okay is complaining to your officemates but not doing anything about it."

So, how exactly do you do something about it? 

Rollan says the most important thing to remember is to time your ask. It goes without saying that asking for a raise when your company is financially struggling isn't the best move. Most companies follow annual or fiscal performance cycles when a salary review is built into the budget. Annual merit increases usually follow 2% to 5% for most companies, but if you're looking to exceed this figure, it's time to have that discussion. 

"Alamin mo 'yung timing. Because this is a transaction, you need to go in there prepared, with data," Rollan says.

Instead of begging or bragging, bring facts to the table. Start by listing your monthly expenses: rent, tuition, bills, groceries, then compare that to your current compensation. Rollan suggests laying this out in a simple spreadsheet or outline. It may feel unorthodox to bring personal expenses into a workplace discussion, but Rollan argues it's only right to normalize it. 

"Why do we work? To sustain a lifestyle. I think it's time we start accepting that work transcends your personal life."

From there, initiate a conversation: "Instead of asking, tell them: 'This is my situation. I'm coming to you with full transparency. I'm not asking you to increase me now, but help me draw out a path because I wouldn’t want to leave this organization over compensation.'"

This reframes the issue as a shared problem to solve.

"If your manager sees your value, they would be silly not to do anything about it. It's very fact-based. No one will debate that with you," Rollan says.

The safer (and more common) route is to highlight everything you've achieved. That is fine if your company has clear KPIs or solid metrics to back things up—at least there's something objective to point to—but what about the rest?

Rollan isn't entirely sold on this approach because there's a tendency that the whole process turns into a contest: who can make the best slides, who can frame their achievements in the most impressive way. "Usually the one with the biggest voice wins," as she puts it.

At that point, it's less about merit and more about who can sell themselves best... which kind of defeats the point.

Here's something no one tells you: job descriptions are written for an ideal candidate—and that candidate often doesn't exist. Yet too many people self-reject when they don't meet 100% of the listed qualifications. 

Think of it like this: HR's goal is to hire people. They'd rather have options than end up with nothing. So instead of panicking about a missing certification in the job posting, ask yourself: Do I understand what this job is trying to accomplish? Once that's figured out, the key is to adjust your resume—not to fake your experience, but to highlight the parts of your background that align with the role. Your goal is to signal that you "get" what the job is about, even if your path to it has been unconventional.

"Never be discouraged. When you see a job posting so prescriptive that you're not meeting 100% of the job post, my advice is to still apply," Rollan says. 

In fact, she says technical qualifications aren’t even what hiring managers are focused on. In the first round of interviews, what they're really assessing is your mindset and soft skills. They want to know if you're adaptable ("Are you willing to unlearn your old ways so you can learn new things?") and if you’re humble ("When was the last time you took accountability for your mistakes?"). 

In other words: good is often good enough as long as you show potential, humility, and a willingness to grow.

Salary expectations are one of the trickiest parts of the hiring process. Ask for too much and you might price yourself out. Ask for too little and you might be stuck with a number that doesn't reflect your value—or worse, your needs. And then there's that dreaded question from HR: "What's your expected salary?"

Most people head straight to Google to ask, "How much of a raise should I ask for when switching jobs?" You'll probably find the answer somewhere between the usual 15 to 30% range, but Rollan says that's not the best way to figure out what you're actually worth. 

If you're applying with high hopes of increasing your salary, be upfront about that. Say, "What's clear to me is I want to grow financially," then show them why you're worth it. Bring up performance reviews, results, anything that helps them understand what you bring to the table. That's a stronger starting point than something you read on Google. 

Some people try to avoid giving a number altogether by flipping the question to the recruiters—"what's your budget for the role?"—but Rollan says that approach can stall the conversation. Instead, her advice is suspiciously straightforward: transparency on both sides. If you're uncomfortable sharing your exact salary due to confidentiality, she suggests offering a range, which gives recruiters something to work with. If you're a strong candidate who falls slightly outside of the budget, that range gives them room to advocate for you. 

This is, of course, the ideal scenario. At the end of the day, yes—there's always that fear of being lowballed, just like employers are afraid of overpaying—but that’s all part of the negotiation process. 

"It all boils down to this: how much do you want this job? And how much does the company want to work with you?"