This won’t work for everyone. However, it’s worked for me and allowed me to increase my salary twice this year.
The idea was given to me unintentionally by my manager in February. He had been interviewing multiple applicants to fill a role within my team. He would excitedly announce to me after an interview that he’d found a great candidate and was going to offer them the job. When I enquired later about when this new team member was starting he informed me:
“He’s not going to be starting. There’s a shortage of workers at the moment, everyone is struggling to hire and retain staff. He had no intention of working here. He applied and interviewed so that when he got offered the job he could blackmail his current employer with the offer for a payrise. He’s not the first to do it, this has happened me a few times now.”
Well that sent sparks flying in my head. That evening I went job hunting online, applied to our competitors , past the interview got the job offer at 5k more than what I was currently on. I printed out the offer, walked into his office and told him to match it. He said no, I handed him my months notice and a month later I was earning an extra 5k in a better place.
Time has passed and I figured I’d try this again. I recently applied for another job, same role but different company again. Done the interview, got the offer 7k more than I’m on now. Walked into the office with it printed and said match it or I walk. And got told we’ll match it on the condition you don’t mention this to your co-workers. (I have).
I’ve managed to increase my salary by 12k since February by doing this. I’ll try it again in another few months.
The way I’m viewing it is that you’re loyalty should be to yourself. Not a company.