As a manager, I would find the idea that an employee was coming in to "negotiate" their annual raise quite humorous. It's not a negotiation, it's a monologue: this is what you're getting because this is what was approved by HR and budgeted by management. The die is already cast.
Are you changing positions in the company and taking on more responsibility? Then maybe we have something to negotiate.
Are you a superstar and you're considering external offers? Then maybe we have something to negotiate.
But I would appreciate the laugh from someone with <2 years experience trying to talk me up from 3% to 4%.
My first raise in one of my jobs was 12%. Because obviously I was performing.
When I worked for a large-ish engineering company (that job), I managed a couple of people. We had a few engineers that we'd hired right out of school (sometimes they interned first). And yes, 3-5% raise was pretty standard.
Why was it standard? Well, this is why - each department gets a "pool" of raise money. It's predetermined by corporate for everyone. So, say it's 4%, which is typical. Within our 6 person group, you'd have to rob Peter to pay Paul - so to speak. Well, that worked great when we had a low performer in the group - after the 12% raise (essentially a promotion), I regularly got 5%+.
But then he left.
So, here I am with a junior engineer working for me. He started at a low-ish salary. Then, his first review, he'd only been with us 9 months, so he got 3%. The next review, 1 year later.
So, yes, he's got less than 2 years experience. But he's head and shoulders over where he started in experience. AND I happen to know that market rate in our industry, for 2-5 years experience was at least 20% more than he was making.
And that's a problem with many companies - they start you off low - but industry salary ranges jump pretty fast from the 2-5 year mark. When my boss (who held the purse strings), told me "4%" for my guy, I fought it. I said "well, you know that the going rate at 2 years is about $XX. At 4% a year, it will take at least 4 years to get to that point. How do we get him there faster?"
He said "good point, I don't really know". Now, this boss was, and still is, a cheap-ass. Like it's his goal in life to get people for the least amount of $$ possible. In the end I could do nothing. He didn't push up the chain.
2 months later he got a job somewhere else. Finally I get the guy trained to be nearly independent in his work, and poof. He got a 35% raise to make the switch.
In any event, when I've counseled other young engineers on how to negotiate better pay at review time, it's been like this:
Discuss the work you are doing and your title.
Discuss the work that is needed to get the promotion to the next level. In our case, we had Engineer 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Ask your boss "What other things do I need to do to get that promotion?"
Come to the meeting with salary ranges and charts, if necessary.
Sometimes it works. It got my spouse a bigger first raise. It got another coworker a big promotion and raise.
Sometimes it doesn't work. Sometimes there's no money. Sometimes, you aren't that good. I mean, you are always being compared to other people. I've worked with young engineers who have done all that and taken on more responsibility but...there was always somebody better. The better person gets the $$ when there's a limited pot.