I was fed up several years ago and genuinely entertained the idea of leaving my current company. My comp ratio was below the median for my pay grade and I was doing the work responsibilities of one or two grades up.

One of my coworkers took a job at another company. I interviewed at the same company two months later and got an only ok offer. Salary was better, but retirement and benefits were trash.

I declined the offer and I never said anything to my manager. My former coworker, however, got in touch with my manager and informed him that I had been shopping around. All of a sudden a nice unsolicited raise came through followed by a promotion 6 months later now that my "comp ratio was in line" with the promotion.

I was ready to leave and I never made a threat. I ended up with a 21% increase in a 13 month time frame due to it leaking out that I had interviewed. Not sure how reliable that strategy is and I'm drawing some conclusions on my own, but do with it what you will.