Monday, January 26, 2009

Re-negotiate salary of your current job

By Trevor Davide Grant

A newsletter subscriber inquired whether or not it was possible to negotiate salary at a job your are already working at. After some investigating the local job market, they realized that they were quite underpaid and wanted to level set with their coworkers. Someone had advised them to quit their job and try to negotiate a higher salary elsewhere.

Salary negotiation is not just reserved for new recruits. Anyone can negotiate their salary by asking for a raise. They must be well prepared with a deliberately planned strategy and a well developed supporting case to persuade the employer.

Of course, if you just accepted a job offer, it is not a good time to ask for more money, but once you have some time and accomplishments behind you, you should look to salary negotiation. If you just accepted the offer, you did so fair and square. That is why it is important to know your value before accepting any job offer.

Not only is a salary an important factor of the compensation package, one can also look at factors like improved benefits, more time off, stock options or stock purchase plan. You may look to other creative compensation strategies to entice your employer to bolster your income.

Prior to asking for a pay increase you should do make sure to take a number of steps.

1) Research and have confidence in your value in the job market. Make sure you have multiple sources for this information. Many salary sites are based on anonymous reports by unqualified individuals. Surveys conducted by market research firms are far more reliable when they go to the HR sources in the region.

2) Know your value in terms of the contribution you add to the business. Also be aware of value adds you do in terms of saving company costs, delivering projects on time, and delivering quality in your work.

3) You will need to discuss with the boss that you know the salary range for the current market. Be prepared with facts, and also prepared to approach this conversation with tactfulness.

4) Having done your research and having an intuition for where your performance falls within the percentile range, you will need to have a conversation with your boss and agree on the level you are performing at.

There are so many facets to salary negotiation. You should be prepared to do your research and know your facts. I highly recommend learning more about the art of salary negotiating and turn your career into high gear.

I highly recommend negotiating salary in your current job before considering leaving your job and trying to earn more money. This is particularly relevant if you are happy with your job aside from the salary.

Either way one strategy that helps in negotiation is to have another job offer in hand. With that in your back pocket you will have more leverage with you salary negotiation. - 20896

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