The money you get is what you negotiate with your employer. The wise say that you are not paid your worth; you are paid what you can negotiate. The statement pinpoints the power of knowledge while you negotiate your salary. If you are not well informed of your market worth, you will be underpaid.
Salaries differ glaringly drastic from employer to employer. It is not unusual to find that two people with similar backgrounds and skill sets virtually doing the same work getting different salaries from the same employer or two different employers.
The question is how one can be protected from being exploited? The answer is crystal clear: Know your worth before negotiating your salary and learn how to sell yourself. This needs a bit of research. The idea is to determine the salary range commonly paid by employers to those with the same background, experience and skill set as yours. After identifying the salary range, you can determine yourself where you fit in the range based on your credentials.
You may be wondering how to get the salary information. Unlike in the past, the information is freely available. Here are some sources you can tap and with the information you should be able to negotiate a better salary deal.
Internet: Many Web sites have salary information on current compensation statistics. Salary wizard is a good source.
Books: Contact your local library and book stores where you can find many books listing salaries industry-wise, occupation-wise, employer-wise and region-wise. A good source is the Occupational Outlook Handbook published by the Federal Government.
Recruiters: Yellow Pages and Internet give names recruiters who place people in your industry. Contact them for assistance in determining your value. Recruiters usually maintain database of potential candidates.
Networking: You can sound colleagues in your field and industry on salary levels suitable for a person of your credentials.
Job Listings: Take a look at national and local job listings. Employers normally mention salaries as well.
Personal Surveys: You can call companies that hire people to work in positions similar to yours. You can even seek the advice of HR people as to how to determine your value.
Professional Associations: Check your local library for the names of professional associations of your career field and seek information and advice.
State Employment Services: You can get the needed information from the local state employment service office.
Past Employer: If you haven't burnt your bridges with your past employer, he may be of some help.
