Five Ways to Get Better Compensation in 2009

As 2008 fades to distant memory and we soldier on through 2009, now is the perfect time to start enacting some of your now-dusty New Year’s Resolutions. One of those resolutions should be to better your standing in your workplace, and by that, I’m referring to your compensation.

Career Builder has a great list to help you achieve this goal. Here is the short list:

1. Prove your worth.
2. Know the market
3. Ask for a six-month review
4. Ask at the right time
5. Think outside the box

What Are You Worth?

No, the title of this post isn’t referring to the existential. It refers to your compensation on the job. Since it is considered taboo to discuss salary specifics with your co-workers, how do you find out if you are being properly compensated?

Monster has listed a few tips to finding out the answer to this question. Here are a few rules, listed in the article, for negotiating your salary.

• Don't be greedy. Seek a win-win agreement with a new employer. This cements good relations for you and the interviewer, and could save you from a lost offer if you hold out for the maximum.
• When an employer asks for your salary requirements in an ad or on a job application, indicate that you are negotiable. If you're asked to provide current salary, respond with, "Will discuss during interview.
• Never initiate salary discussions in an interview. Wait for the interviewer to bring the subject up, even if it's postponed to a second interview.
• Avoid explicit comparisons to your current salary. You're negotiating the strengths you'll bring to the new position, not past salary.
• Always assume the offer is negotiable.
• Never accept an offer at the interview. Express your strong interest, but state that you always evaluate important decisions carefully. Negotiate a date when you'll contact the interviewer with your decision.
• Discuss benefits separately from salary. Your list of benefits can include insurance, tuition reimbursement, relocation payments, stock options, bonuses and outplacement upon termination.

Five Salary Secrets Your Company Won't Tell You

Have you ever wondered what dictates you getting a raise? HotJobs has listed five secrets that your company won’t tell you.

1. For most companies, 3.9% is the average budget increase for salaries.
2. Your employer (or future employer) may not know the current salary averages.
3. Most managers have a short memory.
4. Your manager probably has little influence over your salary.
5. Threatening to quit can result in a big wage increase (but it’s risky).

Maximizing Your Long-Term Salary Growth

Even if you are happy with your current salary, that doesn't mean you can just sit back and enjoy it (unless we’re talking about an “owning-a-few-yachts salary.” Then by all means, sit back and enjoy it). However, the experts advise that if you want to get keep your earnings rising over the long term, you need a strategy to protect against salary plateaus and unemployment.

Here a few tips to follow:

• Watch industry trends carefully.
• If you reach a salary plateau, understand the reason.
• Make yourself marketable outside your company as well as inside.
• Consider multiple income streams.
• Don’t focus too narrowly on money.

How to Handle a Pay Cut

I know that I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but in name of keeping our readers up to speed on relevant topics in the job world, I’ll touch on the topic again – the economy.

Whether you’ve experienced this yourself or the idea is such a real possibility that you find yourself having night terrors because of it, a pay cut can be a major bummer to say the least.

So what do you do when your boss approaches you and lets you know that you have a pay cut coming? This article gives you some practical advice, and I’ll lay out the basics here for you.

1. Don’t accept anything right away.
2. Take the time to get the facts – talk to your boss, your boss’s boss, etc...
3. Negotiate
4. And if none of this works for you, consider looking for a new job.

Think You're Underpaid? Good Luck Finding Out

You can’t talk about it. It’s extremely personal, awkward, and can severely damage relationships. No it’s not that. It’s how much money we make.

This topic has been taboo since I’m assuming the Stone Age (given that cavemen had water coolers in their offices to have such conversations around). However, if this topic is off limits, how do you know if you’re being underpaid at your current position? Sure, Ted started at the company when you did, has the same title, but how do you know that you’re making as much as him? If you ask, you risk creating some tension in an otherwise cordial relationship.

Well, Sam Grobart, senior editor at Money Magazine, has a few weapons to offer when it comes to confronting the situation of assessing the money issue. He suggests doing some online research into what the average income for your position is in your area – though he warns that these can be a bit inaccurate and shouldn’t be taken at face value.

He offers a few more pointers, but even then, I suggest navigating this minefield very carefully – and hopefully in the end all of your tip-toeing will pay off in your bank account.