How to Increase Your Salary

We all want to increase our salaries, but the advice on how to increase your salary differs from job to job.

The inflation rate is increasing while the average salary is not keeping up. It’s no wonder that you might be feeling some level of financial strain. 

If you are one of many employees who feel your wage isn’t keeping up with the cost of goods and services, you’re not alone. Bankrate did a study that showed more than 55% of Americans feel this way. If you’re feeling strapped for cash, read on to learn eight ways to increase your salary.

Reevaluate Your Career Path

According to a joint study by the Lumina Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Omidyar Network, and Gallup, over 50% of Americans reported being unhappy at their jobs.

If you’re part of the many who feel unsatisfied with your current job in any capacity, it might be worth reevaluating your career path. 

This evaluation will look different for each person. Some things you might consider include:

• Discussing your compensation with your boss to secure a salary increase
• Evaluating various job titles in your field and their related compensation to assess your earning potential in the field
• Assessing the average pay, job perks, and cost of living in different regions
• A job change into a different field with higher earning potential

Ask for a Raise

Discussing money has often been labeled as taboo, so it can feel very stressful, nerve-wracking, and sometimes awkward to ask for a raise. In fact, a study done by Payscale found that only 37% of respondents have ever asked their current boss for a raise.

With that said, if you feel as though you’re not getting compensated properly for your time and your value, it might be time to ask for a raise. When you do ask, it’s important to come prepared with data and evidence to back up your ask.

When preparing to make your ask, ensure that you gather the following information:

• Information that shows how you’ve gone above and beyond in your role (i.e., did you support other team members beyond the scope of your job description?)
• Praise you’ve received since your last performance review.
• Metrics that highlight your achievements and articulate your value as an employee. (i.e., what kind of results did the project you led generate? Did you increase sales, decrease expenses, or anything else along those lines?)
• Consider the future value you bring to the team/company (i.e., are you planning to grow with the company?)

For a full list of details and tips on asking for a raise, check out this article!

Keep Track of Your Work Accomplishments

When it comes to salary negotiations, you’ll want to have accomplishments on hand to articulate your value. 

Accomplishments can be used in your favor. Your accomplishments highlight the value you offer as a candidate and prove your worth when you’re in negotiations.

It can be very difficult to remember accomplishments or specific metrics from previous roles, so do your best to keep track of accomplishments. Consider keeping a running list of notes about your current role, accomplishments, and pertinent metrics. This way, you can easily refer back to these when seeking a salary adjustment.

How to Keep Track of Your Work Accomplishments: 

It can be challenging to keep track of your accomplishments and to actually celebrate success as it comes. Consider using some of the following tactics to note accomplishments while maintaining easy access to them for future reference.

• Create a folder in your email where you can store praise from clients, peers, and authority figures. This can be extremely helpful during performance reviews, salary negotiations, and resume writing.
• Conduct quarterly self-evaluations to see what achievements you’ve made in recent months. It’s much easier to remember metrics and achievements when they’re pretty fresh in your brain! 
• Keep a journal to note important things such as how many team members you managed on a specific project, budgets you manage or work with, notable clients you communicate with, or related information.
• Compile any certificates, awards, or recognition for any specialized training you complete at work. If you’ve taken training courses, this information will be useful to note when working to increase your salary.

Shadow Your Coworkers

Shadowing coworkers is a great way to highlight ambition and drive within a work environment.

Shadowing coworkers is also a great way to learn more transferrable skills and gain access to information across functional departments. If you’re trying to gain insight about similar roles within your current company but in a different area of focus, shadowing your coworkers is a great way to further your insight.

Additionally, this might provide insight into how other employees negotiate, the benefits or perks they receive, and what benefits you might be able to ask for when it comes to your next salary negotiation.

How to Ask a Coworker for a Shadowing Opportunity 

More often than not, your peers will want to see you succeed. In fact, they’ll be happy to help you achieve success if you ask for help. Additionally, as humans, it’s nice to hear that people see value in what you do and what you offer. When asking someone for a shadowing opportunity, start off by acknowledging that you would like to learn from them. When reaching out for a shadowing opportunity, consider sending an email along these lines:

Hi [Name]:
My name is [Name], and I’m reaching out from [X] department. I’ve always been interested in [scope of work], and am considering making the transition into your area of focus. I noticed your success with [insert successful project] and was wondering if I might be able to shadow you. If possible, I’d love to shadow you on [insert project] or observe your team meeting to learn more about the team dynamics, department functions, and related information. 
If you’re not interested in taking on an observer, would you be able to point me in the direction of someone else I might shadow? 
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to your response!
Best,
[Name]

Teach Yourself New Skills Outside of Work

Teaching yourself new skills outside of work is an excellent way to help increase your salary. This can benefit you if you are asking for a salary adjustment or pay wage in your current job, or when you apply for similar jobs in your field.

When determining which skills to teach yourself, consider the labor market and what skills are most desirable. For example, if you’re in tech, you might consider learning how to code or how to use a commonly utilized software to bolster your resume and increase your earning potential. There are many valuable resources where you can learn a multitude of new skills to add to your repertoire. LinkedIn and Skillshare are great places to start!

High-Income Skills to Consider Learning 

High-income skills include any skills that make job candidates appear more attractive to hiring managers and recruiters. They also, unsurprisingly, contribute to higher earning potential. These skills are largely related to your line of work and will differ based on industry. However, high-income skills all have one thing in common: You can take it upon yourself to learn these skills online!

Here are 12 high-income skills anyone can learn on the internet:

1. Software Engineering
2. Audio and Video Production
3. Video and Audio Editing
4. Digital Marketing 
5. Leadership
6. Copywriting
7. Project Management
8. Google Analytics
9. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
10. Organization and Administrative Support
11. Sales
12. Trade Skills (Electrical work, construction project management principles, etc.)

Increase Your Responsibilities 

Depending on if you’re hourly or salaried, taking on extra work might increase your pay, or it might actually decrease your hourly pay rate.

With this information in mind, when it comes to end-of-year or quarterly bonuses, taking on extra work might lead to a reward.

Additionally, if you’re aiming for a promotion that has a higher average salary, taking on additional responsibilities in your current job could help show your worth and highlight your readiness for the promotion.

How to Increase Your Responsibilities:

You may consider increasing your responsibilities to move up in your career or to gain a salary bump, but you should NOT be taking unpaid work or doing someone else’s job. Doing so only increases inequity at the office and decreases your total compensation. 

Here’s a list of how to increase your responsibilities:

• Pay attention to your surroundings to see if anyone is spread particularly thin. If you see someone struggling at work, reach out to see if they need assistance.
• Even if you don’t see someone struggling, reach out to your coworkers. If you’re interested in increasing your responsibilities, consider reaching out to coworkers to see if they need help. They may be happy to lighten their load, but you’ll never know unless you ask. 
• Ask your boss for additional projects or hours to take on. Your boss likely has work they would be happy to pass off to you. They might also be interested in reallocating resources based on areas of expertise.

Look For a New Job In Your Field

Looking for a new job in your field is often the quickest way to get a pay increase. According to research done by the University of Pennsylvania, external hires earn 18% to 20% more than internal promotions.

While companies want to increase employee retention, most internal employees have a lower starting salary than an external new hire. Because of this, many internal employees are paid less than new employees hired. This leads employees to look for similar jobs outside of their current company to obtain the pay increase they’re looking for.

Be sure to research online platforms, including Glassdoor and The Salary Project, to see what other people are making in your field, experience level, and location.

How to Look For a Job in a New Field 

A study conducted by Harris Poll found that 52% of U.S. workers were considering a job change in 2021. When considering a job in a new field, it’s important to evaluate your transferable skills and how those could add value to the field you’re looking to break into.

Assess your strengths and weaknesses, and look at prospective job postings to see how those skills are integrated into the job description. This will help you integrate those skills into your resume and help highlight how your skills will transfer into a new field.

Another great way to integrate keywords from a new field into your resume is to take a course or tutorial, then add that information to your resume. For example, if you’re interested in breaking into HR, you might take an HR fundamentals course, then add it to your document to highlight industry knowledge.

Increase Your Education

As stated above, learning a new skill could largely increase your earning potential. A great way to do this is to obtain certifications and specialized training within your industry.

While learning a new skill is always beneficial, obtaining specialized degrees or certifications can put added weight behind your name. Certifications that are widely recognized can immediately help to increase your salary and help you gain recognition in your field. 

How to Increase Your Education 

A great way to increase your education is through online courses. Platforms such as LinkedIn Learning have a wide array of courses that can teach you various hard and soft skills at a very reasonable price. You can opt for a free 30-day trial, but many organizations, schools, and companies have enterprise accounts that you can access.

Consider reaching out to higher-ups to inquire about access through your school or company. When using the platform, you can search for hard skills such as “digital marketing,” “copywriting,” or “search engine optimization.”

You can also search for soft skills such as “leadership” or “public speaking” to find learning opportunities with those areas of focus. 

For more specified educational opportunities, consider courses such as “Building Efficient Meetings,” “Problem Solving 101”, or “The New Manager Manual” to help improve your earning potential and value added at work.

This article was written by The Salary Project writer, Michele Lando.