Think your salary is too low? You may be right. Here are some real world reasons why you might correctly feel that way along with options for improving your salary.
- Your company may have adopted a policy to pay at the low end of the salary scale for your experience and grade level.
Given this reality, what are your options for improving your salary? You may want to search out other companies, in your industry or closely related to it, that offer salaries in the mid-to-upper range of the salary scale for a given position. If you do, you’ll find that as a candidate for a position in such a company, you’ll be attractive because the company can offer you a more-than-competitive salary and remain within their standard salary range.
- Your industry is a low-paying industry. If you haven’t done so yet, search the internet for “industry salary surveys” and you’ll find numerous relevant and reputable sources for salary information by industry, for all types of positions, education, training, and certification.
What do you do if you find you’re in a low-paying industry? Search the internet for industries and jobs that pay well for your particular education and skills using search terms such as “highest paying industries for X” where “x” is your education and skills, e.g., mechanical engineer, IT professional, web designer, statistician, plumber. You just may find an industry for which you’re qualified and which can offer you a better salary.
- You work in a low-paying geographic region. A small number of regions in the U.S. pay more than others for almost every type of job.
What are your options if you are in a low-paying region? Again, do some internet research, this time searching for “geographic regions with high pay.” You’re likely to find the highest paying regions are in cities in the Bay Area of California as well as in the Boston-Washington, DC “corridor”. Especially if you’re in a region of low pay (e.g., southeast U.S.), you may find that a move to a higher paying region could be worth the higher cost of living typically found in these high paying regions. Another internet search can help you decide: search for “where wages are worth the most, the least”.
Work Matters 