Having a rewarding career can be amazing, but it can be hard to stay motivated if you’re always stuck on the same salary. It’s natural to want more money as you stay longer in the same career. But where do you start? Here are a few different factors to think about when it comes to trying to increase your salary.
Ask for a Raise
If you want to earn more in your career, you have to take the necessary proactive steps to get you there. Asking for a raise can seem intimidating at first. But if you’ve proven yourself valuable to the company, if you’ve worked hard, and if you feel like you deserve a raise, go for it. It’s likely your boss will feel similarly.
And if she doesn’t, there’s no harm in having respectfully and confidently brought up the conversation. At the very least, she might remember you when the opportunity to extend someone a raise comes along.
Go Back to School
Another thing you can do to earn more in your career is to gain more education. Across the board in practically all industries, having a bachelor’s degree versus having only a high school degree will drastically increase your salary. With further higher education, an individual’s average salary goes up.
When you’re thinking about getting further education, it can be a hard decision at first. You’re likely still working and so adding in classes can seem impossible. If that’s the case, think about taking a less conventional schooling route.
Many programs enable you to do night classes, some programs have online or in-person options, and many programs allow you to get the whole degree online. And in fact, online courses have many benefits over in-person classes. They tend to be much more flexible and allow you to approach learning at your own pace.
Gain Differentiating Experience
When it comes to earning more in your career, you must stand out as a valuable employee. When you have specific, unique skills or experience that adds more to a company, you become more valuable and can consequently be paid more.
Developing differentiating experience can range from seeking and holding leadership positions to learning a new skill like coding or a new language that helps you provide additional value to the company.
Figuring out how to increase your salary can be difficult at first. Should you ask for a raise? Seek new employment? Start your own business? These are all difficult questions. But starting with these suggestions can help you make initial and important steps towards getting the salary that you want.
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