Do your research – how much is your job worth in the market? Good places to research the market value of your job is using sites like www.salarysiite.com.au or even doing a Google job search and looking at what salaries are on offer for the kind of job you are doing. If you are in a non-management role, you can also look at PACT to check what the award minimums are for your job (it’s a good idea to start off by knowing if you are being paid what you are entitled to, now!)

Look back at the past 12 months and document examples of where you not only met expectations, but exceeded them – projects you finished on or ahead of time, cost savings you made, improvements you made to processes, new business you won, how often you exceeded budget expectations, people you successfully trained or mentored in the business – basically have a list of all your achievements . Don’t forget reliability! Being reliable is a number one asset in some industries.

Don’t wait until performance review time – your boss will be distracted with EVERYONE’S performance review at that time and may not be able to give your request the attention it deserves. Aim instead to have the discussion when your work anniversary is approaching OR when it’s important to you.

Be realistic! If you are currently on $65,000 and your market research is telling you that your job is worth $68,000, you are going to be pushing mud uphill if you go in asking for $80,000. The other limitation that may come into effect, are the salaries of other people doing your job in the company. You will need to prove you are performing well in excess of your colleagues if you are going to justify asking for more money.

Here is the hard one… Be Confident! If you are prepared, know your worth in the market, and you can demonstrate the value you have added to the company, then you should be confident in asking for a pay rise.