What you’re worth – your personal salary guide

How much are you worth? This is one of the most important questions you can ask yourself when you are assessing a job offer, negotiating your salary, looking at qualifications or simply looking to make an impression in your role.

There are many factors to consider and resources available to help you answer this question. And of course, there are lots of things you can do improve your worth, starting today. Carry on reading for information and suggestions on improving your worth, or see our latest accountancy, legal or banking salary surveys.

Experience

Think about both industry and specific experience. Both of these hold great value. Industry experience may affect how much you are worth in a particular industry, while specific practical experience may afford you more flexibility to move between industries.

So, the nature of your experience will shape your future career as well as your earnings. It is important to consider your ambitions, goals and where you want to be. This way you can steer your experience towards industries and fields of work that are of particular interest to you, or where the rewards, and therefore your worth, are greater.

• Consider how much control you have over the scope of your roleThink about how transferable your skills and experience are, or in which industries they are most valuable

Education and qualifications

Training holds great value for both you and your employer. Companies spend a lot of money on training staff because they expect to make a return on this investment. This also holds true for you. The time, money and effort you invest in furthering your education and qualifications will pay dividends in the future as your worth increases.

Education and qualifications differentiate you in the employment market. Achieving a qualifications in some specialist areas, notably IT and financial advice, can see your worth jump almost overnight.

• Consider your ambitions, goals and where you want to be.
• Talk to someone who has reached that position What education, qualifications and commitment are needed?

Performance

Ongoing pay decisions, commission and promotion will all be based partly on individual and team performance. Performance is usually measured in terms of meeting targets, making good on plans, motivating a team, training others, positivity, loyalty, reliability and determination.

The effect of your performance on your worth may be indicated by feedback from your manager and colleagues and your performance against agreed targets and objectives.

• Seek periodic reviews and feedback from your manager
• Boost your performance through continuous improvement
• Set formal targets and objectives with your manager

Perception

Everything we have covered so far will not improve how much you are worth unless it can be perceived by the stakeholders in your future. For some things it’s easy – a certificate or mention on your CV – for others you will have to work harder. Visibility and exposure amongst these stakeholders is the key here. You will have to make decision makers aware of your achievements or they will be overlooked.

• Know the stakeholders in your future
• Work on the image they have of you

Responsibility

The more people you have reporting to you, or the wider the scope of your role, the higher you can expect to be paid. Provided you can handle the responsibility, seeking out such positions may help increase your worth.

• Consider whether your responsibilities have changed since your last review

Unique knowledge

Unique knowledge of particular markets, processes or systems is highly valuable when a company stands to bear a high cost from losing this knowledge. You will be considered to have this kind of knowledge if you create a department, brand, system or process yourself.

Be aware that such unique knowledge can also be a hindrance. The cost of losing you from a particular role may limit your chances of a promotion or transfer.

• Decide whether to keep or share any unique knowledge you have

Geography and industry

Salary levels vary by location and industry. Similar jobs may attract very different salaries depending on supply and demand or location. Always compare yourself to similar roles in related industries for a true measure.

• Check salary calculators, surveys and guides for disparities