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There is an interesting phenomenon that permeates our society, it's called the salary. Everyone wants one yet rarely is anyone satisfied with it. There is always a yearning for more. Let's face it: you spend your time in an office or on a job that you have taken on because:
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You truly enjoy what you do |
2. |
You have expenses to cover |
3. |
You have a whole family to feed |
4. |
You make all the money in your job to fulfill your wildest dreams |
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Let's take a close look at categories (1) and (4) first. Individuals in these categories are the lucky few who have either hit the nail on the head and do what they like almost regardless of the remuneration they can expect or they are engaged in an activity that may not be the job of their dreams but the financial rewards are worth the pain. This minority can safely put this article aside and enjoy a nice cappuccino.
But what about the vast majority of us who have been or are stuck in the rat race. People who work in jobs they may not like or are not getting sufficiently recognized for.
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Take a ride in an MRT any given weekday morning and you will feel like some evil alien virus has zapped all the people present of their vital life force. Listless faces stare into the yonder, eyes that are empty, eyes that are closed, ears that are plugged up with canned music that comes from a discman. It is a sad sight. Stop any of these individuals and ask them whether they are looking forward to going to work and the majority will answer no. Ask them next if they think their pay is fair and the answer (you guessed it) most probably will be no. Now ask them what they think would be their chances of a better pay if they asked for a higher salary. At that moment the people will definitely think you are a bit of a looney.
However, the great news is that if you know HOW to ask for a higher
income, chances are you will get it! The key to this lies in a few
simple steps. |
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Step ONE: You ARE a Company |
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Yes! If your name is Charles Wong, you happen to be Charles Wong Pte Ltd. The moment you signed the contract with a company to do a certain job you have actually done this: you have subcontracted the services of Charles Wong Pte Ltd to a larger corporation to help it do certain things (write mails, design buildings, write a computer program). The crucial misunderstanding for most people is that the moment they sign the contract with a company they believe this means their individual rights have come to a screeching halt, that is not so. You are an individual and you are free to bargain for the best deal. |
Step TWO: Why should a company pay for YOUR services at a premium? |
The answer to this pivotal question is: You have a Unique Selling
Proposition (USP).
Let me illustrate this point with a real life example that happened
to me a year ago. A business school invited me to speak to its
students. This business school charges substantial amounts of
money to train its students to become adept graduates.
A few minutes into my talk about selling I asked the following
question: "Why should I hire you once you graduate?"
... Thundering silence ... 400 pairs of eyes looked at me with
differing degrees of alarm and vacuity. I asked the question again,
slowly, you see, I thought my audience had not understood me clearly
the first time. Again the silent stares, this time they were positively
alarmed. You see, there were 200 adult people in that room who
had paid substantial amounts of money to get the certificate from
that very institution and they had thought that this very certificate
was good enough to avoid this painful question ... |
Facing The Job Interview
To better understand what I mean let's do a little experiment. Imagine
you are the Human Resource manager, in charge of recruiting new personnel
for a large MNC. Your door opens time after time and in come young
hopeful prospects. They all have graduated from more or less well
reputed institutions and they all clutch their certs, sure that the
very look of that cert will blow the HR manager off his/her socks.
But here you are, the door opens yet again, a new face, a new cert
... When you ask the hopeful interviewee about why you should hire
him/her the answers sound pretty much the same "I work hard,
I am loyal, I have a good education, etc, etc" ...
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