How To Increase Your Value To Increase your Salary

Asking for an increase in salary is not an easy task. This issue becomes complicated as we have a very limited control over our salary when we work in a company or organization. There are no defined set of procedures which can be opted for negotiating your salary. However, you can use the guidelines given below to ask for an increase in your salary:

•Research and collect information about your field. This would inform you about additional education and training required for establishing yourself as an expert in your field. Besides these, you should also be informed about the current salary trends and average salary for the position. It will basically help you to know your market value. This would help you while negotiating your salary with the employer.

•You should also be informed about the procedure of pay raise adopted in your company from the company policy.

•You opt for some ways which will help you in your salary increase such as upgrading your career and always maintaining a professional attitude towards work.

•Avoid comparing yourself with your colleagues. Try to find out the reasons which are affecting your performance or responsible for obstructing your hike in salary. A possible solution to this problem is to start adjusting your behavior and attitude so that you can prove your worth to the employer. In case, you have proved yourself and achieved good points in evaluation done by the company then it is appropriate time for asking an increase in your salary.

•The most essential aspect required for an individual is to be confident and should keep a positive attitude that you deserve better. You should approach the boss for negotiating your salary. It is necessary to use the right words while doing so. You have to mention all the major contribution made by you in order to improve the performance of the company.

•You should constantly assess your work and also find out whether you are getting what you deserve. Prepare a list of tasks performed by you and the list of duties expected from an employee hired at that post. Take these two lists along with you while negotiating for salary hike.

•Try to do something new and it requires you to come out of the comfort zone. This will help you to broaden your focus and it would bring out excellent results. You should actively participate in the meetings and give out innovative ideas which will work towards achieving the organizational goals.

•Once you have collected all the related information, prepare a report which would contain all the details such as any special contributions undertaken, services improved or any other special initiatives undertaken by you for increasing the revenue earned or customer satisfaction. You can opt for a meeting with the employer and discuss it in the meeting.

•While discussing about pay hike, it is necessary to keep options for negotiations open and should also avoid threatening the boss or demanding an increase in salary.

•Another alternative is to opt for sending a letter asking for a pay hike. This method is not that effective medium as it is one way communication. However, you can opt for using combination of two methods of sending a letter first asking for a meeting to discuss this issue.

Thus, the guidelines mentioned above will help you to make the right approach to increase your chances of increasing your salary.

by Jennifer Parker

Working Online Opportunities: The Ideal Jobs

The idea of working online is promising. Because the jobs are done through the Internet, you normally don’t need to report to a regular office, but instead do all the works from the comfort of your own home. This then means you get to save on transportation expenses, meal allowances, and clothing expenditures. In the end, online jobs are more about raking in money and less about spending it out. But the success in working online depends partly on finding legitimate opportunities. It may be a demanding task since scams and fraud in the Internet are ballooning in an uncontrollable pace. Yet, if you are careful, you can find the right opportunity that suits your skill, working style, and personal priorities. To help you in your search, here’s a few of the working online opportunities available for you.

Content Writing

If you have a flair for writing, this is a good and profitable time to pound on the keyboard. Online writing jobs are in abundance nowadays since a lot of companies are on the lookout for writers who would produce original articles for their websites. You can also take regular assignments from online magazines and send articles to article directories. There’s one thing you need to consider, though. Though a writing degree is usually not a requirement, good writing skill is. Therefore, constantly improve your writing to keep more assignments coming.

Blogging

Blogging has changed the atmosphere in the online community. Not only does it provide you a platform for personal expression, it also gives you an avenue for handsome profit.

To create and maintain a blog, you can either pay for a domain name and a web host or you can take advantage of free blog sites. If you get good traffic, which means a stable and wide readership, advertisers can pay you for placing their banner ads, links, and other forms of advertisement in your blog site. Other advertisements, however, are pay-per-click, meaning you get to be paid only if a visitor clicks on the link or the banner. Others still pay you for the ad space.

But take note that advertisers take interest only in the blog sites that have a remarkable page ranking, so keep yours high by posting valuable and useful content to draw in more readers. While you can write just about anything, it would help if you work on a specific theme that targets your potential audience.

Online Retailing

Start an online store and see the cash flowing. Although online stores can be a bit riskier than brick and mortar stores, they require only smaller capital and less leg work.

To begin, you need to think of a product that creates the more demand or something that touches a niche market. Then find a credible supplier and put up a customer-friendly website. Take note that the operative word here is customer-friendly, and this means a website that is not gruesome to navigate and provides every bit of product, shipping, and payment detail. However, if creating your own website is impossible, you can make use of free blog sites, social networking sites, or e-bay. Now if everything is set up, begin marketing your store.

Online retailing, of course, is a meticulous task, most especially when starting. However, when you already have established customer trust, it would rather be easier to manage it.

When considering working online opportunities, make sure to find as much information as you can. Carefully study the benefits, risks, and possible income. Remember that legitimate online opportunities are growing and so is the potential to fall prey to scams and frauds.

Time Management Tips And Tricks

Properly allocating your time is never an easy task, especially if you’ve never been the type to make the most of your time. However, there are a lot of ways in order for you to start up and slowly integrate your whole system into practicing effective Time management methods.

Here are a few tips in order for you to successfully initiate your time management skills.

Keys To Successful Time Management

Before you can use some time management strategies in your schedule, there are a few key principles you have to understand first.

You need to be aware of your goals. Having proper awareness of what your goals are will assist you in properly prioritizing your activities for the day. It also helps you to get motivated and avoid distractions in between work.

You also need to develop a flexible schedule for yourself. It must be flexible enough to make sure that if you need to fill in other things aside from your usual schedule, you can still take care of them when you need to.

Tips To Successfully Utilize Your Time

Here are a few tips to successfully utilize your time

1. Examine your old habits and look for ways to change them. – When you learn that your habits are not conducive to proper time management, then it’s about time that you start changing them. Bad habits are usually hard to change but when you’re able to overcome it, the results are rewarding.

2. Put up reminders at home and office about your goals. – Usually when you’re trying to pursue long-term goals, you slowly lose focus on them. Putting reminders everywhere would help you get reoriented with your goals motivating you to strictly follow your schedule.

3. Maintain a list of specific things to be done each day and set a top priority on that list. – Maintaining a list of things to be done everyday is a great way to start on successfully allocating your time properly. A checklist would help you to remember all the things that you need to do for the day and compel you to finish them at the end of the day.

Furthermore making a checklist would definitely help you to become a more responsible person. It is more than just a reminder, but is critical in how you follow that list to see if it effective for you.

4. Concentrate on one thing at a time. – Some people try to do all things at the same time. This happens because people need to do a lot of things but they do not have the luxury of time. Proper time management allows you to concentrate on one task at a time. When you feel that this task is more urgent than the other, then you must first focus on that task before moving on to the next most important task.

When you concentrate only on one task, the time needed to finish the job will significantly lessen giving you more spare time.

5. Enjoy what you are doing – When you enjoy what you are doing, it creates less stress. When you are not stressed, you are more likely to accomplish your tasks within a shorter time frame. Consequently, you will be able to do more in your typical working hours.

6. Continually look at ways of freeing up your time – It is important to try to free your schedule up. Looking for ways to free up your schedule improves the time spent on finishing up your activities. Remember that if you save a few minutes from each activity, and then you sum them all up, you’d realize that you have saved a lot of time.

5 Promotion Secrets to Get the Job You Want

You Mean I Need to Promote Myself to Get a Promotion?

Time and time again I hear the following from students in my career advancement workshops:

• “My work speaks for itself…I shouldn’t have to tell anyone about my skills.”
• “Why did they hire from the outside, I am already doing what’s required of that position?”
• “Why did they get the job, I have more skills and experience than they do?”
• “How come my name is never mentioned when promotions come up in conversation?”

The answer is…you need to promote your skills and experience. Everybody quotes the old saying, “It not what you know, but who you know.” That’s not quite right. The correct saying should be, “It not what you know but who knows what you know.” The people that can make decisions or have input on your career need to know what you know. This will only happen if you promote, promote, promote your special skills and experience.

Here are five secrets you can use to promote yourself for promotions:

1. Volunteer to Make a Difference

Volunteer for assignments that expose your skills. Look for especially challenging projects that other people have declined.

Also volunteer to mentor others within your organization. This will show and develop your leadership, management, and interpersonal skills. Keep management posted on your challenges and how you are working with the person you are mentoring to overcome these challenges.

Volunteer to write a department or organizational newsletter. This is another way to benefit a large group with your ideas while showcasing your skills and ideas.

2. Be a Solution Creator not a Problem Maker

Anybody can find problems within organizations. My experience is that you don’t need to find them…they will find you. Sometimes they have a special skill of finding problems and reporting them.

Develop the skill of looking at these problems as “opportunities for advancement,” step back and analyze the opportunity, and develop ideas for overcoming the problem. Make sure you communicate these solutions during meetings, e-mails, memos, and conversations with management. You will soon be looked upon by management as someone who can overcome obstacles and make things happen within the organization.

3. Handle the Next Level at This Level

If you are a manager and want to become a vice president then, start working like a vice president. Find a vice president that is open to mentoring you for the next level. Remember, that vice president will not be promoted to the next level unless the organization sees that the vice president has developed someone to take their spot. It might as well be you. Plus you can lighten their work load.

Explain to the vice president what you want to accomplish so that everyone has a clear understanding and that this is a win-win situation for all involved.

I hear, “I’m too busy already to do this.” Well, let me ask you, “How badly do you want the promotion?” We are all busy. It’s up to you to enhance your time management and delegation skills so that you can take on these tasks that will prepare you for the next level.

4. Announce That You Want It!

Many times employees miss out on promotions because the decision makers and career influencers do not know they are interested in being promoted.

Announce that you want to go to the next career level!

Take time to sit down with your supervisor, manager, director, etc. and let them know you are interested in going to the next level. Ask them for their honest assessment of your skills. Then ask what you need to do to be ready when the next career opportunity appears.

Also announce your career aspirations to influencers in the Human Resources Department. Remember the more people they can hire from the outside, the less work they need to do. Make it easy for them to hire you.

Announce it to any one who can influence the decision for your promotion.

5. Join Groups to Accelerate Promotions

Join committees within the organization. This shows management that you care enough to make a difference.

Also join professional groups and associations. Professional groups and associations are a perfect way to let influencers outside your organization about your skills. Don’t just join, participant in the association’s activities to show your creativity, teamwork, and other skills.

One of the most important groups that you could ever join…is Toastmasters. This is a worldwide organization with over 175,000 members dedicated to helping it’s improve their public speaking, evaluation, think-on-your-feet, and leadership skills. The main reasons you should join Toastmaster is the following:

• Toastmasters give you the confidence to approach any opportunity with confidence.
• Toastmaster gives you the speaking skills to stand up in front of group and present your point in a persuasive manner while others shy away from this opportunity.
• You develop your leadership skills by learning how to do effective, positive, and encouraging feedback and evaluations while learning how to empower the receiver to do better.
• You have the opportunity to develop your leadership skills by volunteering for positions at the club, area, state, regional, and international level. I always say if you can’t get the skills at your organization, you can get it at Toastmasters.

Join and let your organization know you’ve joined these groups. I remember a student telling me he wanted the job of Network Administrator in a large organization. He never seemed to get past the first interviews. Then he joined Toastmasters. He shared with me he gained the confidence and think-on-your-feet skills needed to master his interviews. Shortly after joining Toastmasters, he landed his dream job as Network Administrator at a major hospital. It can make the difference for you.

I challenge you to apply these techniques. You will see immediate results and go to the next level.

The Jobs that Pay You $40,000 Per Year

Today we tell you these jobs that pay you 40,000 US$ Per Year. In this jobs market these jobs are very high demanding jobs. You can choose these professions for your career in future.

Here is the list of jobs that pay you 40,000 US$ Per Year.

1. Architectural and civil drafters prepare detailed drawings of architectural and structural features of buildings used in civil engineering projects like highways, bridges and public works.
Qualifications: Employers prefer applicants who have completed post-secondary school training in drafting, which is offered by technical institutes, community colleges and some four-year colleges and universities.
Industries with most job openings: Architectural, engineering and related services; residential building construction; nonresidential building construction.
Salary: $49,429/year

2. Respiratory therapists administer respiratory care and life support to patients with breathing problems and other cardiopulmonary disorders, under the supervision of a physician.
Qualifications: An associate degree is the minimum educational requirement, but a bachelor's or master's degree may be important for advancement; state license.
Industries with most job openings: General medical and surgical hospitals; specialty hospitals (except mental or substance abuse); nursing-care facilities.
Salary: $48,033/year

3. Bailiffs maintain the order and security in a courtroom and escort jury members outside the courtroom to prohibit interaction with the public.
Qualifications: They vary by employer, but most require a high school diploma or equivalent, and some also require some college education or full-time work experience.
Industries with most job openings: Local government.
Salary: $47,502/year

4. Reporters and correspondents report and convey facts about newsworthy events to an audience via newspaper, magazine, radio, television or Internet.
Qualifications: A bachelor's degree in journalism or mass communications is preferred, but some other majors are OK; internships are preferred.
Industries with most job openings: Newspaper, periodical, book and directory publishers; radio and television broadcasting; other information services.
Salary: $45,115/year

5. Dietitians and nutritionists plan diet requirements and determine nutritional needs for clients; manage meal programs and oversee meal preparation.
Qualifications: A bachelor's degree and state license, certification or registration.
Industries with most job openings: General medical and surgical hospitals; nursing-care facilities; outpatient care centers.
Salary: $45,001/year

6. Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters put together, install and fix pipelines or pipe systems that carry water, steam, air and other liquids or gases.
Qualifications: Training in career and technical schools and community colleges, apprenticeships and on-the-job training.
Industries with most job openings: Building equipment contractors; nonresidential building construction; utility system construction.
Salary: $44,866/year

7. Kindergarten teachers (except special education) teach young children basic science, music, art and literature, and encourage physical, mental and social development.
Qualifications: A bachelor's degree from a teacher education program and a state teaching license.
Industries with most job openings: Elementary and secondary schools; child day-care services; individual and family services.
Salary: $43,394/year

8. Medical and public-health social workers offer patients and families psychosocial support to help cope with chronic, acute or terminal illnesses. They can also suggest caregivers, and counsel and educate the patient on his or her illness.
Qualifications: A bachelor's degree, sometimes an advanced degree; state license.
Industries with most job openings: General medical and surgical hospitals, individual and family services, home health-care services.
Salary: $43,056/year

9. Precision instrument and equipment repairers fix and maintain watches, cameras, musical instruments, medical equipment and other precision instruments.
Qualifications: A high school diploma; in some cases post-secondary education.
Industries with most job openings: Professional and commercial equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers; electronic and precision equipment repair and maintenance; electronics and appliance stores.
Salary: $41,498/year

10. Graphic designers design or create graphic layouts for books, magazines, newspapers, Web sites and other commercial or promotional needs.**
Qualifications: A bachelor's or an associate degree
Industries with most job openings: Specialized design services; newspaper, book, periodical and directory publishers; advertising.
Salary: $40,000/year