The Paycheck Challenge: Get what you're worth

I encountered a fascinating article at Forbes.com. Writer Tara Weiss brings to light the fact that when accepting a new job, recruits should realize that they have a right and even a responsibility to take some initiative in negotiating their pay package. Think of it this way: After all the long hours of processing applications, reviewing resumes, and conducting interviews, if you are the individual who receives the offer for employment, that indicates you have a lot going for you. Don't be undersold. It's not an issue of pride. It's responsible economics plain and simple.

With the hope that you'll read Ms. Weiss's article, I'll take the proposition one step further. I submit to you that once you have become established in a job, don't let a job classification or title restrict you from asking for more. If you're not bound by the terms of a labor agreement through a union or other labor contract, then the sky's the limit, and I'm saying that you should go for it. Every employment situation offers opportunities for advancement and for income increase also. If you don't believe me, let me prove it to you.

The company I work for is historically tight-fisted when it comes to employee compensation. It's not that we don't generate enough profit to justify pay raises, but as a subsidiary of a larger entity that provides the lion's share of our workload, accounting is "manipulated" to push the profit up to the parent company. This is simple to prove when given the fact that, in a responsible business sense, any company that shows the minimal profit we do would be immediately shut down and those capital assets would be put to work elsewhere. This makes it tough for a guy like me to get ahead. I, however, applied a strategy that has performed for me all of my working years, and which is encompassed in the following ideal:

I don't work for my employer, I work for me. It's all about my own bottom line.