What is the pay scale? How To Ask for Pay Raise?
It’s an amount paid on different scales of the level to the employee, which is decided based on their education, overall skills, experience, and many more important things.
Why is it important to decide?
The companies asked this pay scale question because most of the companies have created a budget for that specific position or role.
So, they want to know if your expectation is matching with their budget or not.
But what if they didn’t ask you about the pay scale or still not talked about this topic to you.
Even after a few stages of the interview or after a few days of joining the job. Then you should talk about the pay scale for your position and without any delay.
According to the survey of monster.com in the US, the data says that more than 70% of people say that salary is the most important factor when choosing or applying for a job.
Also, 58% of candidates have rejected the job offer because of the low pay scale. So it is very important to decide on a pay scale or pay rise as soon as possible.
So now in this blog, I will tell you a few strategies and tips about how to ask for a pay scale salary or salary or compensation.
Following are the strategies one should be kept in mind:
1) Research your pay scale worth
2) Ask your networks and co-workers.
3) Having a strategic approach to difficult questions.
4) Talking about the other benefits along with the pay scale
5) Don’t tell them the previous salary if possible.
6) Practice the word before the actual one
7) Final thoughts on salary talks
Research your pay scale worth
How can you ask for a pay scale if you only don’t know what’s the current market salary which matches your education, skill, past experiences, and job position criteria?
So you have to research it. You can start simply from Indeed salary where you can get your scale just by adding the job description, name of the organization, and your location.
Also, you can do it through websites like Glassdoor or Payscale by putting your data and which shows the scaling demand for your role.
If you do research it will help you to avoid the awkwardness while asking for it. Another thing is you will get to know that the company is lowballing the compensation offer.
There are many ways of asking a question rather than one.
Ask your networks and co-workers
Many professionals suggest that to know the exact and perfect scale one should ask the employee of the same field or job position or same organization.
I suggest you do not ask them directly as it will create awkwardness for them so few might not tell you the exact numbers.
So better ask them like: How much money scale one should have nowadays for my types of job position?
You can also ask people from different company’s match your job profile in a digital way like LinkedIn.
Having a strategic approach for difficult questions
Generally, one cannot go to them or the interviewer directly and tell them about how much salary or holiday you can offer to me. Instead, you can ask them with a strategic and sensible approach.
So the delicacy is the main point in balancing this pay scale act.
The following few things will be helpful while questioning about pay scale or benefits
1) Mark your words smartly.
So initiating a question of scale properly and smartly is also an important factor.
Suppose if you want to ask about the salary can refer to the word salary or money with compensation. Also, you can easily ask about how the work-life balance of you by simply saying the word office culture.’
So this little thing is also important which matters while asking.
2) Look for a Proper Time to Ask
I think there is the proper timing for everything we do in life just in this case also.
So you are going for interviews I suggest don’t ask for the salary as soon as the interview program started.
The right time is when the interviewer started showing interest in you and your suitability for the job profile by showing your capability and strength.
If they are interested they will give you a hint like: When will you join? Or What are your expectations?
This is the green signal and perfect time where you can raise a question about the pay scale or benefits. Then get all the information you want from them.
3) A straightforward and direct approach
You can say “I am looking for a job having a role suitable for me with a pay scale ranging from 20k to 30k as this is the current scale for having skills like me. Is this job is suitable for that range?
4) Wide approach to start
How can one compare the scale of this job with the scale in the market with a similar job profile? What are the steps?.
These steps can be used only when you know the current market rate and also when you can’t remain silent about it anymore you can go for it.
If they know and are interested to tell you then you can get your answer easily but if they don’t know about it, you can just simply tell them the current scale for your job position.
5) Be positive and ask
By knowing yourself, your impact the organization will have with a positive approach as what you have done yet and achievements, measurements, and skills which helps in knowing the salaries.
Every company has decided the average pay scale for a particular position but you should consider yourself upper than average, a great package.
This mindset will help you to get to a higher scale more than the average.
For example, you can ask like this:
I am glad that you give me a chance for this offer and I will look forward to getting the best for the values of the organization and I expect you to value the pay scale. Can I know the valuable pay scale for this offer?
6) Asking in a soft tone
Everyone should play the game on the safe side just you can also play the game of asking more carefully.
You should be very gentle and soft. Always showing gratitude by thanking the interviewer for the opportunities you provided to me and giving your time for listening to me.
After this further, you can add a question about a pay scale and know the status that it is worth or not carry this conversation further.
It’s like checking the depth of water by putting the toe inside the pool before going for the swim.
But if they reply in a good and positive way you can carry forward the question about it further.
Talking about the other benefits along with the pay scale
There are many things other than the pay scale one should ask like bonuses, allowances, stocks, credits, benefits, time relaxation, number of holidays allowed.
I think benefits and incentives are very important for the organization and employee.
The more value you provide, the more efforts you give, the more time you give to the organization, the higher the work benefits you get at the end of a financial year.
It can also result in a salary hike. Sometimes you should think of the other abilities they should have to provide other than just salaries. As for the long term, it will also give a high earning scale.
Don’t tell them the previous salary if possible
The key point one should remember is to never disclose your previous salaries or position if possible.
Always try that they should take the first action regarding salary if they put their budget scale and ask you to tell your expectation.
Then you should always tell like if you earn 50k +8k (bonus), so you can tell them that you earn 58k + bonus and benefits.
But if you are asked first directly about your expectations regarding the scale or your previous scale then I suggest you change the focus of answering and try to talk about what you have learned your skills and your experiences.
This will increase the chances of a high pay scale but you should make yourself capable enough and give the values in return.
Practice the word before the actual one
I suggest you rehearse the proposal of your deal of asking before making a real one to the experienced person who can guide you if there are any mistakes or any missing points.
By doing this type of thing in front of experience will help you in properly asking for a pay scale.
Final thoughts on salary talks
In short from all the above discussion just remember key points when talking about the pay scale anywhere and in any field.
- You should always know your value, worth capabilities, and what types of compensation according to your life matters most to you.
- You should never declare the number of scales; just describe the range which you expect regarding the job position.
Also Read: Emotional Intelligence- Developing Strong “People Skills”