Survey says: Stop obsessing over broad, industrywide salary averages

Q: I love my new job. However, according to recent salary surveys, I am underpaid by as much as $5,000 per year. Since I've been here for only two months, how long should I wait to discuss this with my boss? This has really been bothering me, and I want some peace of mind.

NICK'S REPLY: If you're paid the salary you agreed to when you were hired, you're not underpaid. Don't chase the salary surveys. They are broad, don't describe your specific company or job, and are almost always out of date.

They're fine as a reference, but don't accept them as gospel.

Somewhere, you may be worth more than your company is paying you. But what's real is the deal you negotiated. When you sell a used car, there's always an offer for a few more bucks around the corner. When you buy a music CD, the next day you'll see it on sale somewhere else. You can't always optimize your win. Chasing the next dollar could turn you into a job hopper.

I'd wait until your first anniversary before bringing this up with your boss. Otherwise, you'll seem naive about how compensation works.

Consider this: Suppose you ask for a raise, your boss antes up the extra money, and in two months you see another survey that suggests the money should be higher yet. What then?

The salary surveys are pie in the sky. The deal you have is real. Probably the best way to earn more is to prove your worth over the next year and ask for the raise when you can justify it based on your performance.

Don't misunderstand. I advocate getting paid all you're worth. But there are limits to what's prudent, and if you cross the line, you can jeopardize your job and your relationship with your employer. In the final analysis you must always ask yourself: Would I be happy with what I'm earning if I hadn't seen that survey, and am I ready to quit if I don't get what I saw in that survey?

THE HEADHUNTER TIP:

Invest in the right job.

An engineer held four jobs with four different companies in one year. He would land a job and immediately approach another company, show them how much he was making and ask for a raise. Because his skills were in demand, he would get hired, each time for a little more money. His plan was to make as much money as he could.

In just a year, he had realized a sizable salary increase, but his satisfaction with his work was low. I could have placed him into yet another job and earned a large fee. But I could not recommend him to my clients because he would never give them an honest day's work. His real work was interviewing and finding new jobs.

If you spend a lot of time thinking about finding your next job, how much of your time are you spending making your current job the right job?

Copyright 2009. Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate

Nick Corcodilos is author of "Ask The Headhunter: Reinventing the Interview to Win the Job" and the host of www.asktheheadhunter.com. He can be reached by e-mail at seattle@asktheheadhunter.com or at North Bridge Group, P.O. Box 600, Lebanon, NJ 08833. Sorry, no personal replies.