Re: FWD: Unpaid?

["Hutchings, Christa" <cwhutchings -at- HOMEWIRELESS -dot- COM>]

>I make $10 an hour. Am I underpaid?

In the immortal words of somebody - "You get what you settle for."

If you think you're underpaid, tell your employer rather firmly (but
nicely) that you believe you should be making more, and why. Be prepared
to walk if they don't cough up more $$$. Sometimes you have to leave a
company before it wakes up.

I know this works because I have changed jobs three times in the last 3
years, twice because I was underpaid for what I was doing and the
companies wouldn't come through with enough $$$, and once because I was
bored and and my skills were stagnating. Each time I bettered my salary
considerably. Interestingly enough, the two companies I left because I
wasn't making enough money both recently made me offers to come back, at
far more than what they had been paying me when I was there before (one
offer was $17K more than what they had been paying me less than three
years ago, and the other was $8K more than what they had been paying me
less than 18 months ago.)

The important thing is that you have to believe in yourself first, plus
have the skill set to make you a valuable commodity in the TW market. If
you're only a half-ass writer, sloppy editor, can't do page layout or
document design or web design, don't understand (or care about) the
publishing process, are difficult to work with, or your grooming or work
habits leave a bit to be desired, you may not be able to pull this off.
Look like a professional, sound like a professional, perform like a
professional and chances are you will be treated - and paid - like a
professional.

Chris Welch-Hutchings
Senior Technical Writer
Home Wireless Networks, Inc.
mailto:cwhutchings -at- homewireless -dot- com