You want how much?? Recognising your true worth to get what you want

Do you know your true worth to your current organisation?

Not understanding your fundamental value can mean you’ll sell yourself short when it comes to negotiating new roles, promotions and pay rises and when asking for the conditions you want.

It means you’ll ask for too little when you move organisations and it can get you stuck in a mindset where you base your value on :

• What you’re currently paid

• What your current job description or title states that you ‘are’.

It’s time now to recognise that you’re worth so much more than this.

The recent noise from Recruitment LinkedIn seems unanimous in its agreement that if candidates want a decent pay rise then in many cases they’d need to leave their current organisation.

Now they would say that, after all their business model is based on people leaving organisations to get new roles, but that doesn’t mean that there’s no truth in the statement. And it does give us pause to sit up and think about our own value to the workforce.

Recognising your own value isn’t just about putting a monetary figure on your contribution to your organisation.

Recognising your value is a way of understanding how good you really are.

This is important especially if you’re feeling like you may have made too many sideways moves in your company, or are feeling overlooked for promotion or no longer singled out for juicy opportunities that come up.

Knowing your worth is an intrinsic part of making the change from being a career passivist to being a career activist. When opportunities no longer find you and your champions and sponsors are focussing elsewhere, you need to take control to drive you next move.

Only when you understand this can you see how you can position yourself for your next move and articulate it effectively to those who need to hear it.

So work it out.

What would it cost your organisation to replace you?

Work out the monetary figure, including the costs of a recruitment process, plus the working hours required to fill the role.

Then work out the hidden costs.

Strap in and buckle up for some questions to help you get clear!

Are you really doing just what your job description says or have you expanded it to encompass other activities that are uniquely you?

What are you the go-to person for in your company? Again, is that a requirement of the role if they had to re-recruit for your position?

How many years of knowledge, experience and expertise (maybe also a deep knowledge of your organisation and sector) would they lose if you left?

Who do you bring with you from your network that is valuable to your company?

What other holes would need plugging without you there?

What is the return on investment your company gets from having you do your role?

Given the current buoyant recruitment market, what would they have to pay a replacement negotiating their way into your role if you vacate it?

Now what were you saying about not being sure you should try to negotiate a pay rise or that you don’t think you’ve got what it takes to get to that role you’re eyeing up?

Is is clearer now?