Why Is Your Salary Higher Than Your Qualified Colleague?

Salary is an interesting thing. Unless you work in a contract environment, wages are paid according to the title and length of service, otherwise two people who do the same job may get different salaries. However, this gap should not be too great. If a person can earn 125000 dollars and other colleagues earn 42000 dollars, this is somewhat unreasonable. But the gap of several thousand dollars is very common. And the price difference will vary according to the level of the amount, and the higher the higher it will be. This is not fair. A person earns 25000 dollars a year while the other who does the same work is 35000 dollars a year, but the difference between $125000 and $135000 is unremarkable.

But sometimes, this is unreasonable for employees. Just like writing to my man, his situation is as follows:

I mentioned a friend who worked with me because he had a keen mind and rich experience. We all work in the field of IT, and it is difficult to find excellent talents in our area. He was tired of his past work, and at the same time, my company opened him a job opportunity. The problem is... My friend is very talented, but he has only a general G.E.D.. He has never worked in a large company and has no IT industry certification. Although he and I share almost the same amount of work experience, my working environment mainly includes the top 100 companies, while he is more localized.

But he used to earn 6000 dollars a year more than me! I had a military background, read 2 years of University, had 2 IT industry related certification, and ten years' experience in similar companies. This makes things look bad. I know the relevant market situation in my area, so I also make such a request. And they told me that they could not afford to pay so much and quote some fair wages for their peers. So I did my research and asked for more, but it turned out to be the opposite. He asked for a salary less than 25000 dollars, but in fact it was 6000 dollars more than mine. How can you prove that it is reasonable for a person who has not completed high school, who has no industry certification and has similar work experience to earn 6000 dollars more than a person who is obviously more qualified?

This situation seems unreasonable. Think about what they might be. Well, I added italics (they are not the original) to point out some phrases: keen, rich experience, and it is hard to find an excellent person in our area. That's the key. The company offers more money to this guy because they think he will be a great asset for the company team.

This is probably the reason. Why can't the author of this letter get a higher salary? For whatever reason, the company does not see that he and his friends are equally valuable to the team. Maybe they have different jobs, maybe their friends have special talents that the author of letters does not have.

Other information is (and should be) irrelevant. Personally, I am glad to see that only a general G.E.D. diploma rather than a university diploma can be found. Good work 。 (I do not oppose University - on the contrary, I have a bachelor's degree and a master's degree, but a college diploma is not necessary for every job.)

What are the considerations of salary?

Actual Job content Description. This is actually the most important thing. The company should determine the depth and breadth of the knowledge and experience required for the position. Then they should look at the talent market in their area and determine the salary range. This should even be done before a job is released.

What did the employee actually do? Sometimes you find that a person seems to perfectly match the job description you want. The specific skills they need, the exact amount of experience they need, are all up to standard. How perfect. But in general, you tend to either "reluctantly accept" people who lack one or two relevant conditions, or you will be lucky enough to meet someone who can meet the needs and have a good extra skill. In the example of the IT industry above, maybe there was a plan to achieve X, but no one in the existing team had relevant skills, so they planned to send John to join in training, but after that there was a good guy who could do X. This will give them an extra high salary. Or the new employee can speak Spanish, though it is not required before, but there is one. Customer In Puerto Rico, Spanish speaking sales representatives are preferred.

Factors that should not be considered: age, sex, race, nationality, weight, sexual orientation, hair color, accent, disability, marital status, number of children, childless children, political factions, etc. These are all unimportant things for salary. Of course, some are illegal considerations, others are not. In any case, they should not be considered in very few cases.

However, if you think you are being treated unfairly and you are underpaid, you should talk to your boss. But your route should not be as long as you say, "John is more than my salary! I ask for a raise!" but "my contribution is very ordinary. I should get that recognition too."

What potential does the employee have? Potential is an interesting thing - it's a difficult thing to quantify, but sometimes we can see. Usually, when hiring managers interview candidates for the job, she is looking for someone who can do second jobs in three to five years. If you have potential for growth and development, this will be a factor to raise wages.

Education level / qualification / permit. Sometimes it is valuable, sometimes it is not. (as mentioned earlier, we place too much emphasis on the role of certificates, but we do not attach enough importance to real abilities). However, as a general rule, owning a university degree will make you more valuable. Some jobs require specific certification and license. (just like if you want to be a barber, you need to get a license.) Some work will give priority to qualified persons, but it is also not necessary. If you graduate from law school, but have not yet passed the certification of lawyers, you must be supervised and stop all activities related to the actual lawyer. So without a certificate, you will not have the same value as your peers.