Last time, we discussed the best way to use data from salary surveys during performance reviews. A reader wrote in saying that the majority of salary surveys he saw showed that he's way underpaid - how does he ask for more money from his bosses? Last week, we heard advice from two career experts, this week we hear from another, James Del Monte, a Certified Employee Retention Specialist, a Certified Personnel Consultant, and president of staffing firm JDA Professional Services, based in Houston.

Here is Del Monte's advice in his own words:

In today’s market where the demand for certain professionals including those in IT, accounting, and engineering exceeds supply, upward pressure on wages seems to be one of the primary discussions of compensation analysts. The challenge is that internal budgets have continued to increase at the traditional rate of 4% to 6% while market competition is pushing the rate of salary increases for hiring a new IT employee with the same skill set to 10% to 30% above the position’s current salary. Therefore, keeping the compensation level of existing staff competitive with the external market has become a real issue for corporate America. This is especially true in larger, more structured companies where compensation departments set salary ranges for each position and are more rigid about maintaining equality across the board.

Despite this challenge, all companies know they must be competitive if they want to keep their best people. They know that if a talented employee demonstrates an expectation to be well compensated, they must deliver. The key, however, is that even in a competitive labor market if you want to receive what you are truly worth, you must be willing to ask.

THE ART OF NEGOTIATING:

Know what’s important to you

There is definitely an art involved when negotiating a better deal without having to change jobs or leave your company. First, you need to start with the end in mind. You must decide what is most important to you. Come up with a list of reasons why you enjoy your current employer and why you really want to stay. While money is an important factor in most employee’s contentment, there are other aspects that are often equally, if not more, important to many professionals. These include good commute time, available flex time, great management and corporate culture, challenging and interesting work, opportunities for training and personal development, competitive bonuses or profit sharing options, and in some cases you may simply fear change. Developing this list will help you in two ways. One, you can use it during negotiations to enhance your total compensation package if you hit the company salary cap, and two if you are unsuccessful in getting all you want from your current employer, it will help you decide if it is truly worth staying.

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