Maximising Your Earning Potential (part 2)

Consistency in terms of job offers and earning an acceptable income with gradual promotional opportunities is good. But achieving your maximum earning potential is great! This is the difference between having a job and having a career. This is the second in a series of four articles that explains how to increase your earning potential:

Part 1: lifelong learning
Part 2: positive thinking
Part 3: goal setting
Part 4: above and beyond

Positive thinking

Having faith in your own abilities and being able to provide evidence of how they contribute to your professional success is an admirable quality, providing that you are able to demonstrate ways in which you can help the people you are working with and are careful not to come across as overconfident. It is just as important to be able to convince employers that your skills will benefit them, as it is to have them to begin with.

Assertiveness is another quality that plays a considerable part in maximising your earning potential. It enables you to communicate exactly what you want and employers value it considerably. Assertive individuals are able to get things done without shouting, being obstinate or getting over-emotional; they are clear, definite and attentive and in a working environment this generates high levels of respect, which enhances motivation amongst team members.

It is important not to confuse assertiveness with aggression and if you can accept the fact that you might inadvertently be doing this and actively seek to change it, you’ll find that people’s attitudes towards you change accordingly.

In order to achieve your full earning potential, you must also consider your approach to the job search process and think about whether or not the way you sell yourself to potential employers puts you in the best possible position for salary/rate negotiation when it is required.

One way to ensure that people hear about your achievements is to apply a good networking strategy, whereby you dedicate time to informing people of where you have been successful. By discreetly ensuring that influential professionals hear about your successes, you will be at an advantage during the selection process and could even find yourself bypassing the formal interview/assessment stage that others must endure.

It is also important to remember at this point that your recruitment consultant is an excellent source of support when seeking to increase your earning potential. They can market you to a wide range of potential employers, creating promotional opportunities where there might not have been a vacancy advertised and as they have firmly established relationships with clients, they are well positioned to be able to negotiate the best possible rate or salary on your behalf.