Determining how much you should be earning on LinkedIn is an important part of career and salary negotiation. With the right strategy, you can leverage the LinkedIn platform to maximize your income potential.
Assess Your Skills and Experience
When deciding how much to ask for, first take an honest inventory of your skills, education, and work experience. Consider the following:
- Years of experience in your industry or field
- Specific skills and software/tools you have mastered
- Notable projects you have delivered or contributed to
- Any advanced degrees or certifications
- Key metrics that demonstrate your success, like sales numbers, traffic growth, etc.
Benchmark your qualifications against job postings on LinkedIn to see the types of experience required for higher salaries in your role.
Research Salary Ranges
Use the salary comparison tools on LinkedIn to analyze pay scales for someone with your background. Search by job title and location to get tailored compensation ranges. Here are some tips for effective research:
- Check multiple salary sites like Payscale, Glassdoor, Salary.com in addition to LinkedIn.
- Search for salary ranges at specific companies you want to work for.
- Factor in the cost of living if moving to a new city or state.
- Break down salaries by years of experience to find your market value.
- Read through job postings to see the advertised or estimated pay.
This market research will give you a strong sense of viable salary requests when networking and interviewing.
Maximize Your LinkedIn Profile
A stand-out LinkedIn presence is crucial for demonstrating your value to recruiters and hiring managers. Make sure to:
- Highlight key skills, achievements, and quantifiable results.
- Include examples of projects and impact on previous roles.
- Get endorsements and recommendations from managers and colleagues.
- Publish articles and content that shows your thought leadership.
- Use keywords that get you found for relevant open positions.
This shows you are a subject matter expert with the right accomplishments to command a higher salary.
Negotiate Opportunities
When reaching out about jobs on LinkedIn or talking to recruiters, use negotiation strategies to get the pay you deserve:
- Ask about the salary range or budget for the role before providing your requirements.
- Anchor expectations by providing a reasonable salary range based on your research.
- Focus on the value you bring to the company in terms of experience, expertise, and achievements.
- Consider bonuses, equity, and benefits as part of total compensation.
- Practice negotiating with examples and templates to improve your confidence.
With preparation and practice, you can use these discussions to your advantage in salary determination.
Leverage Competing Offers
Having multiple job opportunities at once gives you leverage to negotiate a higher salary. LinkedIn enables you to showcase your in-demand status in a few key ways:
- Set your LinkedIn status to “Open to Work” so recruiters reach out to you.
- Message contacts at targeted companies to express interest in opportunities.
- Share content and participate in groups to expand your professional network.
- Once you have an offer, notify other interested companies to accelerate timelines.
- Politely share the salary and benefits from your first offer when discussing pay.
- Avoid explicitly threatening to walk away or reject an offer as that may backfire.
Having multiple potential jobs empowers you to secure the income you deserve.
Boost Income After Hiring
Even once hired, there are LinkedIn best practices to continue increasing your earnings over time:
- Join industry LinkedIn Groups to stay on top of compensation trends.
- Connect with recruiters in case you want to explore new options.
- Build your brand as an expert to boost visibility for promotions.
- Follow company pages to get insider perspective and open roles.
- Regularly add new skills, projects, and accomplishments to your profile.
- Research before annual reviews to negotiate your worth.
This ongoing career development on LinkedIn provides the foundation to steadily grow your salary at a company or field competitive offers to move up.
Changing Jobs May Lead to Biggest Salary Gains
While negotiated raises help over time, research shows that changing companies tends to result in the most dramatic boosts in pay. Some key advantages of job-hopping include:
- Exposure to new technologies, processes, and training expands your skillset.
- You avoid pay ceilings or slow growth by starting fresh at a new employer.
- It motivates your network to help you land the best possible new role and title.
- You can time moves around economic cycles and periods of high demand.
- Each job change is a clean slate to negotiate salary from the maximum possible basis.
Just be wary of having “job hopper” on your resume – aim for approximately 2-3 years per position before making your next strategic move.
Average Pay Boost from Changing Jobs
| Years of Experience | Pay Increase by Switching Jobs |
|---|---|
| 0-2 years | Around 30% |
| 3-5 years | Around 20% |
| 6-10 years | 15% or higher |
| 10-20 years | 10-20% |
| 20+ years | Around 10% |
This data illustrates how early and mid-career professionals tend to see the largest compensation gains from strategically changing employers.
Conclusion
Determining appropriate salary levels on LinkedIn requires research, negotiation, maintaining an impactful personal brand, and being open to new opportunities. While it can be uncomfortable to discuss pay, candidates willing to do so often earn 20-30% more over their careers. Don’t leave money on the table – implement these proactive tips to earn what you deserve.
