by Allen Teal

Created on: January 24, 2009   Last Updated: February 04, 2009

Making more money at your current job is not a simple task. If it was, everyone would be on easy street financially. Sometimes, your income potential is limited at your current job. Even if it is limited, usually ways can be found to increase your paycheck. The steps to increase your income are similar regardless of the type of job or where you work. Making more money is a matter of finding out what is possible and doing it.

Do some research.

Before doing anything, look around and see what others who earn more than you are doing. This will help you map out your strategy and career path within the company. If there are positions above you that earn more, you will want to consider climbing up. There may be lateral positions that in departments that are viewed as more valuable to the company. Employees in those departments will be compensated better because of this. Make a decision about where you want to go and set a path to get there.

Think long term.

Although it may not buy you new furniture today, there are ways to increase your earnings that may not make your weekly paycheck larger. If your company does matching contributions to a 401k or retirement fund, try to take advantage of this. A few years from now when your retirement needs begin to loom on the horizon, this will look like the work of a genius. By middle age, most people are looking for income to fund their retirement. You will already have it in place.

Be willing to invest more time.

Time is money. Overtime is more money. The absolute fastest way to ratchet up your income at your current job is to work overtime. If you are a salaried employee, this does not work. For everyone else, earning one and a half times your base salary adds up quickly. Somewhere around 27 hours of overtime equals a full week of pay. This means that if you can work 2 hours of overtime everyday of a 5 day week for a month, you will have earned the equivalent of over a week and a half of extra pay.

Ask for more responsibility.

Employers usually try not to pay more money for the same level of work. However, if you take on more responsibility, you will make your contribution to the company more valuable. More value to the company should translate into more income for you. You may have to push to get the amount of increase that you need or want.

Get more education.

There are not guarantees that education will bring money or advancement on your current job. You may be in a position that is at the top of the heap with no where to climb. Fortunately, most people are not at this point. By increasing your educational value two possible routes to increased income are possible. If you stay in the same position, you should get more income because your worth to the company has increased. In the other direction, education should help to qualify you for a promotion. Anytime that you receive a promotion, it should include a decent raise.

Talk to the boss about more money.

You may be one of those employees who is still nearer to the bottom of the pay scale for your class. This means that your boss has room to move your salary up without needing to bend the rules. In most companies, this can be done fairly easily as long as the raise does not put the employee too near to the top of the scale. Since pay scales for most positions span several thousand dollars in annual income, low end employees who are worth keeping may be able to wrangle a nice raise.

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