Im not getting paid enough!?
Im 18 male, live in a semi-rural area of England (not a major city). I work as a Rental Administrator for a local successful estate agents that has around 20 staff members. I have worked there for 6 months and am pretty good at my job, I have A-Levels in Photography, forensic science, IT, and Geography. I really do enjoy my job and love work but heres the big BUT. I work 9am-6pm daily with a 30 minute lunch break. I'm on £6 an hour which equals around £11,400 a year! This is no where near enough to live on and I reckon im getting seriously underpaid and should be getting at least £13,000 a year. I found this website which shows the average pay for an office administrator and shows £13,000! Should I speak to my boss or is £11,000 right? Here is the link to the site where it says the average pay for people with A-levels: http://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Degree=Advanced_Level_(A-Level)/Salary
Alex - sorry that you are frustrated but it sounds kind of right to me. I did not look at the website link but the 13,000 you found on that site is most likely an average. That means that some people get less and some get more. SOme of the difference may be attributed to geography (jobs in bigger cities pay more because cost of living is higher) and some to experience on the job, etc. So while you are correct that 11,400 is very difficult to live on, use it as a motivator for yourself. Choose a profession that you like and pays well (engineer, accountant, etc.). Then go to school for it. Yes, it is a struggle but al worthwhile things are. Can your boss get someone to do your job at the same pay you do it for (or maybe even less)? If the answer is yes, or even maybe yes, then you have little to stand on. Especially since it has only been 6 months. That is not enough time to ask for a raise at all. If you intend to stay with the job and progress then approach your boss and tell him/her that you like the job and want to progress, then ask what you can do to be better, if he/she sees any weaknesses in you, etc. Then say thank you, and tell them you will work on those things they suggessted and ask for a review in 6 months - during those six months, work hard on meeting their suggestions but don't expect to go up 2,000 in 1 year. Standard raises are 3% increase for satisfactory/good performance and 5% for outstanding performance. So the onyl way to really move ahead is to help teh company grow to be larger so you can manage more people or move on to a different profession. You are very young, you have time, this does not have to be the end, stoke your ambition.
Good luck.
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