Almost everyone wants to progress in their career and earn a pay rise. Unfortunately, due to the recession and the change in Government, recruitment freezes and pay caps are abundant. So, what can you do to prove your worth to your employer and negotiate a pay rise?

The first step is to speak to your manager and get feedback on your performance and areas they have identified where you could improve. Then agree some targets and request a performance and pay review in three or six month’s time. This will give you the opportunity to work towards and achieve the agreed targets and put you in a stronger negotiating position.

There are also extra things you can do to demonstrate your commitment to the job. You can undertake training, whether you do an independent e-learning course or get company support to do an intense two or three day training course. There are obviously industry relevant courses and qualifications in almost every sector but there are other ways in which you can improve your performance. Project management training is relevant to a manager in any sector as you will learn core management skills. These will help you to better manage your workload and ultimately increase your efficiency. Project management training may also help you to reduce your stress levels as you will feel better equipped to deal with your responsibilities.

Is it time for a change in career? It may be that you could earn more money doing the same job in a different industry. If you are in a position to take a career break then a new qualification in core skills such as management, IT, project management, health and safety and so on would enable you to walk into most management level jobs in most sectors. You can usually do these full-time over a three to twelve month period. If you are not able to take a career break e-learning courses are a great option which you can do in the evenings and at weekends whilst in full-time work. This can be very time consuming but you can move at your own pace so if things come up the deadlines are very flexible. On the other hand, if you want to get the qualification quickly you can.

If you are happy with your current employer and career path then take on extra responsibility to prove you are serious. If someone in your team is off sick, on maternity leave or on holiday why not step up and volunteer to cover some of their work load? If you know that something needs to be done urgently then pause what you have to do and deliver it. Then obviously send an appropriate email to the client or your colleague and copy in your boss too! If you are going to the extra effort make sure that it is noticed, otherwise you will not get the deserved recognition.

There are lots of options for increasing your salary at the moment; you just have to work a little harder for it. Spending six months covering some of the responsibilities of a colleague on maternity leave or completing a project management training course may seem onerous but it will be worthwhile if you earn a pay rise at the end of it.

John McE writes articles on a number of subjects including project management training,/a>, Project Management Institute qualifications, Prince2 training and the Management of Risk certification.