5 Career Mistakes That Keep You Underpaid

1. Not Being Outspoken

If your schooling was like mine, teachers spent half the day just getting you to shut up. By the time you graduate, the habit’s set in stone: Sit at your desk and keep quiet.

Outspoken employees are perceived as smarter, and having more initiative or potential. None of that is necessarily true. There are plenty of confident idiots and quiet geniuses. But while you may pride yourself on being the latter, it doesn’t pay. The quiet genius gets overlooked for promotions, pay raises, and sometimes respect.

If you’re quiet by nature, or don’t speak well, that has to change. You don’t need to outdo Martin Luther King on a podium; just be able to make presentations and assert yourself.

2. Not Writing Well

You don’t need to write Cameroon’s answer to War & Peace. But you do need to write proposals and reports well. If you can’t, your employer might value you less than your peers.

Writing skills are very important when responding to customers. Some jobs require you to contact customers via e-mail, or provide instructions and clarifications on products. It’s a part of sales.”

If you can’t write well, HR Expert Charlotte Njiaba suggests business writing classes.

3. Not knowing what you’re worth

If you haven’t done so already, do a small research around and see if your salary’s decent. Aim to be in the 60th percentile at least. Anything less, and there’s a good chance you can find a higher paying job elsewhere.

Alternatively, you can negotiate for more pay and…what’s that sucking sound? Oh, it’s the sound of your tongue retreating all the way up your skull. I forget; Singaporeans hate the sound of their voice. Listen to Angeline for a second:

“Amongst Cameroonian employees, it’s quite typical for us to underrate our worth. A lot of us think that, if we go and ask for a raise, we are ‘being too much’. And the boss will fire us on the spot.

This is unlikely, since you’re not going to shout and demand more pay. If you negotiate reasonably, the worst is you get a ‘no’. And I think many people are surprised by how much leverage they have. After all, you were hired for your skills and expertise. If they could have done without you, you wouldn’t be working there.”

I described some pay negotiating tricks in my other articles.

4. You’re not “Hands-On” Enough

This is a common criticism directed at supervisors and junior managers. Signs that you’re not hands-on enough include:

• Subordinates ask you for your e-mail or phone number months after you start work
• Your instructions are always misinterpreted
• You don’t notice procedures have changed until days later

Charlotte Njiaba says this is a major hindrance to pay and bonuses:

“If you don’t roll up your sleeves every now and then, it’s hard to take credit. When the department has a success, you will be afraid of the recognition, because your subordinates will grumble that you had nothing to do with it. Even your boss will worry about giving you a big bonus or pay raise.”

I’d add that being outspoken is a bad idea if you aren’t hands-on. You won’t look smart then, you’ll just look like a jerk.

5. You’re too loyal

The important thing is to be forward looking. We’ll have better sales and raises next year. 

In a second, I’ll be dodging the crap that gets thrown at me. But I’ll say it anyway: When your company is clearly going nowhere, forget loyalty. Accept that you may have to move where the money is.

If your company’s got crap products, then it doesn’t matter how hard you try. Take bankers for instance: When their bank’s products are bad, they don’t stick around and “try harder”. They pack up and leave. And they hop between banks like fleas on a mongrel’s back.

Charlotte Njiaba adds that:

“If you are in a small company, you may not get appropriate compensation. In this case, it’s like an investment. Are you willing to invest your time, and the pay you could get, in exchange for making the company succeed?

And how long are you going to give the company? Past a certain point, you may have to say ‘that’s it, I will never make more working here, my only solution is to go.’ Don’t sink with the company.”

What are the reasons you’re underpaid? Comment and let us know!