As a fresh face in the professional world, you’re highly likely to get exploited. What makes this more natural for the professional world’s devils is the fact that you’re inexperienced, desperate for a job, and don’t know your worth. Our best suggestion to you is never to let that happen. No matter what happens never allow your skills be exploited. Value yourself and strive to get paid for what you deserve.

Research

You need to do your homework. Explore the market to find out what your skills are worth. This should be done preferably before the interview. This research will not just let you learn of your estimated salary, but you will also find out the multiple jobs that you can get with your skill base. You can search for jobs that require your skills online to get an idea of what you’ll be paid. This way, if your employer asks you what you’re expecting to be paid during the interview, you can demand something decent. A lot of fresh graduates are unaware of what to ask for and end up with an underpaid job.

Be professional

Although money is important, it shouldn’t be your ultimate deciding factor in opting for a job. Even if you end up rejecting a job for low pay, never let the employer know this. In the work environment, it is very unprofessional to be working for money solely. Employees whose ultimate goal is money are not hardworking or dedicated enough to be considered by big companies. This doesn’t mean you have to settle for low pay, just be discreet about it. Sometimes, you’ll find some jobs to be perfect for you. In such a case, it wouldn’t be wrong to sacrifice a little amount of money for high work satisfaction.

Be confident

No one is going to acknowledge your talent unless you’re confident about it yourself. It’s true that being new to the field will make the experience intimidating. However, you could get exploited if the employer senses this intimidation. Believe in yourself. Work hard, and be motivated that whatever you’re doing is worth a fair pay. Being inexperienced doesn’t mean you’re not good at what you do. Even if you’re having doubts, fake your confidence in front of your employer and colleagues.

Patience will reap sweet fruit

Sometimes, inexperienced and fresh graduates are offered jobs with minimal pay so that the company can test their professional skills. If you like the work environment of a place, take the risk, and you might end up impressing the employer so much that you’ll get pay that is higher than your expectation. The first 90 days of a new job are usually the trial time. You can prove yourself in this time so that you get a decent raise after the trial period is over. You can get your performance evaluated and present it as a request to raise your pay too.

Having a job is a blessing. However, make sure that you never let anyone pay you lesser than what you deserve.