Three out of five (61%) UK professionals are unhappy with their current salary, according to a new survey.
Independent job board CV-Library surveyed 1,500 professionals and revealed that lawyers, teachers and new graduates were the most disappointed with their current pay packets. Despite many being unhappy, more than half (55%) stated they had never tried to negotiate for a higher salary.
When asked why, 51% said they did not want to risk losing their job, 40% said they did not want to seem too pushy and 32% felt they did not know how to negotiate.
More than a quarter (29%) said they had felt less likely to negotiate their wage in 2021 than they were before the onset of Covid-19 (Coronavirus).
There has already been a rise in average salaries within the 2022 job market, with increases in 16 sectors in January 2022 so far compared to January 2021. The top five sectors with salary increases are hospitality/hotel (+66%), marketing (+12%), IT (+12%), administration (+10%) and management (+9%).
Lee Biggins, CEO and founder of CV-Library, commented that in the last few months there had been a power shift back in favour of candidates, with the year-on-year salary increases across many industries already seen in 2022 substantiating this.
He explained that candidates should feel able to negotiate on salary without fear of losing out on an exciting opportunity, but the key to negotiation was to be prepared.
“Be sure that you know what you’re worth and what you can bring to the business that will justify a higher salary,” Biggins said.
“To successfully negotiate an increase, it’s vital that you take the time to think about what you want, and you check out the latest salaries on offer for your specific role. This will give you the supporting evidence that your expectations are realistic for the 2022 job market,” he added.