What determines your salary?

By setting the proper value on the services you provide, you will set your rates where you can charge what you deserve and also be successful. How do you know if you are charging enough?
Consider these things:

1. Your Training- Consider how much education have you had to build the expertise that you offer in your services? Know what skills make you unique from your competitors or colleagues who offer the same services/ are in the same position as you. Your employer will be paying you for your expertise, and will be paying you for what they need from you. Therefore, never underestimate the value of that – your employer will only pay for time spent getting their top notch work done. You are the expert, after all!

2.  Your experience- Think of how much work experience you have in providing the services you offer to your clients? Your employer should be paying you for your years of experience as well. Experience is equivalent to time spent on task and this contributes to your expertise. The thing you do with the least amount of effort is the thing you should be charging the most for.. and that only comes from experience! For instance, those in management level work less but earn the most, while the others work more and earn less.

3.Your own growth- Most Kenyans Lack a reading culture. No wonder someone said that “If you want to hide something from a Kenyan, keep it in books.” Make it a habit to keep learning something new every day. By being in continuous learning mode, you will always be growing within your profession and maintaining that expert status. In fact, to become an expert you only need to read 3 books on a particular subject.
Also, consider working with a mentor to help in your own growth as a professional. Study new areas of your profession and keep on top of your ideal client industry trends. Being proactive will always keep you ahead of the curve and this will keep your pipeline of clients and potential clients full.

4. Your confidence- One of the biggest parts of valuing yourself is your confidence level. Confidence comes with experience, for sure, but it’s important to feel good about what you are charging. Remember you should not overcharge or undercharge your value. How confident are you that your rates are high enough? Setting your rates to be the ‘market’ price or the best deal in town, is potentially announcing your lack of confidence to the world.
When you really understand your own value, you will be able to convey that to your clients/ employer, and they will recognize your value as well. You will not fell under paid.

Skills to writing a perfect Curriculum Vitae (CV)

7 Ways to Make an Impact With Your Cover Letter

Job hunting today is a tedious process due to high competition in the job market. But even with so many applications; do you ever wonder why you never seem to receive calls from employers? The success or failure in a job hunting process is contingent upon the way one someone writes his or her cover letter.

Writing a good cover letter is sometimes more important than writing a resume. I say this because the bearing of the letter is definitely heavier than that of the resume. It is the first thing that your prospective employers read about you.  The assertiveness and the command of your letter make them think twice before sending your portfolio to the paper shredder.

Most recruiters spend less than a 60 seconds going through your CV. Therefore, you have a very limited amount of time to arouse enough curiosity (in the mind of the employer) to warrant a look at your resume. A catchy cover letter is what drives the hiring manager to go through your CV.

How do you create a cover letter that employers find genuinely interesting?

1. Avoid verbosity – Don't use two words when one will do, in short, avoid too many unnecessary verbs in your sentences. Remember you have limited space to make an impact; therefore you need to choose your words carefully.

2. Write to sell - Every word you use in your cover letter needs to be focused on four things: the position for which you are applying, the organization in which you will work, your ability to meet (and exceed) the needs of the employer as well as your desire to work for the company.

3. Be personable, professional and persuasive - Address your letter to an individual (the contact person) and use the organization's name in the text at least one time. If you do not have the name of a person to reference, use the internet or the phone and find out who is handling that vacancy. Get creative if you have to, but never use "To Whom it May Concern".

4. Be relevant - Write anything that may be of relevance to your desired and highlight capabilities that are important and related to the job position you're applying for.  Remember to match your accomplishments and abilities with the needs of the company (specifically the expectations for the open position).

5. Focus on your achievements and not on the tasks you were assigned to perform. Majority of people do the mistake of filling up their cover letters with all the responsibilities they were assigned to work on which back fires them in the interview sessions as the employers are interested in what you have accomplished and not on what you were assigned to accomplish.

6. Let the employer know you want to work for them and state specific reasons for your conclusion. Hopefully, you will have done enough research about the organization to know why you would want to be a part of their team.

7. Proofread. Check for any grammatical errors before you send your cover letter. Nothing will work against you faster than a misspelled word. In fact, that is often one of the first screening measures taken in identifying which job candidates make it to the next level. If your materials are not perfect, they may be the first to end up in the trash can.