Research
Irrespective of what you eventually decide, this should be your first step. Researching what competing companies are offering individuals in your position will help you to know your worth in the job market. Job portals & magazines are a good starting point.
Proving your worth
Keep a track of the work you do and use it to prove to your reporting manager and seniors that you are worth the financial investment. This will go a long way in improving your short & long term career goals. As Suchita Dutta, Executive Director, Indian Staffing Federation says,
Highlighting your strengths
Psychometric assessments, aptitude test can be used as a supplement to evaluate your performance along with the previous step. Try to highlight your skill set and how it can help the organization moving forward. Doing the previous step will also ensure you have a lot of data points to back up your claims.
Fresh Challenges
Playing to your strengths being a smart move, you also need to keep challenging yourself to develop your skill set. It will not only keep you sharp, but also help you to develop even more stronger points to add to your skills.
Investing in one’s career
Investing time and money in your professional career is never a bad thing. Some companies require/encourage certifications while some others give prominence to self development. Whatever it may be, try to utilize your free time to develop your skills and abilities, you never know when they might come in handy.
Alternatives
By alternatives, we mean alternate benefits. A pay hike is not the only way you can benefit in your current organization. There can always be perks and benefits that you can avail instead.
Being the good guy
Being a hard worker sometimes just doesn’t cut it. Its possible that you might be spending hours more than anyone else on your job, but are those hours being utilized the way your boss wants them to be ? At the end of the day, its your boss that will give out that promotion or pay hike. Make sense then, to be in the good books of your direct boss.
Internal Change
If the current boss you report doesn’t have a style that suits you, you can always request a change in department. Although, this can end up being a double edged sword as there is no guarantee that a different team will be any better.
Stick before switching
Staying in a company for a longer duration results in your increments being higher in the longer run.
Switching
If none of the above methods works out, then you can search for a another job with the satisfaction that you’re tried your best to use every opportunity available at your disposal. here is no denying the fact that sometimes switching a job is an effective way of getting a big raise.
