How to know salary norm?

amother

Tue, May 17 2022, 11:22 pm

How do I know if I'm getting paid the fair amount?

I work for a program within a school. I feel like the salaries are like the wild west. Basically whoever yells the loudest gets the most. I used to work at a different school. You have to fight for your raise. Those who did that best got the most. I'm not a fighter, I like to be happy with what I get. But I ended up being so resentful when I realized that less skilled people are earning more.

So I switched to a different school. I was very happy with the job and salary and I think they are happy with me. I don't know what to do not to land in the same resentful situation again? I know that if I tell them that I'm only coming back if I get a 10k raise, they will give it to me, because I don't think they would let me go. I wouldn't ask for that because it isn't a reasonable thing to ask for. Salaries vary so much on peoples personalities and how much they think they can get, more than on the persons skill sets. It feels unfair.

For this discussion, imagine I would be a typical classroom teacher. (I'm not exactly that, just think it's the most comparable to my situation. I have a bit of a specialty and I'm trained in and they won't be thrilled to train in new person...)

My questions are- is there a set percentage that I can expect my salary to go up every year? Is there a cap on a job, like after x amount we can't raise you? Am I being a pushover not to push for the maximum I know they would give me or am I being fair and reasonable? Is being fair the smartest way to go?