{"id":13041,"date":"2026-01-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/where-to-start\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T00:00:00","slug":"where-to-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scotwork.com\/nz\/blog-nz\/2026\/where-to-start\/","title":{"rendered":"Where to start?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A friend of our youngest son, nearing the end of his first year at a mid\u2011size accounting firm, asked for advice on negotiating his salary. He wanted a rise but wasn\u2019t sure where or how to pitch this to his employer.<\/p>\n

Although hired as a trainee accountant, his role had grown well beyond that. With a programming background and early experience using AI, he had been developing internal tools and apps\u2014some with commercial potential\u2014which the firm valued highly. The firm acknowledged he was performing well beyond expectations and possessed skills that would attract a much higher salary elsewhere.<\/p>\n

His research confirmed this: he could more than double his income in New Zealand and even triple it in the UK. Despite that, he enjoyed living in New Zealand, valued his employer, and appreciated the autonomy and opportunities he\u2019d been given. He wanted to stay but didn\u2019t want to appear either greedy or sell himself short.<\/p>\n

I advised him to map out his actual responsibilities and estimate the time spent on each. From there, he could benchmark market salaries for each component and calculate a proportional figure. He also needed to clarify his objectives, set priorities, and identify possible trade-offs.<\/p>\n

We discussed the company\u2019s goals and objectives, and I encouraged him to confirm these with his manager. \u00a0Once he\u2019d done this, I encouraged him to frame his proposal around how it met the organisations needs as well as his own. I suggested he present his comparative salary data to the company so that it could easily be externally validated.<\/p>\n

We also built a \u201cwish list\u201d including bonuses, preferred projects, development opportunities, additional support, and potential profit\u2011sharing for tools or products he created that generated new revenue\u2014especially those developed independently outside of work but that were applicable to the business.<\/p>\n

A couple of weeks later, he called to say he had achieved everything he asked for.<\/p>\n

Key lessons:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prepare properly<\/strong>:<\/p>\n