<prompt> Human: I recently decided I wanted to move on from my job for a variety of reasons. One of the main reasons was I felt I was undervalued. So with a lot of research here is how I went from 58,000 to 85,000.1. I felt I was undervalued, so I needed to prove it. 2. I needed another job, obviously.3. I needed to know how to negotiate.4. I needed to make sure I knew my bottom line and what I really wanted.5. Making the decision.So lets start with number 1. Am I undervalued?I needed to research how much my job title was worth. For this I went to the bureau of labor statistics, salary.com, glassdoor.com, and google. has nearly ever piece of info you need to decide what your position is worth. Salary.com and glassdoor.com also where close to bls. Dont settle on one source for anything. Do realize when doing this part that you need to take into consideration the local job market in your area. Where I live for example, I know my area pays less than the median because my cost of living is alot lower than most other places. So when you decide what the median pay is for what you do, be realistic. For me the median pay was 70,000. My current job was paying me 58,000. So number one was finished, I am being undervalued.On to number 2. Find another jobI needed to find other places of employment in my area, doing what I wanted to do. For this I went to the google, as it has all the answers. I made profiles on careerbuilder, indeed, glassdoor, and monster. I updated my resume, and started applying for everything I thought I would want to do. It is important to realize when applying for jobs it is time consuming and will get frustrating repeating your self over and over. But you need to stay diligent. Also it is worth your time to tweak your resume to match key words in the application you are applying for. I wish I would have known the importance of networking as well. Sometimes the best opportunities are ones you get by someone mentioning your name to the right person. Never burn bridges and always reach out to those who may be able to vouch for you.Anyway, I applied for a week straight. Then slowly the calls and emails started rolling in. Hell yes!By the end of the week I had 3 interviews setup. I was amazed on just how easy it could be to get the process started. Then the hard part came. Interviewing.My interviews went awesome. I researched what to say and how to say it, how to accent my strengths, and all that jazz. The best piece of advice on how to interview well is read! Google is your best friend. For me the best things were my drive to succeed and my willingness to learn. Many employers will pick people who are driven over people with alot of experience. Obviously you need to have some skills, but dont underestimate the power of persistence.Employer A gave me a range for the job pretty easily when i asked about it. This makes your negotiating power much higher as most of you know. But the range was way to low. I knew already this place was out. But I thanked them for the interview anyway. Sometimes you just are to far apart to waste each others time any further. Be polite though if this happens and move on.Employer B wanted to know how much I wanted for a salary. I thought Oh yea I know not to say anything, I am so clever! Well they didnt budge. The wouldnt give me a range, and they kept at me. Sometimes this will happen. Handle it accordingly. I gave them a high range 75k-85k. They seemed ok with it.Employer C was the same way as Employer B. I handled it the same.Number 3. NegotiationSo I received 3 offers in 2 weeks. Wait, you got offers at all 3 places? Hell yes I did! One offer was lower than I wanted, so employer A was out. Be sure to thank everyone for there time and offers. Remember... Dont burn bridges.But the other 2 offers where above the median income I researched! This further made me realize Im definitely worth more than Im making now. Employer B was at 82,000. Employer C was at 75,000. It was almost surreal for me to hear these numbers. This validated my thoughts and research of being undervalued even further.There is a myriad of things to negotiate. Dont just think about salary, but the overall package. This article helped me alot when preparing. Dont be afraid to tell people what you want. But dont go overboard. No one is going to pay you 1,000,000 a year to clean toilets.Now that I have these offers I can leverage one against the other. This works the best when you know a company really wants you. I spoke with both companies back and forth and I knew employer B was the winner. Damn this is crazy! 58k to 82k in 2 weeks. I go to my current boss and tell him whats happening. I was upfront and honest about everything, thats usually the best way to go. Then my current employer decides to counter offer. 85,000. What the hell do I do now? My brain is on overload.Through much reading and researching I found that counter offers are generally a bad idea to accept. I mean I wanted to leave anyway, that hasnt changed. So I took the counter offer and spoke with the other employer B about it. They decide to match the salary and I negotiate more days off. Is this really happening? 85kNumber 4. Knowing what you really want, and what you bottom line isThe offer of 85,000 was above and beyond my bottom line. The overall package of benefits matched my expectations. The job is what I wanted to do. You need to know this stuff going in and be able to walk away when someone does meet your bottom line. Staying strong and not budging on this bottom line is essential. Finally 5. Making the decisionThe hardest part of all this stuff is making an actual decision. Im going from 58,000 to 85,000 in either decision I make. Im on the winning side either way. Try and take your emotions out of it, and look at the facts. For me I decided to take the new opportunity and take the plunge into the unknown. Do not second guess yourself. I realize my situation may not be average. Getting a 45 raise probably isnt typical. But the fact remains that it is possible to negotiate a better lifestyle. It is nerve racking, intense, anxiety inducing, and difficult. But it is all worth it in the end. I hope this helps at least one person in their pursuit of a better life. Thanks pf for all the help and courage to tackle the unknown.Assistant: Great work!What I am curious about is, when you got the counteroffer from your current company and went back to your new employer... What did that conversation sound like? How did you articulate that?Human: Basically I was honest. I told them exactly what was offered and told them if they could match it my decision would be alot easier. Honesty is usually best policy. Just keep it professional. You are talking to a person, people respond to honesty and straightforwardness. Assistant: Sure, but you also got more holidays as well. How did that bit of negotiation start?Human: I just told them I wanted a certain amount of days of because I had more at my other place. If a place wants you to leave somewhere they will try and sweeten the pot to match what is already offered to you. You just need to ask. Everything is open for negotiation.  <response>: I lost some vacation when I changed jobs because the company I went to had a very strict vacation as years of service policy, but I did get them to throw an extra thousand instead of the extra week of vacation I was asking for. 