<prompt> Human: I work for a small company of about 60 employees. The company is successful and the 4 partners make a very nice living. However, aside from one or two other people, the employees are generally underpaid and the partners are very stingy when it comes to payroll. From the perspective of both the partners as well as other employees, I am generally regarded as one of the highest-level non-principal employees in the company. Personally, I feel like Im very underpaid for the job I do and that my salary should be anywhere between 70-100 higher than it is now.My boss has a general idea of my dissatisfaction regarding my salary, but hasnt done much about it aside from giving me standard yearly raises. About a week ago, he suddenly asked me to tell him how much Id like my raise and bonus to be. He said that this is something hes only doing with me, and to not tell anyone else at the company.Im really at a loss for what to do. I feel like hes putting me on the spot and at the same time I think hes trying to screw me by hoping that out of fear shame, Ill give him a lower number than what I really want and then when I express dissatisfaction in the future, hell say But youre the one that told me what you wanted, I thought you were happy?Like I said, I think my salary should be literally double what it is now, but I think if I said something like that, its highly likely he would either laugh at me or get very angry. At the same time, I desperately want a more substantial raise than what Ive gotten in the past so that I can at least maybe be closer to what I feel Im worth. But again - if I ask for lower than what I feel I deserve, am I setting myself up for years of disappointment since now in his head Im earning what I told him I wanted? And what if hes really expecting me to give him a number similar to previous yearly raises 5 - then Ill really be screwing myself.Im just so confused as to how to handle this situation. I feel trapped and in a corner. Does anyone have any advice on how to handle this and what to say? Assistant: Do research on sites like glassdoor to find a salary range for your position. If youre underpaid, the implication is that you help the company earn substantially more money than your salary costs them. Youll want to back that up with numbers to justify your value.70-100 salary jumps do not happen typically within a firm. By taking the job for your current salary youve already agreed to accept 60-50 less than that amount you ideally want. 25 for an internal raise would be a lot, so anchor your expectations somewhere more in that range.Also, its helpful to have alternative options in any negotiation. Polish up that resumé and check the job market.Human: This is good advice, but I think its mostly applicable to large companies that have very well defined titles and roles. In a small company, roles are nebulous and job titles even more so. I essentially help run the operational side of the business, which involves a lot of disparate and even sometimes unrelated tasks. You could think of my job duties as being similar to what a partner normally does in a small company - basically, anything and everything that relates to high-level workflow. I dont even know how find salary ranges for a position like that on a site that uses strict and well-defined titles like Glassdoor.  <response>: Experiment with titles such as Operations Analyst or VP Operations to give you some comps. Job titles always mean different things within different organizations so play with different titles that describe your various responsibilities. 