Are you prepared to negotiate a job offer? What about during a performance review...Do you know your worth to the company and how to communicate that during your feedback session with your employer?

If you accept an offer and then are subsequently dissatisfied as you feel under-compensated, this will affect your attitude on the job. All of us want and deserve to be compensated appropriately, meaning in accordance to how effectively we meet the goals of the position or how well we have performed during the course of time if we are being reviewed.

What is essential for us to understand is the specific marketplace, how we meet and/or exceed the expectations of the position and where this job fits in the grand scheme of our career. If it is a stepping stone, that has one implication on how we position ourselves. If this is the job of our dreams, it takes on another perspective. In both, however, it behooves us to be prepared, patient, persistent and professional.