This is a simple, but essential part of your job hunt. It doesn't suggest that you should live on just enough to get by, but how can you decide what to go for and negotiate an offer if you don't know what works for you?

Many people have very specific ideas about what money they should be on in their new job. It's usually a percentage increase on the current job.

This is very limiting in two directions. It cuts you off from taking those opportunities that you could afford to do, but pay less than you get now. It also makes it difficult for you to make sudden leaps upwards because it constrains you too much. If you're set on making at least 10% more than your current £40k, why would you even look at a £60k job (even though you might be great at it)?

The only dimension that really counts is what money you, and those that count on you, really feel you need. Now I'm not talking just-enough-to-live-off-if-you-had-to. I'm taking about what you think you really need to be OK financially. If this means you need £100 a month to spend on cosmetics to feel OK financially, then this is what you feel you need - no-one else's standards count here.

So, set it out, what do you need to feel OK (not amazing, or awful, just merely satisfied). List it out, housing, running costs, clothes, spending money, etc, and add it up. So, this is what you feel you need after tax. Taxes in the UK mean that the vast majority of us pay around a third of our salary in income tax and NI - you'll know what the deductions are in your country. So multiply this up to the actual salary you feel you need.

So maybe you surprised yourself - maybe it was lower (or higher) than you thought? Have a look at some job adverts in your chosen area(s) for job hunting and look at jobs that have this level of salary - and see how realistic you feel you are being. You'll know if you are kidding yourself, but if you see a few adverts where you think ‘that looks like the level of experience I have in my profession' and it's the same or more money, then you're thinking along the right lines. If you have two years experience and the level of salary you're looking for always asks for ten, then you might need to re-evaluate your priorities.

Re-evaluating your priorities doesn't necessarily mean accept that you have to go for less money (although you might need to do this), it might meat that you need to change areas, or the number of days or hours you work to b able to achieve that money - perhaps it's more important (or more essential) than you thought?

So, the idea is that you get two important things from this:

1. you know what level of salary you could find acceptable
2. you gain confidence from finding that this is realistic for you in your area (or that you now have your priorities straight!)

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