Haven’t seen a pay raise since the recession started? That could change later this year if you’re in the right job. While one source is forecasting average raises to be around 2.5 percent in 2010, we found nine jobs where workers are almost sure to see better-than-average salary increases.
Compliance Experts
The more laws that are passed to regulate banks and Wall Street, the more compliance experts will see their salary range rise, says Alan Johnson, principal of Johnson Associates, a Wall Street compensation consulting company based in New York City. Expect to see salary increases ranging from 5 percent to 10 percent for Main Street compliance pros to 15 percent in investment banking in 2010, Johnson predicts.
Credit and Collections Professionals
Consumers keep making late payments on credit cards, as well as on home and auto loans, creating demand for collections professionals whose average salaries will rise in response, says Stacey O’Neill, managing director of The Mergis Group, a Bethesda, Maryland, recruitment firm.
Financial Analysts
Following a recession, companies want to grow by expanding existing business, implementing new initiatives and making acquisitions. They need financial analysts to conduct due diligence for any of those activities. With demand for these professionals increasing, pay raises are coming, although it’s too soon to know exactly how much salaries might rise, says Dawn Fay, district president with staffing firm Robert Half International in Menlo Park, California.
Public Accounting Managers/Senior Accountants
During the recession, public accounting firms not only reduced staff levels, but also froze salaries. As the market rebounds, so should the demand for public accounting services. Firms will have to come up with salary increases to keep compensation competitive or risk losing their top accountants to industry positions, Fay predicts.
Revenue Producers at Nonprofits
Nonprofits need the best revenue winners as competition grows fierce for increasingly scarce funding, O’Neill says. So if you know how to bring in revenue for your nonprofit by writing grants or proposals, or how to keep money coming in by satisfying compliance rules, you should be looking at a salary increase in 2010.
Medical Coders
Medical coders are always in demand and possess difficult-to-find skills and expertise, such as detailed knowledge of healthcare codes. However, the demand for these professionals will rise further as organizations plan for and implement the new, more complicated ICD-10 code set that must be in place by October 2013, Fay says. Those who pick up the new coding first will likely see their pay increase first. And although it will take some time to learn the code and get everything in place before the deadline, salaries will rise before that 2013 deadline, she adds.
Technical Implementation Specialists
Corporations that put off technology upgrades will begin making system upgrades as we come out of the recession. Those investments in infrastructure and technology will lead to an uptick in technical services hiring as well as raises for consultants with experience implementing enterprisewide systems, predicts Mark Szypko, managing director of international compensation for Salary.com, which powers Monster’s Salary Wizard.
Front-End Web Developers
Increased demand for Web developers with experience in HTML 5, the next version of the markup language used to create Web pages, will precipitate a subsequent increase in salaries in this area, Fay says.
Top Performers at Any Company
When the economy recovers and employment picks up, top performers will be poised to pick up the biggest pay raises.
Employee turnover rates have been in the low single digits during the recession because unhappy employees have nowhere to go. “When things turn around, employee turnover is going to go through the roof,” Szypko says.
To keep critical employees, companies will have to offer bonuses, better benefits and salary increases, Szypko says.
“Top performers could get 10 percent to 12 percent increases, but you have to rob Peter to pay Paul, so they’ll do that by giving others zero merit increases,” he says. That means now is the right time to make sure your boss knows why you’re a top performer.
Nine Jobs Likely to Get a Pay Raise in 2010
