I work in the media industry and my pay is only $3.1K. I've worked for more than 2 years now and earn on average $1k lesser than my peers. I'm 25. Any advice on how to increase my pay faster?

Ask for it during annual salary review, always be applying out too

I remember when I was 25 working in the creative industry and earning less than all my peers, a wise friend in her 30s who was already a top earning banker told me: "don't worry, money will come eventually".

Indeed, fast forward 15 years, i now earn approximately 10 times of my starting pay of $1.8k.

I will like to pass on her message to the young people starting out in the workforce too, but I will also add on to her statement: "Don't worry, money will come eventually if you are good at what you do and continually add value to everything you touch."

I have worked for 7 companies in my 17 years of career so far, 5 of which have been direct recommendations (I.e. either through headhunters or trusted associates within the company). I also took a pay cut once because I really liked the job. And this was the job that propelled my salary increase from $4k to $10k in 5 years, mostly due to 3 promotions in that timeframe. I eventually then became a freelancer, getting a paycut again, to widen the scope of my experience, collecting valuable experience and knowledge that gave me another salary boost in the next job.

So my advice for getting salary bumps is to be good at what you're doing, stand out from your peers with your unique skill combinations and opinions, be authentic and care about your job and bring actual value to your employers. Also, be nice and care about the people you are working with. People want to work with people they like, and you never know if your next dream job will come from one of your ex colleagues.

Don't care too much about how much you're paid; care more about how much value you're bringing, and the money will come eventually.

I work in the media industry as well, and started with a 2.3k pay without CPF. I think the best thing you can do is to always improve yourself, be open to learning new things, and you’ll become a valuable member of the team. In this way, you can confidently ask for a higher pay during a review.

Don’t be afraid to try for other companies if you see better opportunities.

Jiayou!

Starting asking for raises during your reviews if you want to stick to your current company. Otherwise, start looking for a new employer as changing jobs will give you more increments than raises. Of course, this assumes that you've been pulling your weight and performing for the past years.