I wanted to share my experience on my own personal job search experience.  I had heard about 23904821 times that everyone should shop themselves out every 3-5 years to calibrate their salary.  I didn’t, and 5 years is (was) approaching fast.  I was worried about upsetting people that I was thinking about leaving, that I wasn’t dedicated, that I would jump-ship when things weren’t 100%.  Truth be told, I really thought I was worth more, and the comments from others around the office that you are a ‘go-to’ guy struck me as undeserved.  

Also, the adage that relationships gets you jobs, not actual qualifications is true.  Make friends with people, read some books on body language and influence.   

1. Understand that you are an all-star.  What makes an all-star?  When everyone asks for your help specifically, and you’ve got great recognition from the uppers.  
2. Seriously think about where you want to go with your career, don’t pick something that is incremental.  Go for something different that puts you outside of your comfort zone.  You’ll never grow unless you do, yes it’s scary, but it’s a necessary step and you’ll be happy you did.
3. Sharpen and tune your resume towards your new goal.
4. Use your influence tactics and friendships to see what’s out there.  Let your friends know (and / or your management) that you are “seriously considering outside offers”
5. Apply to everything that meats your criteria for an awesome job, regardless of your skills and qualifications.  I’ve been told that ‘being personable is 80% of the interview’.

It might frustrating at first not hearing anything back from the cold internet applications, but you’ll be surprised about the number of opportunities that come from friends and acquaintances.  These personal interactions are where you will really get the concrete opportunities.  Most of the time they’ll say, “are you serious about leaving?” and always, always say “yes”.  

The fun part begins after a few weeks or a month when these contacts that you’ve told start to come back to you with opportunities.  Why?  Because you are an all-star.  Everyone you’ve worked with knows how fantastic you are and what an asset you’ll be.  They want more people like you on their team, and will suggest roles and opportunities that might have been outside your radar.  Be open to their suggestions and really listen to any advice that they give; remember the influence tactics you’ve read about and apply them in a positive manner. 

The Interview(s)

Interviewing is an important step; here are a couple of suggestions that work wonders:

1. Write down the names of the people you will be interviewing with - physically write them down in your interview binder.
2. Study the company like crazy for a couple days before the interview.  Learn about their market, what types of products they offer, who their competitors are, and any technical areas you aren’t 100% confident in.  I believe it takes roughly a knowledge of 15% of the total information to be credible.
3. In the interview remember to be calm; physically take up space - spread out a bit.  Repeat the interviewers name(s) and try to relate in a personal way with them by sharing some interests outside of work.  Get some rapport going!
4. If you don’t know, admit it.  Be honest.

Knowing how much you are worth

Take your latest salary and add 20%.  This is your absolute minimum baseline salary.  Look at salaries for the company and position you are interviewing for on salary.com and glassdoor.com (my favorite).  Once you know the range that people make at the position you are applying for you’ll have a better understanding.  When you get to the portion of the interviews where they start talking money, try and always get them to put a number out first.  If they ask, “what would you like to make?”, counter with “I’m looking to be compensated just as one of my peers would be.”  But if they continue to press, put out a range, starting at what the median is from your research and cap it off at 10% above.  For example - if you are new to an area and the range from your research is 90-130, say I’m looking for 110-120.  Remember though it has to be at least 20% above your existing position wages.

Counter Offer!  Don’t take the first offer, no matter how awesome it sounds.  60% of hiring managers leave money on the table.  They can and will play hardball at this point; they will scare you with suggestions of “I’ll have to check on that number and see if this is a go no-go decision.” implying that they’ll rescind their offer.  Don’t worry, the manager that wants you on the team won’t let the hiring manager take the offer back, they’ve got too much at risk.  After all, they choose you out of a huge playing field, and to take back an offer to you would make them look like they’ve made a poor decision.  It just doesn’t happen.  So play hardball right back and find out who makes the decision on the salary increase and volunteer to talk to that person directly.  (And back up your threat if they say OK!)  I personally say take the original add 10% and explain that this isn’t that much more than my current position, I’ve got a counter from my current employer for xx more, blah blah blah.  Wait on it for a while and then be prepared to accept or counter once more.  Don’t go back and forth more too much however as you could come across as looking petty.