This course contains the use of artificial intelligence.

"Know your worth" is advice you cannot act on, because your worth is not set by you. It is set by a system you have probably never seen from the inside.

Why the advice does not work

You are told to be confident and ask for more. So you pick a number that feels bold, your manager says the budget does not allow it, and the conversation ends because you have nothing to say next. Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, there is a grade with a defined range, a market survey from a named provider, a compa-ratio, and a review matrix that determines what is possible in this cycle and what is not. None of that is secret. It is simply never shown to the person it is about, which is why most salary conversations are one side improvising against a system.

What this course covers

Thirty-nine lessons in two halves that meet in the middle. The inward half first: what impostor syndrome actually is and why it selects for competent people, the "this comes too easily to me" trap, what market value is made of and whether you can move it, standing on three income sources rather than one, and then emotional intelligence proper — how emotion travels between people, stress and recovery, what low and high self-awareness look like from outside, empathy and rapport, and an honest picture of yourself. Then the outward half, which is the unusual part: how a job actually gets levelled and priced. Compensation philosophy, job analysis, grades and ranges, analytical and non-analytical evaluation methods, the repertory grid, factorial analysis, choosing grade width, pay equity, linking an internal structure to external data, the pay policy and the progressive review matrix. Then compensation in full: what companies pay for, bonus design and the formula behind an award, benefits and cafeteria plans, salary market reviews including what a provider file looks like and how the result is used, and recognition and referral schemes. Finally the move itself: how hiring works and how the salary in a posting is set, the CV, the phone screen, staying functional through a long search, how to ask for a rise — how much, when, and the answer to each standard objection — and building a profile that brings opportunities to you.

A note on two of the blocks

Fifteen of these lessons were recorded for the people who design pay systems, not for the people paid by them. They are here deliberately and from the other side of the table: so that when someone says "that is outside the band", you know what a band is, how wide it was set, which survey it came from, and what arguments exist inside that structure. It is the only course I have that shows an individual the machinery rather than the advice.

Who is teaching this

I am Mike Pritula. I built the people system at Preply as it became a unicorn, and I have worked at Wargaming, iDeals and Alfa-Bank. More than 1.6 million students have enrolled in my courses across 185 countries, and over 150,000 specialists have gone through my programmes. I hold PHRi and SHRM-CP certifications and represent HRCI in more than ten countries.

What is included

• Lifetime access to all 39 lessons

• Active instructor support in the Q&A section

• A Udemy Certificate of Completion

• Working material: the grading tool, evaluation factors, range building, the review matrix, the bonus formula, how to read a market survey, the pay rise checklist with objection responses, CV structure

• The employer's side of a salary conversation, shown rather than summarised

Where to start

Before lesson one, write down the number you would ask for and the sentence you would say after your manager says no. Most people have the number and not the sentence. By section nine you will have both. Enrol now and start today.