Y ou've found the right position, the right niche for you. Now you want to secure a better salary, one that reflects your real value to the company. The question is, how?

First of all, understand that your fair market value isn't one neat, tidy number, but a range. It's like a puzzle made up of three pieces: your objectively researched value (ORV$), your extra individual value (IV$) and what I'll call your risk-factor dollars (Rf$).

You left-brainers can think of it as a formula in which the market value equals the sum of three other values: Market value = ORV$ + IV$ + Rf$

For you right-brained visual types, just think 'present, past, future,' and picture your market value as a composite photograph made by combining these three perspectives: the present going rate (ORV$), the added value of your past experience (IV$) and your future contribution (Rf$).

Left- or right-brained, in order to fully understand this formula, you need some definitions.

• ORV$ (present): Objectively researched i nformation from current published data about the going rate; this year's average earning range for people doing the kind of work you're considering.

• IV$ (past): A subjective assessment of the strength of your past track record; IV$ measures how you stack up individually above or below the competition, on a scale from entry-level to seasoned professional.

• Rf$ (future): Compensation you are willing to make contingent on your future success; speculative compensation.

To calculate objectively researched value, the first step is to find out what people get paid for work similar to yours. Thanks to the Internet, computer databases and Web sites, this ORV$ is much easier to research than ever before.

Online salary-survey information is fast, flashy and growing all the time. EE Times is developing a Web-based Salary Calculator that provides some clues . The Job-Smart Web site (http://jobsmart.org) can help you access 120 (and still counting) online salary surveys--including EE Times's 'Salary & Opinion Survey.'

Or you can let someone else find the information for you. That someone is PinPoint Salary Service.

Most commercial salary or pay comparison-analysis services are offered by (expensive) subscription only, to large companies. PinPoint is the exception. In addition to a computerized database, updated quarterly, with pay ranges for some 3,800 job titles, PinPoint also uses other published sources of salary information, if the data are applicable. In the case of 'niche' jobs that don't fit into neat boxes, the service will give you similar jobs with which you can compare your earnings.

Our number is (773) 4-SALARY, and calling is risk-free, since our services have a satisfaction guarantee.

Feel better now? Good. Then it's on to the next step: calculating extra individual value. IV$ refers to your assessment of how well (or poorly ) you can do the work compared with other candidates. Are you a cut above average? Well known? Have special expertise? If so, your added value can add dollars to your salary.

Beth, an administrative assistant, was proficient in Cougar Mountain accounting software. She added $3,000 IV$ to her market range because the company had budgeted $3,000 to train a new hire in this software.

Nancy had her own real-estate consulting business until a change in the laws made it mandatory that she affiliate with a law firm. Research showed that her $45,000 was at the low end of the range for an administrator, when in reality she was 'running the show'--and bringing the firm a profit of $200,000.

By showing her unique and practically irreplaceable value to the company she was able to get $80,000 base and profit sharing in the six-figure range.

Even if IV$ is a negative number, it can work to your advantage. If you're entry level, lacking a specific requirement, etc., your objectively researched value can be adjusted downward to make you competitively priced.

A public-utility employee wanted to leave a position where he used a PC to analyze company performance in order to go into business for himself as a PC consumer consultant. A PC consultant's ORV$ was $45 to $75 an hour, but he needed to establish his reputation first. So for the first three months, he offered his first hour's consultation free and 75 percent off the hourly rate after that--a fair entry-level price.

The last calculation is of risk-factor dollars. Objectively researched value determines a range, and individual value a place within that range. Rf$ can take the salary off the chart. Whenever you are willing to negotiate compensation contingent on performance, you add what I call risk-factor dollars.

Walter knew that the company interviewing him was about to lose an advertising account worth about $100,000 each year, and that he was the knight in shining armor who could rescue it. His IV$ was much the same as the next can didate's, but the company was behind the eight ball and he was available right away. That added $20,000 'rescue' Rf$ to his value.

New ventures also have potentially high Rf$. If you're hired to spearhead a company's brand-new advertising effort on the World Wide Web, you could open up gates for a flood of money to pour in. If you take part of your compensation in performance bonuses and commissions, those added Rf$ could make your value jump considerably.

Jack Chapman is the author of 'Negotiating Your Salary: How to Make $1,000 a Minute' (Ten Speed Press). Call (630) 942-9464 or e-mail cashoutnow@aol.com.

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