During Tough Economic Times,
Charge Up Your Earning Power

By KRIS MAHER
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

These are tough economic times in which people are finding it hard to maintain their current lifestyle, or even to make ends meet.

What to do about it? Well, there are ways to at least try to make more money, and you wouldn't be alone.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, personal income -- or, total earnings, including salary and wages -- has been creeping higher nationwide this year.

At the same time, consumer spending also has been on the rise. Although this is another sign of a mending economy, many people would like their earnings to outpace their spending.

There are numerous ways to boost your income.

Take On Extra Work

When Norman Summers decided he wanted to earn extra money last year, he turned to a Web site listing part-time work and soon snagged a computer-networking consulting job that paid $1,000.

Today the 26-year-old resident of Fairless Hills, Pa., is waiting to hear about three other part-time jobs that could pay him as much as $3,000. In addition, he co-founded a consulting company last month and has roughly $7,000 in networking jobs pending. All of this is on top of his full-time teaching position at a local technical college that pays him about $60,000 a year.

"It's not just to increase the salary but to increase my skills and keep on the edge," he says. "I can transfer that to my students."

While his motivation isn't entirely monetary, Mr. Summers acknowledges that the extra money he is bringing home will come in handy. He says he has spent a chunk of the money on toys for his son and plans to plow earnings back into the fledgling business.

Several Web sites, including the one Mr. Summers has used, A2Zmoonlighter.com, have sprung up in the past few years to meet the demand of free-lancers, contract workers and people who are just looking to augment their income.

According to Inder Guglani, chief executive officer of A2Zmoonlighter, 135,000 of the site's members, or 70%, are "classic moonlighters" who take on projects that pay anywhere from several hundred dollars to several thousand dollars.

The jobs offered on such sites typically range from building Web sites to illustration to technical writing. So if you have a flexible schedule or some free time you're willing to devote to a part-time job, these sites are a good place to look.

Get a Raise

In the past, switching employers was often an effective way to get a big jump in pay. But the sour job market has made this strategy a nonstarter for most people. That shouldn't stop you, however, from aiming to make more at your current job, experts say.

When it comes to negotiating for more money, there are several ways to strengthen your hand.

Peter Goodman, author of the book "Win-Win Career Negotiations," recommends documenting your accomplishments, especially key successes since your last performance review, before approaching a manager to ask for a raise.

"Demonstrate in a tactical fashion how you've contributed to the company's financial goals," he says. He also says that whenever possible let the company make the first offer, "because if you give a range, they're going to go with the lower end of your range."

Another thing you can do is consult one of the growing number of salary resources to bolster the case that you're underpaid.

One such online resource that can help you figure out what you're worth is Salary.com. The site offers a Personal Salary Report that considers your job location, industry and company size. It also takes into account eight "compensable" factors, from your years of experience and education to your last performance rating, and then tells you what you should be earning.

The site also provides a free Salary Wizard function that allows users to find the salary range for their job title in a specific city.

It's helpful to keep tabs on how much companies are offering to fill positions similar to your own, and you can do this simply by tracking job postings that list salaries.

Peter Benton scanned ads on ExecuNet.com, an executive-networking site, and went into an interview for an internal promotion at TRW Inc. armed with a spreadsheet documenting nine similar positions.

"I had better market data than the [human resources] department had," says Mr. Benton, who is now a vice president at a unit of Johnson & Johnson. He figures his homework enabled him to add an extra $15,000 to his annual salary at his prior job.

Brush Up Your Skills

You can also enhance your skills -- and therefore your market value -- by going back to school or by working with a career coach.

One way is to earn an advanced degree such as an M.B.A. According to the Graduate Management Admission Council, in McLean, Va., the typical 2002 M.B.A. graduate earned $48,000 prior to receiving the degree and expects to earn $75,000 in salary and $10,000 in a signing bonus in the first job after graduation, a jump of 56%.

In many industries, including information technology, taking a certification course often leads to a pay raise. A 2002 survey by Brainbench Inc., a Chantilly, Va., online skills-testing and certification firm, found that IT pros received salary increases 30% higher than workers without certification.

The rewards of career coaching are harder to quantify. But anything that helps you further your career should enhance your earning power.

According to Alyssa Freas, president of the Executive Coaching Network in La Jolla, Calif., about 90% of the people she has worked with have been promoted within six months. And with those promotions have invariably come raises.

Collect Overtime

Finally, you should at least make sure you're being paid everything that you have coming to you.

It pays to be vigilant about overtime, experts say, and employees often are unaware of their rights under federal overtime laws. In some cases, workers can recoup thousands of dollars in lost overtime wages from present or even former employers.

Carl Khalil, a lawyer who created PayMyOvertime.com, a Web site devoted to workers who feel they are owed overtime, says such claims are "booming" right now.

In most states, employees have a minimum of two years to file a claim for the money for that period.

Write to Kris Maher at kris.maher@wsj.com

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