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Angela Poundmaker-Gromova, in Halifax on Nov. 25, was able to secure a higher paying job after took a course in growth marketing, a field that uses data analysis to drive customer acquisition and retention.Darren Calabrese/The Globe and Mail
By age 36, when Angela Poundmaker-Gromova finished her communications degree, she had already worked in hairstyling, hospitality, film and television. In her new career, she found herself stuck in a series of entry-level jobs at a stage in her life when she had more work experience and better soft skills than her peers, and more training on new technologies than her superiors. She also felt underpaid.
To secure a higher-paying role, Ms. Poundmaker-Gromova took a course in growth marketing, a field that uses data analysis to drive customer acquisition and retention. In addition to those skills, the course taught her how to prepare for an interview and negotiate salary, and how to retool her LinkedIn profile to best position her for the types of jobs she wanted.
She was recruited shortly afterward and got a new marketing industry job. She now makes significantly more than in her last position and has a much better work environment. “It was life-changing,” said Ms. Poundmaker-Gromova, now 38 and a resident of Halifax.
After years of steep inflation and high interest rates, many Canadians are looking for ways to increase their salaries to catch up with the higher cost of living. In a recent report by human resources firm Robert Half, 92 per cent of Canadian workers said they are concerned about inflation outpacing salary growth, with 51 per cent saying they feel underpaid. The company’s survey of 1,750 workers aged 18 and up, conducted in June for its 2025 Canadian Salary Guide, found pay is the top thing workers are looking for in a new job.
But given that it’s also a time of weak employment growth, is now a good time to try to find a new job – or to ask for a raise? Experts suggest starting by figuring out how your salary compares with that of others who do similar work, and finding ways to expand your value as a worker, whether through adding new skills or overperforming in your role.
Jodi Kovitz, chief executive officer of the Ontario-based Human Resources Professional Association, said her organization’s members are fielding raise requests often these days.
“Salary concerns driven by inflation are totally prominent,” said Ms. Kovitz, while adding the uncertain economy has made it challenging for some companies to offer raises across the board, and so are choosing to focus instead on rewarding top performers. “We’re seeing more targeted salary adjustments.”
It’s important for those who plan to advocate for a raise to make sure they can show the value they bring to the organization, she said. If someone arrives at a meeting with their manager ready to describe how they’ve gone beyond expectations, and has done market research that shows people in similar roles are getting paid more at other companies, their chances of success are higher, she said.
Ms. Kovitz also suggests using such a conversation as a way to plot out a future path at the company.
“You can say to your manager, ‘I would really like to stay here, and here’s why,’” she said. “As a leader, I am much more inclined to want to invest in, from an energy and development perspective, into someone I see as a potential successor to someone who is a leader on my team.”
Jermaine L. Murray, a recruiter and career coach, said this meeting can be a place for the employee and manager to agree on the worker’s strengths and weaknesses, and set milestones for the next six months.
“Once this meeting concludes, send a follow-up email as both a thank-you and a confirmation of what took place,” advised Mr. Murray, founder of Toronto-based JupiterHR.
“Then focus on knocking each milestone out of the park over the next six months. Two weeks before the six-month mark, schedule a follow-up meeting to go over the milestones and to get feedback on your performance. If done correctly, you’ll have buy-in from your manager who will advocate for you to get a raise.”
Mr. Murray also encourages workers to apply for jobs if they feel underpaid, if only to get a sense for what they could make elsewhere. But he cautions that changing jobs involves risk, and should be done with careful consideration.
“If you accept a new job without doing your due diligence because you’re desperate for change, the chances of it backfiring rise significantly,” he said.
Sarah Stockdale – the chief executive officer of Growclass, the growth marketing training company whose course helped Ms. Poundmaker-Gromova get a higher-paying job – said targeted upskilling can help someone change companies, or earn more where they currently work.
“You can start by looking around and seeing who has the job that you want, and what are the skills they bring,” said Ms. Stockdale, who is based in Toronto. She notes that skills related to artificial intelligence can increase one’s salary significantly. PwC’s 2024 AI Jobs Barometer report found jobs that require “specialist AI skills” carry up to a 25-per-cent wage premium over similar positions that don’t require use of AI, and give workers a much stronger bargain position.
Ms. Stockdale said many tech workers who were laid off in recent years took the first job they could get after their layoff, and are now feeling “underpaid and undervalued,” especially in cases where workers with the same job titles aren’t being paid the same amount because some were hired in stronger economic times.
“That can stir up a lot of anger and resentment,” she said, and encourages those in this position to approach the issue by seeking to understand the situation, rather than being confrontational. “Compensation discrepancies aren’t always intentional.
“You want to be on the same team: You and your manager versus the problem that possibly there’s a gap in your compensation,” she said.
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