Congratulations, Donato!

One could have worse problems than this...

I am affraid I cannot offer advice apart from obvious: asking friends in similar position, looking at ads offering jobs (if they still exist ), perhaps asking a headhunter for advice (if they are willing to dispense such kind of specialist knowledge).

You could perhaps factor in any special circumstances (e.g. have you resurrected a moribund project for them, do you have a skill unique in the company etc), but then again, three months might be too early for that...

Anyway, good luck!

Congrats.

Its a very unusual position to be in, especially in this job market.

For reference maybe try www.salary.com. At least they may give you an idea of what similar positions pay in your area. I believe www.monster.com may have a similar service. I know some ranges can vary greatly depending on different sites you visit but at least it may give you some idea. Just a thought. You may have already tried this.

Good luck. Post back after Monday's meeting to let us know how it went.

I say this because I really hate these kinds of questions. I wish I could just do my job and let everyone else decide what I'm worth.

Do you feel that you are one of the best in your field? Do you find that you are called on to do the things others can't? Do you generally get things done better / faster than others?

If you answer yes to these questions than you need to ask for more than the national average for your position.

You can be sure that they already know what your worth. They simply want to find out if you do.

Sounds reasonable, but asking for double what I'm already making seems ridiculous.

It sounds to me like you're not so much unsure of how much your position is worth, but the fact that it's so much more than you're making now that you're hesitant to really say.

Be honest with them. Tell them that you didn't and don't know a lot about such things, especially since you'd been out of work for quite a while beforehand. Tell them that you looked around to find out what comparable positions pay and came to the conclusion that it was x. Say you feel that you think that you're above average at your job, something that would seem to be corroborated by the fact that they want to give you a raise, and that a salary should reflect that, so that would bring it to x + y%. Then say ``at the same time, I recognize that that's z% more than I'm making now, and I can't really expect that kind of raise, but you asked me, and that's what my research shows''.

Keep in mind that the fact that they've offered you a raise means that they want to keep you.

30% at least, which is about where the low end of my range is. So that sounds about right. Thanks.

Coincidentally, my boss is named Bob.

haha, well it's hard to tell what country they're from. I can't tell the difference between a chinese and a vietnamese,

or a nigerian and a south african.

That one's easy... tease them both about having an English or Australian accent, and see which one gets mad.