You cannot negotiate against a number you do not have. And in a market where most ads say “competitive”, finding that number is a research task. Here is how to do it properly in Australia, in roughly the order of how much the answer can be trusted.
How do I find out what other companies pay for my job?
Start with official ABS and Jobs and Skills Australia data for your occupation, then cross-check against current job ads that state a range for your exact title and city. Recruiters and your own network fill in the level detail that published data cannot. Self-reported salary sites go last, as a sanity check only.
The five sources, ranked by reliability
| Source | What it gives you | Trust |
|---|---|---|
| ABS / Jobs and Skills Australia | Measured occupation medians and percentiles | High — it is a statistical survey, not a poll |
| Live job ads with stated ranges | What employers are paying right now | High for the roles that publish, silent on the rest |
| Recruiters in your sector | Level detail, and what actually got accepted | Good, but they place candidates for a living |
| Your own network | Real numbers for real jobs | Good, sample of about four |
| Self-reported salary sites | Direction and rough shape | Low for Australia — thin, unverified, US-skewed |
Yes, you are allowed to ask
This is the part most Australians get wrong. Since December 2022, pay secrecy clauses have had no legal effect and employees have a positive workplace right to disclose their pay and to ask colleagues about theirs. If your contract says otherwise, that term is unenforceable. The taboo is cultural now, not contractual — the detail is in why Australian job ads hide the salary range.
Asking well still matters. “What do you earn?” puts people on the spot. These do not:
- Range, not number. “What band do roles like this sit in at your place?” is easy to answer and gives you what you need.
- Ask leavers. People who have just moved know both numbers and have no reason to protect either.
- Ask recruiters who approach you. “What is the range on that?” is the entire point of the call. Ask it in the first two minutes.
- Offer first. “I am on $X and trying to work out if that is market — does that sound right for our level?” Sharing yours makes it a conversation instead of an interrogation.
How to read job ads properly
Ads are the most current data available, and the easiest to misread:
- Ignore ads with no stated range. They tell you nothing and they skew your sense of the market by volume alone.
- Check base versus package. “$140,000 package” is roughly $125,000 base plus super. Convert everything to base before comparing.
- Match the level, not the title. Titles are not standardised in Australia. Read the responsibilities and match those.
- Note the top of the range. Employers rarely advertise above what they will pay, so the upper bound is a real ceiling — and it is your evidence.
- Save them. Three current ads with ranges for your role in your city is a document you can put in front of a manager.
Turning research into a position
A collection of numbers is not a case. What works in a review is one sentence: “Comparable roles in [city] are paying $X to $Y, I sit at the [n]th percentile for my role, and here is what I delivered this year.” Everything above exists to make that sentence true.
The fastest route to the percentile is a free salary check — role, city, salary, about a minute, anonymous. If you want the counter range, the scripts and the five-year impact written up, a full SalariQ report is $9.99, or $19.99 a month on the Professional plan. Then run the conversation with how to ask for a pay rise.
The taboo about discussing pay costs employees money and saves employers money. That is not a coincidence, and since 2022 it is not the law either.
Data sources: ABS Employee Earnings and Jobs and Skills Australia. Workplace rights per the Fair Work Ombudsman — general information, not legal advice.
