Should I demand a pay rise based on how rare my skill set is?

Instead of acting like a child, why don't you get in contact with other companies, and when you have a job offer you take it to your current employer and ask them to match it or you'll leave.

>>18595547
This, honestly. It doesn't matter if no one else can do your job if:
1) it would be easy enough for someone else to learn it
2) it doesn't make the company much money or isn't critical to their success

The value isn't in how many people can do it, the value is in how much money does it make them.

If your skill is truly a big revenue generator, other companies will make you more to steal you.

>>18595609
Make = pay

Phone-posting is so shit-tier

>>18595446
Think about this from the schools perspective. They obviously arent worried about wasting money. Whether they can or cant replace you is irrelevant. Do they think it will be cheaper to train someone else? Do they think they can train someone else?
The other thing you should consider is whether you can find work elsewhere that will pay more. If the answer is no then you are overvalued and easy to replace with a more incompetent employee who costs less.
My gf plays the zither which is a really rare instrument but she isnt going to make bank just because her skills are rare

>>18595446
Gonna be honest man, if your skillset was that valuable, you wouldn't have to ask management for raises that they don't want to give you. You could just go find a better paying job elsewhere. Also it's a little ridiculous that you think that literally nobody else can and ever could do your job. Furthermore, it's not the university's job to pay you enough during that 8 weeks for you to be able to support yourself the rest of the year. If you're as valuable as you say you are, you should prove it and make your money elsewhere. It really sounds like you're clinging to this because you're a sinking ship and this is your liferaft.

>>18595609

This is a university, its not about generating revenue, its about 1-on-1 consulting and teaching a skill to the students that is very valuable to them to put on resumes. The students know this, they often buy me drinks/lunch because they get what I do for free since the uni pays me.

No one else can learn this in any reasonable period of time. I have 4 years of experience in a field I had to teach myself because there are no courses for this. That's why I'm not happy about being paid a teachers salary for only 8 weeks when outside of uni I charge double as consulting rates.

I'm aware that other companies won't try to steal me because in reality it is only valuable to students. The fact that this is viewed as a teaching role is the issue because IMO its no different to them paying some outsider to give a speech to the students which will be at a huge hourly rate, they aren't classified as teachers.

>>18595649

Its not quite like that, I'm self employed. Its not like if they dont renew my contract I have no where else to go. I cant technically find work that pays more because this is for the biggest university in the state.

They literally can not train someone else to do my role, I am the only one in this state qualified to teach it. To be fair though, they don't exactly need me there. I'm just very useful to the students.

>>18595674
Sorry if OP wasnt clear enough. I am self-employed full time, I simply do these 8 weeks extra, I have 2 full time jobs during that time. I know what I do isn't a long term career option but that should not be relevant to the topic at hand.

And no, no one else can do my job. I have been consulting in this field for 4 years and only 2 other people in the country also do this but they do it part time, they have 9-5 jobs in 'normal' fields. Those other 2 people are also self-taught.

>thinking you're the only person capable of operating a 5 axis cnc mill in a whole country

Kek, if at least it was zimbabwe it'd make some sense...

>>18595730
This has nothing to do with operating that, I'm just saying the department bought one. I work in another area of the department but it has the same overarching budget.

>>18595737
What the hell do you do then? Heck, if you've been giving classes for 4 years and any of your students got in whatever area that is, you probably have a few competitors already. Not to say the university will probably replace you with a lower quality teacher and be done with it, their revenue is all around other stuff and they'll hardly care for one specific teacher. Trust me, I saw it happen several times.

>I am literally the *only* person in this entire country who operates as a contractor
There is only one job in Australia that only one person can do. The Prime Minister.

There are many other universities and many other teachers. You are not the only one who does this job, nor the only one who can do this job. The only thing special about you is how you're employed - as a contractor rather than an employee. This means unlike everyone else, you need special attention to operate the same way everyone else does. This makes you a nuisance, not an asset.

>>18595747
>>18595748

I'm a consultant, not a teacher. The only other people like me in this country work full time for big engineering firms and don't specialise in the field the university is teaching, no one does it as a freelance consultant because the pay is worse and no paid holidays etc, but I prefer self employment far more than 8.00am meetings.

They can not replace me because no other consultant is going to ditch their cushy job for a massive pay downgrade at a teachers salary. Further to that I am extremely knowledgable about the universities system as I am a past graduate.

The core of my argument is that I believe I should be able to charge my normal consulting rates to the university, however they classify me as a teacher which has a bad pay rate. Its better than nothing, but if I demand more, they literally can not replace me. My job is not critical to their success, but I think paying me a teachers salary is grossly undervaluing what I do because if I went corporate I could get so much more.

I'm totally aware this comes off as a 'beggars cant be choosers' scenario or being ungrateful, but I can charge $60/hour to outside companies while the uni pays me barely half for the exact same work. I do it because I'm self employed and any job I can get I will take. I just don't know if I'm in the right to ask for the same I charge outside.

Sounds like OPs finance and knowledge of how a university payroll functions are not on a par with his "special set of skills".
No offence, Brian Mills, but you're going to have to look into that before you get pissy with them. Check their rates for external contractors, perhaps they're fixed, and see about getting put on that rate instead, you can negotiate from a position of strength, duh.