Great Occupations

This week Jay challenged us to set and achieve career goals. Well, I’ve decided it’s high time for me to finally achieve a particular goal that I’ve been rolling around in my mind for more than 2 years.

I’m putting it out there for all to see because I believe that there’s nothing like writing down a goal and then sharing it with others to really help you be accountable to the intention.

My Goal: By Fall of 2010, I want to be involved in delivering a special session which teaches women how to be more empowered during salary negotiations. (I’d say that’s a SMART goal!)

By the way, if you think of a snazzy title for this class, I’m open to your suggestions!

Jay and I cover salary negotiation in the GET HIRED! module of The Job Search Boot Camp program, but we women seem to need an extra push in this area. I’ve long felt that a specific class is in order…

So check this out!
Yesterday, I found an excellent article by Ronda Templeton, a columnist with the San Antonio Express-News. It put an arrow right into heart and re-ignited my desire to teach this topic.

Ms. Templeton quotes numbers compiled by The Washington Post:

• Men are eight times more likely than women to negotiate a starting salary and benefits.
• Men ask for raises 85 percent more often than women.
• Though they recognize the importance of negotiation, 22 percent of women say they never do it.
• Perhaps worst of all — women, on average, ask for 30 percent less money than men.

Jay is fond of saying that most people generally leave 20% to 30% “on the table” during negotiations. Considering there’s that much room left, think about how much room is left for the women who fall under the categories pointed out in the statistics!

Oh, and another thing…
We often hear talk in the media about the disparity between men’s and women’s salaries – about how women earn less money than men despite having similar skills, experience, education and training. While I’m not denying the existence of gender discrimination in hiring practices (unfortunately, I personally witnessed it while I was a recruiter), it seems to me that we are not truly “comparing apples to apples” when making such claims. Not if 22% of women never even negotiate, if they rarely ask for raises, and if they ask for 30% less money than men!

If you’re interested or know someone who’d be interested in taking a special class designed to empower women during salary negotiations, let us know.

Angela Loëb is an author, speaker and career coach. She and her partner, Jay Markunas, help people make successful career transitions through workshops, webclasses and 2×1 individualized coaching services. Listen to them on The Job Search Boot Camp Show. Find out more about their programs & services at www.greatoccupations.com.

NOTE: For a limited time during Graduation Season, Angela & Jay are offering the perfect new grad gift: The Job Search Boot Camp for College Grads, a live, interactive & intensive program. For more details, click here.

One of my favorite sites about employment, job forecasts, and earnings is the Bureau Of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook. This is a free online publication put out by the US Dept. Of Labor.

How Can You Use It?
This site is a wealth of information right at your finger tips. For hundreds of different types of jobs, the Occupational Outlook Handbook gives you job specific information on:

• the training and education needed
• earnings
• expected job prospects
• job duties and responsibilities
• working conditions

If you are researching a new career, put in the keyword of job title and equip yourself with the information you need to decide if this is the right career for you. If you are considering a new job or asking for a raise, this site can help you when you take into account the normal working conditions and earnings.

Your Tax Dollars At Work
Sure…there are plenty of government programs that you may never benefit from, however this is an online resource that is a great use of our tax dollars. Having all this information available to you allows you to make an informed and logical decision. Use this resource, and use it often!

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Jay Markunas is a Career Coach, and is a big fan of online research tools. Jay brings all that experience and expertise to The Job Search Boot Camp (now available on a 3-DVD set!).

Yesterday I spoke at one of the Amplify Career Fair’s learning sessions (Amplify’s job fair will be on Friday, May 14th). The learning sessions are open, and audience members are encouraged to participate by asking questions and adding comments. My session was filled with great audience members, great questions, and wonderful comments. One comment in particular taught me something, and as usual…I share it with you!

Related Jobs
PayScale.com has a great feature which states salaries for related positions. When I mentioned this, one of my audience members stated that the job site Indeed.com also contains a salary search tool which shows related positions. According to Indeed’s site, “Indeed.com is a search engine for jobs, allowing job seekers to find jobs posted on thousands of company career sites and job boards.”

Their salary tool operates much like Salary.com and PayScale.com. Just put in the what (job title or keyword) and the where, and you get the average salary of the position. You also get a national trend and average salary of related jobs. The best part….those related jobs are hyperlinked to the actual jobs in the area. Clicking on the job opens the hiring company’s website and job description. Pretty handy if you are looking for a broader range of positions.

Indeed this is yet another great tool for your job search toolbox!

Jay Markunas is a Career Coach, and with partner Angela Loeb he talks on salary negotiation in The Job Search Boot Camp’s new DVD program! This program , currently taking pre-orders - just email [email protected], contains all the materials you need to READY, AIM, and GET HIRED!

Today, I am honored to be speaking at the Amplify Career Fair. The career fair’s learning sessions are running today and tomorrow. The job fair itself is on Friday.

While researching my talk, I stumbled upon a site called PayScale.com. It is a tool much like salary.com, however it has a few interesting bells & whistles. Like Salary.com it is mostly free for job seekers. Also like salary.com users can get a free salary report based on job title & location. However, PayScale takes it a step further by taking into account education, skills, and experience. The benefit is in the report.

The Comprehensive Report
You start by entering the job title you are looking for, the location, and years of experience. The system then asks you for primary subject studied, certifications, and education (among other things). The comprehensive report is pretty neat. In addition to the min, mid, and max salary, the report also offers additional sections. Sections like: Education - will more education help you get more salary?; Job listings - local job listings of open positions; Anonymous details - career details about real people in the field; Cost of Living - see other cities and how the salary compares; GigZag - career path projections; and Company Charts - current & future employers.

You’ll certainly want to add this tool to your job search toolbox!

Jay Markunas is a Career Coach, and will be speaking at the Amplify Career Fair at 12:35 on Tuesday, May 11th. You can find out more on their website at: http://amplifyfinancial.com/calendar/051410-career-and-volunteer-fair-2010

Tuesday during lunch I will be speaking at The Amplify Career Fair in Austin. I’m going to be speaking on the topic of salary negotiation. One of the comments I generally get is “I don’t even have my resume updated. Why in the world would I want to think about salary negotiation?!?” But, you need to be prepared at all times for the dreaded “how much money were you looking to make?” question.

I recently worked with a new client who had a phone interview. In this phone interview, the employer asked his salary requirements — this was before he spoke to me. If I had to grade his response, I’d give it a “B-”. It wasn’t a bad response by any means, but it wasn’t the best response.

His Response
His response was a broad range. There are better ways to handle this question….ways to get an “A+”. We teach those skills in our Job Search Boot Camp program. Not only how to answer the salary question, but how to negotiate for 10%-30% more money. Obviously, knowing your financial needs and thresholds are first and foremost. Knowing the salary range for the position is necessary to succeed.

The Big Daddy of Salary Sites
There are a number of online tools that will help you research salary ranges. Most companies will be in line with that range although some will pay far less and some will pay abundantly more. The Grandaddy of all salary sites is Salary.com. This site allows you to put in the job title and zip code, and returns a report showing the minimum salary, median salary, and maximum salary for that job title in the entered zip code. Salary.com solicits input from companies and employees working in those job titles and compiles the data.

Much like buying a car or home (and much more important), you are able to negotiate better once you are armed with information.

Jay Markunas is a Career Coach, and will be speaking at the Amplify Career Fair at 12:30 on Tuesday, May 11th. You can find out more on their website at: http://amplifyfinancial.com/calendar/051410-career-and-volunteer-fair-2010

Yesterday, we looked at a question raised by Mary, a new employee who started her job 6 weeks ago. She wondered if she should use another offer she got after starting the job to negotiate better pay during the company’s upcoming annual performance review process.

The Question:
Should Mary talk with HR or her direct manager about the other offer?

My Response:
Hi Mary,
It could be considered very admirable that you’ve decided to stick it out with the employer you accepted 1st rather than back out and go with the offer for more money, but I agree that it’s tough, especially since the money was so much more with the other group. Your current company probably doesn’t worry if you had other offers and didn’t disclose that to them – all they care about is that they have you and all parties have agreed on terms. To them, it’s now about getting down to work and being productive together.

From a logical point of view, I can’t see why you shouldn’t use it as a negotiation tool in the upcoming annual review, however, from an emotional point of view will they take offense? Will this cast doubts on your relationship? That is a possibility, of course.

You’ve been with the company a short time. I would challenge you to ask yourself if you are truly happy and so won’t regret taking less money to be with this employer in the long run. If you are having doubts, and it’s not all about the money (or even if it is about the money) – if you can’t let it go in your own mind and heart, and it continues to “haunt” you, you will be unhappy in the end.

You also have to ask yourself if you are willing to let this go if your employer says no. Of course, they might also become concerned about whether you will stay now. Whenever you decide to negotiate, you have to be prepared to walk away or back down if they say no. Additionally, the way you handle it, such as reassurances that you won’t leave, sometimes still might not help once doubt is cast into the relationship. You know the people involved. In the end, I’d say that you need to listen to what your intuition tells you about this situation.

To sum up… if you are really bothered by the “less money,” and it will make you unhappy over time, it will probably be a good idea to see what can be done about it. However, be prepared for the emotional ramifications, too. As much as we would like to think that conversations about money should be objective, negotiating has a distinctive emotional side too. In the end, Mary, what you “should do” will be about you and what you feel.

Hope this has helped! Please let me know what happens.
Warmly yours,
Angela

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Lest you think my answer is too noncommittal, let me remind you that I’m her career coach! My job is to help her explore all the angles so she makes a decision she is comfortable with.

But, I can pretend to be in her shoes…
If I’m happy with my new employer, I wouldn’t mention anything to my manager or to HR. I would avoid rocking the boat and would accept that the negotiating time is pretty much over until I get more tenure. But if I want to gamble the relationship because I know this will keep bothering me, or because I’m not 100% happy in the new job, or because I know that the other offer is still good, I’d take the chance.

What do you think? Weigh in with your opinion by clicking here and taking the poll. Or make comments below.

Angela Loëb is an author, speaker and career coach. She and her partner, Jay Markunas, help people make successful career transitions through workshops, webclasses and 2×1 individualized coaching services. Listen to them on The Job Search Boot Camp Show. Find out more about their programs & services at www.greatoccupations.com.

A client – we’ll call her Mary – who has been working in her brand new job for 6 weeks emailed today to get some advice about her next steps regarding salary.

The Situation:
Mary got another offer from a company where she interviewed earlier this year shortly after she accepted her current job. She never mentioned the other offer to her new employer. She wonders if her current employer perceives that she never had a “card at hand to play.” The reason she is now thinking about mentioning this other offer of better pay and a higher sign-on bonus is that her new company’s annual performance review time is coming up soon, and she wonders if this could be her chance to “bring it to the table now.” Admittedly, she does feel uncomfortable mentioning it at this point and worries that her new employer might get the wrong impression that she has determined she doesn’t want to work for them.

The Question:
Should Mary talk with HR or her direct manager about the other offer?

I will share my response to Mary tomorrow, but in the meantime, I’d love to get some other opinions. How would you handle this if you were in Mary’s shoes? Please take our poll below or write in your own answer or comments.

Angela Loëb is an author, speaker and career coach. She and her partner, Jay Markunas, help people make successful career transitions through workshops, webclasses and 2×1 individualized coaching services. Listen to them on The Job Search Boot Camp Show. Find out more about their programs & services at www.greatoccupations.com.