Great Occupations

When setting out to explore, it is wise to keep your mind and heart open. To explore means "to search into or travel in for the purpose of discovery." Columbus set out to discover a possible new route to the Far East. What he unexpectedly found, instead, was the "New World," or what we know as the North and South American continents. We urge you to consider all the angles and be open to the possibilities as you investigate, inquire and research during this particular step. By the end of the journey, you might or might not be surprised by what you find. However, one thing is certain... if you allow fear or nay-saying – the “buts,” & “I can’ts” – to cloud your vision during this part of the discovery process, you will never come to see what lies ahead. Joseph Campbell said it well: "You must... Read the rest of this entry »

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 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

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