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There are not too many people who think they are overpaid. Human nature is to think you worth more than you are being paid (and maybe you are). While there are many factors when considering a job offer, one of the key drivers is how much compensation you are offered. While your job title, responsibilities and career track are also key considerations, you still need money to pay the bills and put food on the table.
After you find your job, the one that really motivates you, the money comes next. And, if you are like most people, you want to be paid what you’re worth. While we are only worth what the market will pay, there are ways to maximize your compensation.
While there are many factors when considering a job offer, one of the key drivers is how much compensation you are offered.
Tweet ThisOf course, if you don’t know what you are worth it’s hard to know. So what are you worth? Do you know? Well, you should know before you get the job offer. Salary guides and salary search tools are helpful. Like everything on the Internet these days, you could spend days (maybe weeks) researching salary. After a few tries at the sites listed below, you should be able to get the basic information you need without spending days looking for it.
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Start first with:
Salary Surveys & Guides:
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SALARY GUIDE: IT Salary Evolution – This survey provides the average salary by Robert Half. Click on “get the guide” to download your copy. There are also some tools on the page. There is a salary calculator as well as a chart on hiring trends.
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JobStar Salary Surveys – This link to surveys, from JobStar.org, provides links to over 300 salary surveys. They start with a very long list of career types, followed by a link to general salary surveys. You should be able to find your functional role from this list and get a rough idea of what your salary might be in this market.
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Salary Guides by Robert Half – Another great resource from RHI, there are links to industry / functional role-specific surveys such as Legal, Technology, Finance & Accounting, and Office Team (to name a few). Click the link that interests you and you are led to a page where you can sign-up for the surveys.
Salary Calculators and Negotiation Tips:
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Salary Calculator – One of many salary calculators (way too many to list here), this one is offered by homefair.com. Type in your title put in your zip code and you are all set to go. Fairly generic, but should give you a rough indication.
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PayScale Salary Calculator – This one is from, you guessed it – PayScale.com. Same deal here – job title, city, and state, and off you go.
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Salary Comparison and Salary Calculator – This is salary.com’s’ version which has both a salary comparison and a salary calculator. Submit your title and location. The calculator will return a second screen where you can refine the search or read the results of the search.
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Bureau of Labor Statistics – The BLS has a bunch of information on salaries, inflation, employment, and salary ranges for different job titles. Take a look and compare the ranges to your job title.
