Career Management Alliance Blog

Items You Can Negotiate: (Continued from yesterdays article, which you can read here in its entirety): Continue Reading »

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Most job-seekers get into a “locked mindset” about compensation negotiation, with all sorts of assumptions, pre-formed notions and “myths.” The truth is that everything is negotiable. Yes, EVERYTHING! There are four things I know about salary negotiation, from all my years of experience in career consulting: Continue Reading »

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I recently spoke to a group of about 20 current and former corporate employees about business ownership. During the discussion I asked “Do you think that you’re paid what you’re worth?” Every person believed they were being underpaid (Have you ever heard anyone who claims to be overpaid?). Being underpaid is a common complaint in the corporate world because the contribution that any one job has on the bottom line is impossible to measure. Your customer is likely to be your boss, not the end customer of the corporation who is usually separated from most employees by many layers. Ultimately, your pay is determined by your rank within a small subset of other employees and what dollar amount management thinks will satisfy you enough not to leave. Continue Reading »

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Some career professionals feel the inclusion of salary requirements makes it too easy for HR managers to exclude individuals from candidacy. Unfortunately, this is very true. But when the hiring manager asks for salary requirements (btw, only include it when asked to do so), you run the risk of excluding yourself from candidacy by failing to disclose that which was asked for. Either way, you are presented with some risk. Including salary requirements into a cover letter isn’t difficult; but understanding whether a prospective employer is seeking salary requirements or salary history is important to understand. Salary requirement is expected salary, while salary history covers starting and ending salary for each position, and may also include commissions, bonuses for performance, stock options, and so on. Since a salary history is in-depth, it’s usually contained within a separate sheet rather than the cover letter. Continue Reading »

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U.S. salary increase budgets are remaining historically low, but projections for 2011 show a modest increase, according to The Conference Board annual salary increase budgets survey report, released July 13, 2010. For the second straight year, the median salary increase budget in 2010 is 2.5 percent. Projections for 2011 show a modest increase to 3 percent. The largest year-over-year projected increases are in the diversified services industry-with a projected 2011 median salary increase budget is 0.5 to 3 percentage points higher than the actual 2010 budget-and in the diversified financial services industry-with a projected 2011 median salary increase budget is 0.5 or 0.63 percentage point higher than the actual 2010 budget. Among other sectors: Continue Reading »

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A media expert stirred up a bee’s nest with her post last week on answering the salary question. She lambasted both career coaches and job seekers who disagree with her straight-forward approach of job seekers blurting out their salary expectations during the interview ... saying these tactics are evasive and diversionary on the part of job seekers.

Seriously? The company who has the budget but doesn’t reveal the salary isn’t evasive ... the job seeker is? Then why wouldn’t the company just advertise the salary within their job posting. That would certainly eliminate folks who want more money than the company is willing to pay, right? Perhaps that speaks, quite loudly, about the corporate culture.

Her blog post a few days later tried to clarify the question ... saying the salary question was being asked by recruiters, not company decision-makers. There is a difference.  Continue Reading »

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Ashley writes: Although I’m only 12, I still am trying to find my career early. That’s what my careers teacher said. I really think that I might want to be an eye doctor, though I don’t know why. And I don’t know how my parents would react to that. I don’t know much about what an eye doctor does. I tried searching on the internet but instead I came across you so I figured I’d email you. Can you help me find out more about this career and how I should react to the fact of telling my parents?

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The Career Doctor responds: Wow… I think it is great that you are contemplating future careers, but 12 seems pretty young to really know what you want to do with your life… but I am glad to help you with the process. A lot of people pick careers without knowing why — and that’s okay if they luck into a career that matches their interests and skills. Unfortunately, a lot of people fall into the wrong careers and spend many years in a job they don’t like — or worse. Thus, it is important to regularly do some career planning — at ANY age. The one thing you want to avoid the most is choosing a career for either the wrong reasons (high salary) or because of outside influences (family). An eye doctor — an optometrist — is primarily responsible for the health of his or her patients’ eyes. Optometrists prescribe eyeglasses and contact lenses — and refer patients with more serious issues to ophthalmologists (who perform eye surgery). Besides the four years of college, prospective optometrists must attend graduate school and earn a Doctor of Optometry degree, and then pass national and state exams before being given a license to practice. I think the two most important characteristics for a career in optometry is a high level of skill in science and a desire to help people. Why would you not want to discuss this career path with your parents? It’s a great profession and something to strive for — even if you find something that interests you even more next year! There are many great sources of career information available online and in print, and I encourage you to use them. Also, assuming you have an eye doctor, see if you can schedule an appoint to talk with him or her about the pros and cons of the job. Please use these Career Exploration Tools and Resources to help you learn more about optometry or any other career.

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Joseph writes: I enjoyed your article about overqualified job applicants. However, I do not agree with your assessment of the “out-of-work- desperate-for-any-job” applicant. Unfortunately, we all need money to live. A person is better off employed beneath their level of ability than unemployed. Any employee will bolt for a better offer. The risk is always present. Being overqualified is in the eye of the beholder. I have had people tell me that I would be unchallenged in a particular position. It is very flattering, but my bank does not give credit for flattery. I am cast as overqualified and I need assistance. It has been almost one year since I have had any employment. Also, I have gotten about four interviews. Yet I hear the complaint that good accounting help is hard to find. This is maddening because this is what I want to do. Continue Reading »

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Debbie writes: I have received a job offer for a marketing-manager position from a company that is a perfect fit for me but is essentially a non-profit. As such, the salary is lower than what the market value. My research indicates that an average wage for a marketing manager in this area is in the area of $60,000. The offer came in at $49,000. The posting for the job did indicate a range of $38,400 to $51,200. Benefits are good; of particular interest to me personally are the 401K and vacation time. Continue Reading »

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Alice writes: It’s a great pleasure to read your articles on Quintessential Careers. I have several questions about an average MBA program.

1. What is the average tuition for an MBA student?
2. How long is the payback time for students to re-coup their investment?
3. What is the placement rate for an average MBA compared to an average graduate students? Continue Reading »

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