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November 07, 2003
Negotiating your salary and benefits package has never been difficult than it is in today's Job market.
It used to be cut and dried, with a prospective Employer telling you "I'll give you $17.50/hr. Take it or leave it." Today a Job offer sounds more like this, "We're looking at $30,000/yr plus medical & dental, with two weeks paid vacation and one sick day (non-cumulative) per month. Benefits begin after three months, and you'll have 500 stock options that vest in one year at $9/share."
Most of this can be sorted out so that you can compare Job offers as apples to apples, rather than as an offer from Apple versus an offer from Tropicana. The stumbling block is figuring the present value of future stock options. Options give you the right to purchase a Company's shares (at a price set now) at some future date. Furthermore, an option to buy 500 shares of Tropicana may be more valuable than an option to buy 500 shares of Apple, even if both currently have the same price.
Investigate the company's proxy options. The amount of stock options they offer you divided by the total number of outstanding shares gives you a benchmark percentage. You can compare this percentage to what your colleagues at other competing companies have received. Unless you are targeting a high level executive position, you're probably looking at less than one percent in redeemable shares.
Useful questions to consider: What is happening in the Industry as a whole? Has the stock price been rising (or dropping!) steadily, or have there been volatile swings up or down? If the Company hasn't finished looking for investors, then their next round of financing may involve issuing more stock - which will dilute the value of your options. Startup companies often use stock options in lieu of high salaries to attract new Employees. The promises of future riches are tempting, but are they really worth what you sacrifice in pay?
If you think the Company's stock is a good bet to double in price in the next year, you can gamble on a lower salary and more options. Companies tend to have more leeway in the number of options they offer you than they do in salary, so it is an easier benefit to secure in negotiations. Options usually vest in increasing numbers the longer you stay with the Company, so how good your gamble is depends on the thoroughness with which you research the Company's history and the Industry as a whole.
Telecommuting (From the Vault)
February 10, 2000
"Fifteen percent of the US workforce will be telecommuting by 2002.", according to the US Department of Transportation. And if the commuters I've talked to are any indication of the feelings of Employees at large, then the percentage of workers that want to perform their Jobs from the comfort of home approaches half the workforce.
Now that we know you probably want to telecommute, the question is, "Can you?"
Working from home, or even just off site, is not for everyone. It requires a certain set of skills and personality traits. You need to be: Employers will expect you to produce as much work (at a similar quality level) from home as other workers do from the office. While avoiding the dreaded commute sounds like a dream come true, there will be many distractions that tempt you away from your tasks. Like the television, the refrigerator, and your cozy bed. Errands, pets, family members, phone calls, and unfinished projects will also sound their siren call.
Employers can help you make the adjustment by providing some structure for your work from home. You and your Employer will need to agree on a list of tasks to be accomplished on a daily or weekly schedule, and performance standards should be set for 'home office' workers that are comparable to workers still stuck in the regular office.
One of the missing links that telecommuters often notice is a lack of communication with colleagues and supervisors. Being 'out of the loop' (or just feeling that way) can impair your ability to do your Job well, so it's important to schedule videoconferences, email correspondence, phone conversations, and meetings to keep off-site Employees up to speed on events in the office.
Telecommuting can be done effectively, managed for success, and lead to happier and more productive workers. But, like everything else, it takes a focused effort by both the Employer and Employee.
Hidden Job Market (From the Vault)
February 09, 2000
The vast majority of available Jobs are not advertised online, in print, or on radio spots. They are filled by more subtle means - through referrals, informal networking, friends, and acquaintances. Some career experts estimate that over 70% of available positions can be found in this hidden Job market.
Because this Job market is harder to access, the quality of the Jobs tend to be higher and the competition is less fierce. Think about the classified Job postings you've looked at online or in print - they tend to solicit highly skilled technical candidates or very broadly skilled low-wage workers. Typically you will be unqualified for the former Jobs and overqualified for the latter.
Accessing the underground Job market requires more effort than just responding to Job postings. You need to become part detective, part researcher, and part PR hack. If the hidden Job market represents where three quarters of the better Jobs are, than this is where you should devote most of your Jobhunting time.
Employers don't really want to be bombarded with resumes, but that is the result of their Job postings. So their first step in filling positions is more informal - they spread the word into the hidden Job market. Employees at small firms (less than fifty Employees, representing 80% of all workers) often know when their company is growing and what positions need to be filled before the Jobs are posted as classified ads.
The primary means to accessing these Jobs is through Research, Networking, and Informational Interviewing.
Your Job is to Research companies to find out which firms are growing and need/will need Employees. Contact people there (by letter, phone, email, in person) and uncover more information about them, their company, and prospects at their firm and in the Industry as a whole. Build your web of contacts (Network), and politely keep them informed about your progress.
Don't treat these contacts only as a means to an end - some of them may end up as good friends or mentors to you in your profession. Remember to avoid Ageism; mentors (and members of your network) could be younger than you. Once you get comfortable using the underground Job market, you may never look elsewhere for work.
To Post or Not to Post (From the Vault)
February 08, 2000
When you need a Job it seems obvious that you want as many Employers as possible to know about your availability. Posting your resume to multiple Job Boards, then, is one surefire way to accomplish this.
If you're unemployed, or just don't care who knows you're looking for a Job, there's nothing wrong with this strategy. However, what if you're like the vast majority of Jobhunters, and you are currently working somewhere, and you don't want your Boss to know you're looking for another Job?
Roughly 85% of Jobhunters come under this last heading, and they need to be more careful when posting their resumes. Posted resumes have a potentially nasty habit of lingering around, being copied from one database to another without your knowledge, and turning up where you least expect them. If you're looking for a Job in the same field, your current Employer's computer is a likely final resting place for that resume you posted a while back.
Jobhoppers are better off sending tailored email resumes to their target companies, addressed to the person in charge of hiring. You can get through the first screening successfully if you load your resume with the right keywords. Read your target company's Job postings (or another company's posting for a similar Job, if your target company has no listings) to decipher what those keywords might be.
Use Job Boards that offer confidentiality for your resume, and don't share it with other sites. This helps you maintain some degree of control over your resume, avoiding that embarrassing moment when your Boss walks in the room and shows you a copy of your 'new Job wanted' ad that he found online. Several Job Boards also allow you to restrict access to your online resume, while others offer Job agents that will search for Job Postings that match your keyword skills and email you contact information for those Companies.
If a Job Board can't promise to protect access to who gets to see your resume, giving you the ultimate decision on viewability, then you shouldn't trust them with any information about you and your career.
Using Usenet (From the Vault)
February 07, 2000
Usenet newsgroups were part of the Internet before very many people ever heard of the Internet. Functioning like online bulletin boards, they allowed people with similar interests to hook up electronically and share thoughts and comments about work, hobbies, or whatever. Originally used primarily by military personnel, University scholars, and students, the concept spread exponentially in less than a decade. Currently there are over thirty thousand Usenet Newsgroups throughout the world.
And it is one likely place to start building up your network of Industry contacts.
Try Liszt's Usenet Newsgroups for listings of topics that someone in your field might logically be interested in and post notes to. Their search engine allows you to narrow down the discussion 'threads' that interest you, and after reading some of the posted messages and replies you'll get the hang of it. There are tips available on how to best use newsgroups at news.announce.newusers, so go there first to avoid ticking longtime users off.
Newsgroups are typically identified in a three-word format, with each word separated by a period. For example, biz.jobs.offered is a common method for listing jobs in business fields. Try misc.jobs.resumes or alt.job.offered for example. No one really censors this information, so you'll find the usual random quality of information that is the hallmark of the Net.
Postings are identified by their subject line, so make sure you put something in that readily identifies who you are and what you're looking for. One of the groups you're hoping to interest is Recruiters, so consider what might grab their attention. Single words or phrases in the subject line that describe your skills sometimes work, and occasionally you can get by with descriptive promotional phrases like "Ambitious, Dedicated, Professional, etc."
Usenet is a good source for regional Job listings and contacts. While the Internet is global in reach, its primary use for Jobhunters (other than researching target companies) is in networking with Employees who are already working in the fields you want to break into. Go to "targetcity.jobs.offered" and poke around a little. Some newsgroups have peculiar names you might not recognize at first - Bay Area Jobs are located on ba.jobs.resumes, and other cities have abbreviations you might not consider at first. New York is nyc , Pittsburgh is pgh, and Philadelphia is phl.
If you post your resume onto a Usenet Newsgroup, remember that it is fair game for a Job Board to copy it to fill out their database. That means that months (or years!) from now, that resume may still be floating out there with out of date information. At some point that could become awkward with your new boss.
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Materials written by John Sumser © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved.