1st Steps In The Hunt: Daily News For Job Hunters and Recruiters

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Two Types

March 23, 2004

There are two types of Job Candidates. The first type of Jobhunter knows what their market value is in the workplace. The second type has a vague idea about their market value based primarily on what they're earning at the moment.

Type one Jobhunters can enter an Interview and know immediately if the salary range for the prospective Job is sufficient to warrant their consideration. They have figured out the relative monetary worth of various benefits, so comparing different offers is simply a matter of plugging in the numbers.

For example, you can estimate comprehensive health care plus dental benefits at about $150/month, depending on your age. Company car use might save you another $100/month. Potential pension contributions can be divided into monthly amounts for an easy side-by-side evaluation. Vacation and sick days allowed are comparable by multiplying your daily pay rate times the difference in days allowed. If you get three more Vacation/Sick days at a Job that pays $15/hr ($120/day), then that Job offer is worth an extra $360 annually.

Figuring your market value is far from an exact science. There can be significant variances from one region to another, and the ranges change based on the type of Job. A marketing manager in New York better ask for more money than one in Mississippi. Large cities often have a cost of living index that is 50% higher than rural areas, so make sure you can differentiate salary surveys by city or region.

Type one candidates not only earn more for doing the same work, they also move up their career ladder faster than type two candidates. Showing your new boss that you know how to research your relative market value tells them you are a savvy fact finder, one of their 'top flight' Employees.

Many sites on the internet offer Salary Calculators to help you gauge the pay rates of a job in a specific region. Salary.com comes to mind.

-Mark Poppen