How does one determine their salary expectations? (employee, degrees, college degree)

[mcb1025]

In another thread of mine, the issue of salary expectations came up several times. As a recent college grad (BA, Political Science w/ emphasis in Economics, University of Michigan Class of '08) with about 5 years of work experience, I did my fair share of research on median salaries by degree, major, geographic location, experience, etc. when I entered the job market last year. The data that I found for myself differed greatly from what I'm making now and what some of you told me I should expect.

So, how does a company determine the value of your skills? Where do sites like Payscale.com, Salary.com, WSJ, CNN, and MSNBC get the data that they publish (which, I found, presents inflated salary expectations)? When it comes time for a performance review, how do you know what you're worth if these sites are publishing inaccurate data?

For example, all of the sites mentioned above showed that my degree and work experience was worth between $38k-$45k/yr. But when I mentioned that on these forums, people basically laughed at me, saying that my expectations were much too high. So how do I figure out what I'm worth? If not from these sites, from whom?

Want proof?
______________________________
Best Undergrad College Degrees By Salary

WSJ.com

Best entry-level salaries for new grads - CNN.com

[cleasach]

If you are just entering the workforce you are not worth much. That might sound harsh but in the real world that's the way it works especially since there are huge numbers of applicants for every job.

You might have a stellar transcript and work experience (which most recent grads do) but to them you are meat that needs to be trained in the ways of the company and until you prove yourself to them you are worth what they are willing to pay you. Once you have a few years under your belt and have clearly identifiable accomplishments that you can present to the next employer, you start moving up the chain. It's all about where you take yourself once you're in the door.

[annerk]

The best way to quantify your worth is to prove the bottom line value you have contributed to a company.

Obviously with some jobs this is easier than others. Someone in sales can say "I brought in $3 million in new accounts last year."

Someone in HR can't put a dollar amount on it. So they need to be more creative in their approach. For example they can say "I realized that we had inconsistencies in our employee handbook and got them corrected and approved by legal. Had they not been corrected and an employee called us on it, they could easily have gotten a bonus of 5% more than we were actually offering." Or maybe, "I worked with the sales manager to negotiate a compensation package for new hire Tom White to steal him from our competition, he brought $6 million worth of clients when he came over to our company."

You get the idea. Good luck!

(And I agree, a lot of those sites have inflated numbers on them these days.)

[I_Love_LI_but]

Originally Posted by mcb1025

For example, all of the sites mentioned above showed that my degree and work experience was worth between $38k-$45k/yr. But when I mentioned that on these forums, people basically laughed at me, saying that my expectations were much too high. So how do I figure out what I'm worth? If not from these sites, from whom?

Where do you live that $38k-$40k is considered such an extravagant wage for someone with a degree like yours and a little experience? It doesn't sound like a lot to me, but I live and work in one of the most high-cost areas in the nation, so my reality is skewed from what's going on in the "real America" (aka "flyover country" as some NY'ers and left coasters call it). What is the job title you are interested in?

Personally, I rarely ever go to those sites, so I can't advise you on them at all. Back when I did check them out and also the website for the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, I found that the salaries looked too low for my area.

[mcb1025]

Originally Posted by I_Love_LI_but

Where do you live that $38k-$40k is considered such an extravagant wage for someone with a degree like yours and a little experience? It doesn't sound like a lot to me, but I live and work in one of the most high-cost areas in the nation, so my reality is skewed from what's going on in the "real America" (aka "flyover country" as some NY'ers and left coasters call it). What is the job title you are interested in?

Personally, I rarely ever go to those sites, so I can't advise you on them at all. Back when I did check them out and also the website for the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, I found that the salaries looked too low for my area.

I live in Denver, CO. The cost of living isn't bad, but it's much higher than in Detroit, where I moved from. Apparently, most people think that $30k is where I need to set my expectations. That perplexes me since I didn't need to go to college to make a salary like that in the first place.

[checking out]

The inflated salary projections are intended to get you to invest alot of your time, energy and money to pursue a career. Once you've put in the time it's often a bit late to decide another track, let alone loose the investment put into your choice.

Real and meaningful wage reform is needed in this Country. I hear the complaints about new entrants into the work force. Much of this may be true. However there are seasoned workers who are well skilled and it's a tough pill to swallow when a new entrant comes into the work force making 85 percent of what a seasoned worker earns....the term for this is wage compression.

A tip would be to study the career paths based on wage compression. Once you get a job you'll be at the mercy of the industry's wage compression. So instead of being focused on the immediate losses of having trained for a job with dashed expectation about starting wages, focus on the longer term implication of wage compression.

Bottom line on all this is, IMHO, that those at the top are robbing us all blind. A multi-million dollar salary and benefit package cannot be supported by productivity, the only thing that supports it is that those who take them are part of a group of thugs that steal from the sweat of those below them (not to mention the consumers who are theived through the purchase the company's products.)

[mcb1025]

Originally Posted by checking out

The inflated salary projections are intended to get you to invest alot of your time, energy and money to pursue a career. Once you've put in the time it's often a bit late to decide another track, let alone loose the investment put into your choice.

Real and meaningful wage reform is needed in this Country. I hear the complaints about new entrants into the work force. Much of this may be true. However there are seasoned workers who are well skilled and it's a tough pill to swallow when a new entrant comes into the work force making 85 percent of what a seasoned worker earns....the term for this is wage compression.

A tip would be to study the career paths based on wage compression. Once you get a job you'll be at the mercy of the industry's wage compression. So instead of being focused on the immediate losses of having trained for a job with dashed expectation about starting wages, focus on the longer term implication of wage compression.

Bottom line on all this is, IMHO, that those at the top are robbing us all blind. A multi-million dollar salary and benefit package cannot be supported by productivity, the only thing that supports it is that those who take them are part of a group of thugs that steal from the sweat of those below them (not to mention the consumers who are theived through the purchase the company's products.)

That doesn't answer my question at all, but thanks for the gloomy assessment.

[checking out]

Originally Posted by mcb1025

That doesn't answer my question at all, but thanks for the gloomy assessment.

It's not gloomy. It's a word of hope...that you may use a different way of looking at something to analyze the varied paths you may take during life. I wish I had someone who took the time to pass along tools to me earlier in life. Doesn't change that I know what I know now and that I'll never be too old to work for meaningful improvement in my life and help others. And, yes, some people are, unfortunately, unable to help themself.

[JS1]

Originally Posted by annerk

The best way to quantify your worth is to prove the bottom line value you have contributed to a company.

Obviously with some jobs this is easier than others. Someone in sales can say "I brought in $3 million in new accounts last year."

Someone in HR can't put a dollar amount on it. So they need to be more creative in their approach. For example they can say "I realized that we had inconsistencies in our employee handbook and got them corrected and approved by legal. Had they not been corrected and an employee called us on it, they could easily have gotten a bonus of 5% more than we were actually offering." Or maybe, "I worked with the sales manager to negotiate a compensation package for new hire Tom White to steal him from our competition, he brought $6 million worth of clients when he came over to our company."

You get the idea. Good luck!

(And I agree, a lot of those sites have inflated numbers on them these days.)

how is this...

"I did my job, and as a result, we did not lose renewal of our contract with XYZ Inc., so that means I am worth $27 million a year"

I'm not kidding... if I get a pension calculation request from a VP at XYZ Inc. and just ignore it, said VP will get mad and can, possibly will, not renew our contract.

Obviously everyone else can say the same thing, so in some sense the $27 million is shared by thousands of people, but it is a silly question in the first place.