With Kyle’s announcement last week, among other chat about job changes in the twittersphere, I thought it might be timely to discuss job searching and negotiation.
Wage equity and negotiation have been an interest of mine for some time. I even co-chair a subcommittee at my institution that addresses these issues. (Before I continue, let me add the typical disclaimer that what I post here is not in any way representative from my institution or that subcommittee.)
To me, so many wage equity issues could be addressed in any workplace through transparency. In the absence of transparency, those of use who champion wage equity, try to level the playing field as much as possible where negotiation skills are concerned.
For those of you .eduGuru followers who may be early in your career, here’s some advice that can help you along:
- Do the math. We’re not just talking apples to apples. Compare salaries, flex and work-at-home time, budget for travel and professional development, and other benefits. If you find out you’ll have to choose between shelling out your own cash for personal travel or passing on valuable career-building opportunities, you may want to stick with a slightly lower paying position with a high travel budget. Try to find out what typical raises are. Are you close to time of year that raises are already calculated? If so, taking a 4% salary increase in a new position instead of a 4% raise at your current position may not be worth the move.
- Never accept a lateral move. By lateral I mean same pay and same level of resume-building experience. If the person making you an offer can’t offer you more pay, or a chance to give you more resume building experience, or some other benefit, why consider the offer? If you are tempted to take a lateral offer, you are either a) so desperate to get out of your current job you will take anything, or b) not experienced enough yet to be bidding on other jobs. If they say the salary is fixed, that’s fine; be prepared to walk away. Besides, you’d be surprised how many “fixed” things aren’t, or what other little perks you can negotiate if you can’t get the salary you want. How about saving on your commute with a work-at-home day?
- Build [Your Name Here] the Brand. Do you pay as much attention to your name as you do to your college’s site? When was the last time you Googled yourself? (Luckily I have have a very unique name. Google “Nikki Massaro Kauffman” and you get about 7 pages before you get to “Ashley Massaro”. Hmm, I wonder how many pages she gets before she gets to me…) Remember, potential employers can do this as well. Treat your name like it’s your personal brand, then market it accordingly. Keep a portfolio of work online, whether that’s in a single site, or scattered across the social Web in YouTube, slideshare, etc. If you can come to an interview and have your name precede you, then you won’t be the only one negotiating to get you in the door.
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This post was written by:
Nikki Massaro Kauffman - who has written 37 posts on .eduGuru.
Nikki is a technology training coordinator with the Penn State University Libraries, responsible for technology training offered in the Libraries' 20+ departments and 30+ library locations.
Prior to coming to University Libraries, she served as an interim associate director of instructional technology and multimedia at the Penn State World Campus. Over the years, she's been a programmer, a database specialist, a Microsoft Certified Master Instructor, a continuing education instructor for seniors and adults with disabilities, and a high school English and communications technology teacher. Her interests are in the areas where technology, training, and communication intersect. She holds degrees in both computer science and in education.
Disclaimer: Nikki's views are not necessarily that of her employer's. Nikki cannot be contained.
December 8th, 2008 at 9:51 am
These are great tips. You have me thinking now because all these were part of the decision process and might be worth a followup post. Plus I’ve been kind of “building my personal brand” pretty hard core the last year and can definitely give some advice about how to do that.
Kyle James is a little more popular name that I’ve been battling w/ some actor on IMDB and some teenagers on MySpace for a while.
December 8th, 2008 at 10:07 am
@kylejames Perhaps we need to start a Web superstars guild and protect our names while we can? Or come up with such unique names that no one else might have them. Cory Doctorow had it right: Poesy Emmeline Fibonacci Nautilus Taylor Doctorow was a good pick.
I taught high school for five years in the late 90s, so I tried to avoid every possible name I taught when naming my kids. If I Google my daughter, I get links to myself and Al Gore’s daughter.
Let’s make sure the next generation of kids is not prey to domain and twitter squatters!
December 8th, 2008 at 10:36 am
I like my name. It’s unique. The only other person with it is a distant cousin, who has a Ph.D., and works for Stanford and did stuff for NASA and stuff. It’d sure suck to get confused with him, huh? Hehe.
December 11th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
and I thought I was the only one who did a Google search on my own name
December 12th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
@Paul: No, you are not alone on that one. It’s good to know where you stand. Think of it this way: People look at their credit report periodically, especially before buying a car or a house. Google searching yourself is like pulling your a credit report of your career.
September 7th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Don’t you think it is sometimes OK to accept a lateral move if the future opportunities are greater?
You are dead right on the Your Name is your Brand! With a little targeted SEO you can move your name/location higher in the SERPs. This leads to a little more traffic to the page you want to represent your brand.
November 5th, 2009 at 4:12 am
I liked the career tips that you have given. The best one was ‘Never accept a lateral move’. I completely agree with that.