I hope you’re having a great week! I’m writing with an update. My recent tutorial about how to use LinkedIn’s new referral feature was well received. If you missed the LinkedIn referral tutorial, you can find it on YouTube here.
Because it went over so well, I wanted to share another tutorial for you. In this tutorial, I’m going to share with you — how to use the Glassdoor “Know Your Worth Tool.”
The Glassdoor.com Know Your Worth Tool helps you to estimate your current market value — where you live, for your job, and for the amount of experience you have. It helps you to know if you’re being paid fairly, and if not, what alternatives might exist for you in your area.
I hope you enjoy this how to use the Glassdoor “Know Your Worth Tool” tutorial!
One of the number one reasons people are hesitant to switch jobs is because of their vacation time. They start with one or two weeks of vacation each year at their company. Then, as they stay at their job for a few years, more days are added on. After a while, they may find that they have earned four or five weeks of vacation per year. This much vacation can truly be life changing. And, all that vacation time took years to earn. It makes you not want to leave. Can you relate?
One of the biggest secrets to interviewing for a new job is this. Vacation time is negotiable. In other words, you can ask for more. This especially true at big corporations – for office jobs.
I get it. There’s a company handbook. The human resources team lays out the rules. Everyone starts with two weeks. When you start a new job, you start over.
In reality, everyone starts out with two weeks, until they negotiate for more. When you are negotiating your job offer, along with pay and your start date, you can negotiate for more vacation. Don’t get me wrong. You can’t ask for more of everything. If you ask for more vacation, you may not want to ask for ask for more money.
Often, it is actually easier for a company to give you more vacation than it is to give you more money. On the surface, this can be surprising, because many employees value vacation more than they value a few extra dollars.
If you’re thinking of switching, don’t let your current vacation stop you from looking for a new job. It’s very possible that your new job will be open to the idea of matching your current vacation time.
Wait until you have a job offer in hand to ask for more vacation. Then, ask if there’s room for negotiation around the amount of vacation. Explain that you love the new job, but that you have earned a certain level of vacation time at your current company. You would hate to lose that time.
In all likelihood, you’ll ask this question to the human resources recruiter. That person will have to talk this over with the hiring manager. Then, they’ll let you know if your request is approved.
If they do decide to approve your request, there’s one important thing not to forget. Get it in writing. Increased vacation days are often an agreement between you and your manager. If your current manager were to leave the company, how would your new manager know about the agreement? At a bare minimum, get your approved vacation time in an email, so that you could share it with a new manager.
It’s as simple as that. If you ask for more vacation, you very well might get it. It doesn’t always work. But, if you don’t ask, you will never know.
I hope these tips have helped you. Visit CopelandCoaching.com to find more tips to improve your job search. If I can be of assistance to you, don’t hesitate to reach out to me here.
Also, be sure to subscribe to my Copeland Coaching Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher where I discuss career advice every Tuesday! If you’ve already heard the podcast and enjoy it, please consider leaving a review in iTunes or Stitcher.
Diversity is one of the most important issues companies are focused on today. LinkedIn recently found that over half of companies say they are very or extremely focused on diversity. This is good news, especially when you consider this. The World Economic Forum recently estimated that it will take 217 years for women to reach complete equality in pay and employment opportunities.
It should be noted that one of the key tools we have available today that was not available years ago is the internet. The transparency now available, especially as it relates to employment, is a gold mine for job seekers. Sites such as Glassdoor, LinkedIn, and Indeed.com provide important data points, including how much workers are paid and how employees rate their workplaces.
To further the mission of diversity, Indeed.com recently announced a partnership with three other websites that focus on inclusiveness in the workplace. This partnership with Fairygodboss.com, InHerSight.com, and Comparably.com will help to provide additional information to job seekers.
The information will show up on the Indeed “Company Pages.” It will allow job seekers to better evaluate the diversity and inclusiveness of an organization. Today’s Company Pages include ratings for work/life balance, compensation/benefits, job security/advancement, management, and culture. In the future, there will also be scores from InHerSight, Comparably, and Fairygodboss that will rank the companies from one to five stars and as a number from one to 100.
The internet still remains an unlikely place to land your next job. But, the data available will help you to decide whether or not you want to accept a job offer from a particular company.
Salary data will also help you to know what is considered fair pay in your industry. In corporate roles, employers setup pay bands. It can be surprising to know that for one job, the pay band can sometimes vary as much as $40,000 or more. That means that one person doing the job may make $65,000, and another person doing the same job may make over $100,000. In theory, this range allows companies to compensate employees based upon experience. In reality, how much you make is often tied to how skilled you are at negotiation.
Using the data available online will help you to ensure you’re getting a fair deal. It will allow you to verify that your future employer is a healthy place to work. And, it will give you a view into your employer’s values and priorities.
This sort of valuable feedback is often not something you can typically find out during a job interview.
Long story short, we still have a long way to go on issues related to diversity and pay equality for all people, including women and men from all backgrounds. But, this level of increased transparency will help you to be your own advocate. Perhaps together, we can shorten the time it will take to reach complete equality in the workplace.
Angela Copeland, a career coach and founder of Copeland Coaching, can be reached at copelandcoaching.com.
Who wouldn’t like to make more money? If you’ve read my column before, you probably know that I’m an advocate of changing companies every three to five years (for many industries). On top of gaining extra experience, switching has the potential to bump up your pay considerably. But, there are often times when you need a raise at your current employer.
So, where do you start? If you want the best chance of landing a raise of more than two or three percent, do it at a time when your role has evolved quite a bit. This would be the case if your work has grown into a new area, has expanded significantly in scope, or has added management responsibilities. For example, if you were hired as an individual contributor and are now managing a team of seven, the scope of your job has changed.
It’s easier to ask for more money if your job has changed significantly because you aren’t asking for more money for your existing job. That may sound silly, especially if you’re doing more than your peers. You may be smarter, saving more money, or getting more done. But, it’s hard for a manager to justify paying you much more for any of these things.
When your job has changed, you’re essentially asking for a fair amount of money for a new job. While you’re making the case, it may also be a good time to request a new title and an updated job description. This way, you are officially taking your current position to the next level.
Once you’ve decided you’re ready to make a case for more, you’ll want to find the perfect time. It may be during your annual performance evaluation. Or, you may want to lobby for more money at another time, in hopes that your manager won’t be restricted by a certain pool of money.
Whenever you decide to do it, plan ahead. Request a meeting in advance, so your boss won’t be caught off guard. Prepare your case in such a way that your manager can easily advocate for you. In other words, don’t make it hard for your boss to give you more money. Do as much of the work for them as you can.
Consider preparing a presentation that shows how your job has changed. Highlight your accomplishments. Include any numeric results you can show, including how much you beat your goals, and how much revenue you saved the company. You put this much work into everything else you do at work. Why wouldn’t you take the time to put it into your own presentation?
Remember this. Your boss may say no. It may be out of their control. Be careful not to come across in a way that may jeopardize your current job. And, if your company isn’t willing to value you, be ready to begin looking for another one that will.
Angela Copeland, a career coach and founder of Copeland Coaching, can be reached at copelandcoaching.com.
Episode 161 is live! This week, we talk with Alexandra Dickinson in New York, NY.
Alexandra is an entrepreneur who teaches people to negotiate. She’s the Founder and CEO of the negotiation training and coaching company Ask For It. She is a contributing writer at Women at Forbes and has spoken at organizations like UN Women, Columbia Business School, and Facebook. She will be speaking at SXSW this year on the topic, “Time’s Up on the Gender Pay Gap: How to Negotiate in 2018.”
On today’s episode, Alexandra shares:
The common misconception about negotiation
The importance of research in negotiation
How to figure out how much we, personally, should ask for when it comes to a new job
Basics tips for negotiation
How to negotiate at your current job
Listen and learn more! You can play the podcast here, or download it on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.
To learn more about Alexandra, visit her website at http://askforit.co/. You can also learn more about her talk at SXSW by visiting www.sxsw.com.
Thanks to everyone for listening! And, thank you to those who sent me questions. You can send me your questions to Angela@CopelandCoaching.com. You can also send me questions via Twitter. I’m @CopelandCoach. And, on Facebook, I am Copeland Coaching.
Don’t forget to help me out. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts and leave me a review!
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