by Angela Copeland | Jul 27, 2015 | Advice, Newsletter
So often, job seekers assume salary is 100% tied to something as simple as how well they perform their job. We think the job market is a fair place, and our hard work will pay off. And, why shouldn’t we believe that? Our parents and grandparents taught us that we should find a good company to work at for thirty or more years. As long as we worked hard, the company would give us a generous retirement and we’d never have to worry.
Unfortunately, this is often not the case in today’s job market. Compensation is more of a reflection on two things that are not at all related to hard work. The first is your skill at negotiation, and the second is your willingness to change jobs. Almost always, you will receive much larger raises over time if you switch companies than if you wait for your current company to recognize you for your hard work.
When you decide you’re ready to look for a new job and make more money, your negotiation ability will strongly influence how much you walk away with. The good news is negotiation is easier than you might think. Even if you’ve never tried it, you can learn. And, to become better at it, the number one thing you need is practice.
But, there are a few guidelines you should know before you get started:
- Do your research – Before you begin a negotiation (or really, an interview), do your homework! Find out how much your new job should pay. Websites like Salary.com and Glassdoor.com often allow you to research as far down as a particular position at a certain company in a specific city. Realize that companies can offer a wide range of pay for one particular position. For example, project managers can make anywhere from $50,000 per year to $150,000 per year. Understand the range for the job you’re considering.
- Don’t reveal your number first – Providing your salary history to the company you’re interviewing with is almost never helpful to you. If you make less than the company is planning to offer, they will give you less. If you make more, they may walk away too quickly, assuming you’ll be expensive. In early conversations, the hiring manager, recruiter, or human resources representative will often ask you how much you are currently making. Do your best to sidestep the question of salary. If possible, ask the company to share their range with you.
- Know your limits – If you are currently unemployed, you may feel desperate to find a job right away. If you have a great job, you may be able to wait a year or more to find your next gig. Take into account your personal situation, including your family and children. Determine ahead of time how risky you want to be. The more you’re able to risk, the more you may gain. But, if you don’t have anything to risk, you may want to play your negotiation on the safe side.
- Keep fear at bay – Fear is one of the biggest reasons many people don’t negotiate for more money. All sorts of questions will run through their heads. What if the company says no? What if they take the offer away? What if they laugh at me, or think my request is too much? Keep this in mind – it doesn’t surprise employers that you want to negotiate. As long as you’re respectful in your request, they will respond with an equal amount of respect. Companies cannot always honor your exact request, but they won’t take the offer away from you. If you ask for more and they say no, it will be up to you to decide if you would like to accept their original offer or not.
- Be willing to walk away – If your risk tolerance is quite high, this can be one of the strongest and most effective tools in negotiation. Be willing to turn down an offer if it’s not right. If you cannot come to an agreement with your future employer, thank them and move on. Just having this mindset will let the company know you’re not desperate for work. You’re a top performer, and you expected to be compensated as such. If something doesn’t work out, avoid hard feelings and move on. Your next big offer could be right around the corner, and you may find another opportunity to work together in the future.
At the end of the day, companies expect you to negotiate. Frankly, they respect it. A hiring manager will never give you their best offer first. They leave wiggle room, so they can move up when you ask for more.
Before you negotiate, be sure you know your facts. Take notes about the reasons you feel you deserve more money. Focus on things like the revenue you’ll add to the bottom line, and stay away from personal arguments such as the number of children you have.
Practice your negotiation in the same way you would practice your elevator pitch. The more you try it, the less nervous you’ll feel and the more prepared you will be. And, remember – practice makes perfect. If your first few negotiations feel rocky, learn from them and move on. Your next negotiation will be that much better!
Although this process can be an uncomfortable one, you will find the five or ten minutes required for a negotiation can add thousands of dollars per year – and possibly hundreds of thousands over the course of your lifetime! Take the time to learn to negotiate; you won’t regret it.
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 and Stitcher where I discuss career advice every Tuesday! If you’ve already heard the podcast and enjoy it, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.
Happy hunting!
Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach
by Angela Copeland | Jul 20, 2015 | Advice, Newsletter
The job search process has changed tremendously in the last fifteen years. Twenty years ago, it wasn’t uncommon to walk into a business to present your resume for an opportunity. Today, a company might be surprised if you delivered your resume in person. In fact, most of your job search happens online.
And, interestingly, most of the tools you need to look for a job are inside your pocket with you right now – on your smart phone. In the Apple App Store alone, there are more than 500 apps available for download when you look up “job searching.”
Here are a few of the job apps I have on my phone today. Give them a try — they just might help!
LinkedIn – The app is a scaled down version of what’s available on the LinkedIn website. You can edit your profile, join groups, send messages, and apply for jobs. Best of all, the app allows you to search the contacts from your phone to see who else you know is also on LinkedIn.
Indeed – Much like the Indeed website, you’ll have the option to search and apply for jobs. You can also easily peruse employer reviews. This app is very straightforward and easy to use. It’s a great place to search for jobs if you find yourself looking during the day while you’re at work.
Glassdoor – Glassdoor works much like Indeed, but with added functionality. You can also search salaries by title and city. That’s right — you can find out how much certain positions pay in Memphis. You’ll also find sample interview questions to help you prepare.
Jobr – Jobr is a newer app that’s described as a “mobile job discovery and matching platform that connects corporate recruiters and hiring managers with a rapidly growing base of talented candidates. Companies can connect with a wide range of hard-to-reach passive, neutral and active candidates who are leaders in their respective fields and have matriculated from top universities.”
Jobr works for jobs much like Tinder works for dating. It’s an easy to use swipe app. I’m still new to this app and hope to share more about it with you very soon.
I hope you enjoy these apps. They can certainly enhance your job search. But, don’t forget the basics. Your smart phone is also a great place to send e-mails, and make real life person to person phone calls. Using your existing contacts to search is the most effective way to look for a job.
A recent survey by CareerXroads estimated that only 15% of people find jobs online. That means that 85% found them somewhere else — like through a friend or colleague.
The bottom line is — technology will help your search, but you still have to do the heavy lifting.
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 and Stitcher where I discuss career advice every Tuesday! If you’ve already heard the podcast and enjoy it, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.
Happy hunting!
Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach
by Angela Copeland | Jul 13, 2015 | Advice, Newsletter
When you picture your perfect company, what kinds of things come to mind? Do you value 401-K matching, extra vacation, or something more?
I graduated from college during the dot com bust. But, when the boom was still in full swing, companies raved about their amazing employee perks.
Things have changed a lot since then, but many companies are still providing extra benefits in order to lure in the best and the brightest. Many times, they’re targeting millennials — workers who crave more than just money.
This trend is especially true in the world of technology. And, Google may be the king of offering extras. Just look at this list of some of the things Googlers are provided at work:
- Free haircuts
- Free gym, and swimming pool
- Ping pong, billards, and foosball tables
- Laundry and dry cleaning services
- On-site medical staff
- Subsidized massages
- Special projects program
- Childcare
- Free food
- Shuttle service
- Guest speakers
At first glance, these perks seem amazing. And, many are. For example, who wouldn’t want free food at work?
But, reflecting back to my college graduation, I remember evaluating many companies with these benefits. In all honestly, I ran in the other direction the moment I’d see a list of perks like this.
“Why?” you might wonder. Well, it always seemed to me that these perks were designed to get you to stay at work longer. At some point, having so many social activities at your job can begin to blur the line between your time and your company’s time.
It made me wonder what my personal life would be like, or if there would be any left to speak of. Working in the world of the internet, this is a big concern. When you work on a website, especially if it’s consumer facing (and even more so if it generates revenue), you’re expected to be available 24 x 7.
You heard that right. The internet must always always work. It has to. No excuses. It’s like Las Vegas, a hotel, or a gas station. It’s one of those places you can spend money any time of day you like. In the case of the internet, you can also do it from anywhere in the world. And, as an employee for a website company, you’ve got to be sure everything works, all the time – no matter what.
As much as I’ve avoided these all encompassing work environments, my own career in the internet world — and in management have taught me a few valuable lessons.
I recently spoke about my personal experience with Sue Shellenbarger from the Wall Street Journal. I shared how after work activities strained a personal relationship with an ex-boyfriend. This experience was a lesson that’s helped me to advise others who struggle to find work life balance.
Sue writes– “She advises clients in her current work as a career coach to pay attention to the impact of job-related socializing on spouses and partners, and to consider turning down events that risk damaging those bonds. Ms. Copeland also advises clients to manage their off-work time based on their long-term personal priorities and life goals, rather than the day-to-day pressures of work.”
To read Sue’s entire piece and to learn more about how these issues personally impacted me, check out the Wall Street Journal here.
In the end, the most important thing is this. Take the time to evaluate what’s really important to you. Don’t trade in your personal life for something silly like free haircuts or free lunch. After all, lunch is never really free, right?
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 and Stitcher where I discuss career advice every Tuesday! If you’ve already heard the podcast and enjoy it, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.
Happy hunting!
Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach
by Angela Copeland | Jul 6, 2015 | Advice, Newsletter
I hope you had a wonderful and safe weekend. Over my weekend, I really started thinking about something. What are you an expert in? How many things have you truly mastered in life?
For example, you must know how to cook a little in order to survive day to day. But, is your food the quality of a professional chef? If your job disappeared tomorrow, and you were told the only job available to you was cooking in a restaurant, how would that work out?
Similarly, you might like to travel – domestically, and maybe even internationally. But, how good are you at booking travel? Do you know about all sorts of hotels, travel visas, and the best restaurants?
In both of these examples, the chances are pretty good that you would much prefer to be the customer. You probably aren’t a professional chef, or so skilled with travel booking that you could take it on as a full time job.
You’re probably wondering where I’m going with this. Well, this is what I was thinking…
Was it is that you ARE an expert at? After graduating from college, I became an IT project manager and business analyst at FedEx. Some of the things that make an IT project manager good at their job include:
- Very well organized planner
- Ability to write business requirements
- Good at leading meetings, and mitigating conflict
- Understands the software development life cycle
Now, let’s contrast this list with what makes someone good at looking for a job:
- Well spoken, and presents well
- Comfortable explaining own work history
- Good at presenting online, in both a resume and LinkedIn profile
- Great at networking with people at other companies
This is a short list of just a few things. But, they’re clearly very different skills. The skills needed to be a good project manager are in many ways different than those required to be a great job seeker.
And, to become a true expert at something, you do it every day. This is what happens with your full time job.
But, when you’re tasked with something you only do rarely, like planning a luxury vacation, you either get by doing the minimum with your existing skills, or you contact a professional to help you. You know you’ll never be the best at it because you don’t do it all the time. And, that’s okay because your career’s future doesn’t depend on how well you cook, or how great your travel reservations are.
Unfortunately, when it comes to job seeking, this is not the case. How good you are at job searching can have a major impact on your future — both in the type of job you have, and the amount of money you make. But, how can you be an expert at something you only do once every five years (for as short of a time as possible)?
So often, job seekers fail to recognize this core issue. I hear from people who say, “The companies just don’t like me!” Or, “They must not think I can do this job!”
You know, the job seeker could be totally right. The company may hate them. The company may completely think they’re unqualified. Or, judge them based on some part of their work or personal history.
Alternatively, it’s equally possible (if not more so) that nobody’s seeing the job seeker’s resume at all. It’s possible that the resume never makes it out of the online system (otherwise known as the “applicant tracking system”). Did you know that very often, a human never even sees your resume?
Does the fact that you don’t have a lot of practice looking for a job mean that you aren’t good at doing the actual job? No, in fact, in might mean just the opposite. If you haven’t looked for a job much, it could be because you’ve been really happy at your current job – or because hiring managers have always recruited you first.
So, it’s possible that you’re really great at your job – but, not so great at finding a job. As I mentioned above, they’re two different skill sets. Does that make sense?
Anyhow, before you give up on your search – or get too frustrated (or take a fallback job), try to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. That frustration you’re feeling is probably not a reflection of how good you are at what you’re doing. It may very well be with the job searching process.
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 and Stitcher where I discuss career advice every Tuesday! If you’ve already heard the podcast and enjoy it, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.
Happy hunting!
Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach
by Angela Copeland | Jun 29, 2015 | Advice, Newsletter
As you know, Independence Day is a proud holiday in the U.S.A. commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
I hope you have a fabulous 4th of July this year celebrating with friends and family!
But, before July slips away, take the time to begin to plot your very own independence day.
Is your boss taking your talents for granted? Has your professional growth come to a halt? Or, did you feel relieved just to get a 3% raise last year?
If you can relate to any of these questions, it’s time to begin to think about how you can put the ball back in your court. Don’t wait for someone else to recognize your talents.
Why do I say that? Well, there’s a rumor still going around that if you work really, really hard and do your best every day, you will be recognized and appreciated.
Does that sound familiar? My guess is your parents or grandparents shared this tip with you. And, many years ago, maybe this technique killed it. But, today, if you work hard (and only work hard), chances are good that the only thing you’ll get is more work.
A career is more than just working hard. It’s a brand. It’s your competitive knowledge. It’s your network. It’s your resume, and your online presence.
And in many cases, it’s “who you know, not what you know.” I’m sure you’re familiar with that old saying. It explains why the highest paid people aren’t always the smartest or the hardest working.
So, if your technique isn’t working, what can you do about it?
The first step to creating independence for yourself comes in the form of networking. Think of it as making business friends.
So often, when we’re caught up working, we forget to take the time to build new relationships. Many people I meet who struggle with networking the most ask the question, “Why would I get to know this stranger? What’s in it for me?” Possibly nothing right now. But, down the road in the future, you never know what might happen.
When your new friend is looking to hire a new employee in a few years, you may be first on their list. If you get laid off tomorrow, having a strong network can really create a safety net for you. It’s especially helpful when you know people across different industries, and in different roles.
Think of networking like investing. When you invest your retirement fund, you wouldn’t pick just one stock. You select a mixture, and you add in various types of financial products that have different risk levels. You may have some international investments and some domestic. Some stocks, and some bonds. And, you don’t expect to cash it all in today. You know that it takes work and time.
Networking is no different. The more diverse your network, and the more time you put into building it, the more secure you’ll be long term. It creates a sense of independence and choice.
Networking is of course just one element to creating career independence. But, its a foundational building block and a great place to begin.
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 and Stitcher where I discuss career advice every Tuesday! If you’ve already heard the podcast and enjoy it, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.
Happy hunting!
Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach
by Angela Copeland | Jun 8, 2015 | Advice, Newsletter
Have you thought of moving, but just aren’t sure where to begin? A number of the people I’ve met lately are thinking of just this idea. There are a few main reasons they want to relocate:
- There aren’t many jobs in the city where they live
- The economy is looking up and there are more opportunities to chase after
- They’re looking for something different in terms of lifestyle.
Whatever your reason, moving can be equally intimidating. If you’ve moved before, chances are good that it was when you went away to college, or for your first job after college.
Back then, you’d move to any city. You didn’t have as many preferences yet. You moved to where the job was.
But now, you want to move somewhere warm — or somewhere closer to family — or to a bigger city — or to a small town. You probably have two or three cities picked out as targets.
But, you have no idea how to move to one of those cities. Here are a few tips to get you started:
- Select your target cities. Do your homework here. Think about what’s important to you. Is it schools? Crime? A political party affiliation? List out what you want out of a new city, and find out which cities best fit your needs.
- Visit the cities. Before selling your home and closing up shop, visit the cities you’re thinking of moving to. Scout out neighborhoods. Spend time there. Verity you really would like to consider moving there.
- Get connected. Find ways to get involved in your new city, even though you don’t live there. This can be tough for a lot of people. In college, your activities and peers were nicely packaged inside one campus. As a professional, getting connected is a lot more work. Check out sites like Meetup.com and look for activities that interest you.
- Start saving. Years ago, relocation was pretty standard — especially for corporate jobs. Heck, I even received relocation as an intern. But, in today’s market, many companies don’t budget for relocation. If you’re really set on moving, start putting together your own relocation fund. You may need it.
- Leverage your existing contacts. If you already know people in your target city, take the time to connect with them. Find out if they’d be willing to help you.
And, if you don’t have many contacts, make new ones. A great place to start is with recruiters. If you’ve never worked with a recruiter or headhunter, you may not know where to begin.
Last week, I took a trip to Dallas, Texas to learn more about the hot job market there! On tomorrow’s Copeland Coaching Podcast, I interview Sarah Brown, a recruiter based out of Dallas. Sarah’s firm, PrideStaff Financial, specializes in accounting and finance opportunities in the Dallas area.
Sarah shares her tips on how to connect with recruiters. She also talks about transitioning from one career to another. And, she gives the scoop on why Dallas is a great city for you to consider!
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 and Stitcher where I discuss career advice every Tuesday! If you’ve already heard the podcast and enjoy it, please consider leaving a review in Apple Podcasts or Stitcher.
Happy hunting!
Angela Copeland
@CopelandCoach
