Mar 05 2009
What Are You Worth?
Julie Greenberg over at http://www.jobnob.com sent me an email to introduce her new jobsite. It is pretty neat. You can go in and research to find out what people are earning in different job classifications in different parts of the country.
One thing you have to realize is that regional variability does play a role, particularly in positions that draw only from the local job force and do not have a national recruitment effort. Not necessarily because of the jobs being blue collar or lower level, but because they can find ample folks in the area and need not relocate to fill the job.
When I was in HR and hiring people to do specialized manufacturing jobs in CT, I was so thankful that XOM Corporate HR would not force me to use national data as a guide, since the jobs in Connecticut paid much higher than anywhere else in the country. Had I tried to use the national numbers, I would have not been able to get any workers for the jobs I needed to fill.
Those same jobs down in Oklahoma or Kentucky might only have been paying about ten dollars per hour and my jobs were in the fifteen or more range. (It doesn’t take a mathematical genius to figure out why manufacturing companies are closing up shop and moving down south).
My message today then is that the more you know, the better. Salary information can be a powerful tool you can use to improve your economic position. More on this in future posts.
