A Practical Manual for Job Hunters and Career Changers - Case Study Example

 A Practical Manual for Job Hunters and Career Changers Introduction You are what you do- or is that an exaggeration? Well, with the world economy the way it is since the last three years or so, most of us unwittingly and despairingly cling to our jobs and hope we will survive till the next paycheck. The world is a cruel and lonely place when you are down and out, and that’s a sordid reality. It really helps to look at compensation surveys about jobs that would interest oneself- after all, the best jobs in the world are regarded as a labor of love and a paid vacation. If you love what you do and are naturally good at it- your talent will shine through and the money will follow. We should just concentrate on bettering ourselves at different aspects of the job and the rest will take care of itself. A career needs to be planned, as any top executive will tell you, and making the right choices will pay dividends in getting you to the right places so you can climb the corporate ladder and make a name for yourself. This paper will look at the salary data for three jobs of my choice and compare them in terms of overall suitability and usefulness as career choices. Discussion After a good introspective thinking session about my skills and abilities and the jobs I would like to be in, I have selected (1) College Teacher (2) Investment Analyst and (3) Business Process Consultant as the three professions I would most like to be in, in that order. Teaching is my first choice because I have an innate ability to learn and pick up facts quickly as well as to explain them to others in a way they would understand. Investment Analyst would be my second choice because I am good with numbers and have some interest in finance and how it runs the corporate world. The last choice would be Business Process Consultant in case I do not get into the first two professions of my choice. This again is a good choice for one who is good at dealing with people and processes and knows a bit about business problems in different areas and how to overcome bottlenecks or kick-start processes. It helps one understand what are the threats and opportunities to handle and how to use the company’s strengths and overcome its weaknesses to survive in a competitive environment, how the world works and what impacts on opinions. I think it is something we should all show a little interest in. All the professions I have chosen need some college and university education but what really matters is the long term interest in these professions. Without this one would be a rolling stone (Bolles, 2011). Median, 25th and 75th Percentile Base Wages and Total Compensation (NYC) Profession 25th Percentile Median or 50th 75th Percentile College Teacher $14, 398 $17, 515 $21,786 Investment Analyst $53,767 $61,790 $82,401 Business Process Consultant $101,290 $114,367 $128,530 SOURCE: www.salary.com. Accessed on 23 Sep 2011. 1. Which jobs are paid more or less? Is this what you would have expected? Why or why not? What factors could explain the differences in the salaries? Yes, the price that a job commands in the marketplace is both a reflection of the demand and supply for that particular set of skills as well as the training and experience that is required to enter into a particular profession. For example, in the education sector the basic qualification considered for a college professor is a Bachelors Degree. Similarly for an Investment Analyst the basic educational qualification would be a Business or Finance Degree. For a Business Process Consultant this would be a degree in Project Management along with an innate sense of planning, organizing and problem solving. Most definitely the cost of a college education is also included in starting pay considerations. As one gains experience in these fields, the pay also increases with promotions, bonuses and further perks. The degree to which one can progress is a combination of luck, personal skills, understanding of the needs of the times and the company, and their contribution to the bottom line and corporate goals. 2. Do the jobs have different bonuses as a percentage of their base salaries? Why or why not? What could explain these differences? Yes, the data available on the site combines salary and bonuses as one figure. This would help in comparing jobs as most companies lump salaries and expected bonuses together nowadays. It gives a better base of comparison and takes into account yearly average of compensation expected. The bonus percentages and amounts are based on salaries and individual performances during the year but generally the higher the base salary and the more valued the profession, the better will be the bonuses, perks and other benefits. Job emoluments are usually based on skills, value of the job in the market and the education and years of experience one has in that particular field of work. 3. Do the data include the value of the stock options? What are the implications of this? No, this is not included. The implications of this are that stock options have to be earned. Generally the entitlement is mentioned in the salary quotation as a sweetener or attraction but its actual receipt is nevertheless dependent on performance. It is not unusual to see executives deprived of stock option grants as a result of dismal performance or an erroneous decision that did not work out and put the company at a loss. 4. Read the job descriptions. Are there accurate descriptions for jobs that you would be applying for? Why or why not? Are there jobs for which you cannot find an appropriate match? Why do you think this is the case? Unfortunately the job descriptions are not accurate for some of the jobs I had in mind. Admittedly some of us have an inaccurate description or idea of the exact job title and the work it entails in different professions or industries. Although there has been an attempt to cover jobs in terms of generic titles, this is sometimes inexact. For example, I could not find Investment Banker and had to settle for Investment Analyst. Sometimes it’s just a matter of semantics, whereas the job responsibilities are almost the same with little variation if any. 5. Check out pay levels for these types of jobs in your school's career office or other local or regional source. How does the pay for jobs advertised in your career office or other local or regional source differ from pay levels on www.salary.com? Why do you think these differences exist? Generally I found that there was some variation in the pay levels for the types of jobs available in my school’s career office and as advertised in the bulletin board for aspiring finalists going out to find their way in the job market. While there is certainly some sense to the average figures as well as the general starting salaries for different professions, the variations may be explained by the total salary budgeted for new entrants say MBAs in a particular year, the degree of competition and number of students qualifying in a particular semester or year, the state of the economy and future outlook for a particular profession in general and the job in particular. Some companies like to pay high starting salaries to attract the best candidates but have a slow promotion process, while others are conservative at the start but reward good performers with excellent bonuses and perks in the future. Thus there would be variations in pay for the same jobs in different companies in the same sector as well. 6. How do you use this information while negotiating your salary in your job after graduation or when you apply for a different job? What data would you provide to support your "asking price"? What factors will influence whether or not you get what you ask for? There is a saying that ‘everybody applies for the same job’. This makes sense when we find there are a number of candidates all aspiring to be selected for the same position. However the meaning runs deeper than that. The job is there because it gives an opportunity for the job holder to solve particular business problems or create business opportunities. What it means is that when you apply for a job, you are offering your prospective employers a particular skill set and experience set that no one else has. This combined with your personality and work attitudes makes you a unique person. The person who is likely to stand out in the mind of the employer will not only have the required set of education, work skills and experience, but also seem the most willing and able to work and adjust in the employer’s workplace. The selected candidate will have proved his work through his honesty, integrity, work attitudes, adaptability and willingness to do what the employer wants of him. He shows the employer that he is a good fit in the vacant position. Once he has done that he can bargain for a salary. He should of course find out what salary the position commands in the first place, through contacting people he knows in the company or finding information through www.salary.com and similar websites. One should generally aim for a higher salary as one gets experienced unless the circumstances in the economy dictate otherwise, there are too many similar applicants or the job is in danger of redundancy. Job suitability, your impression and skill and experience set, your work attitudes and decision making ability as well as the state of the economy and the budgeted salary will dictate your pay package. 7. What is the relevant labor market for these jobs? How big are the differences between salaries in different locations? The relevant labor market for a particular job depends on its nature and the degree of skill, training and adaptability both the job and the candidate can prove in its carrying out. For example the position of Administrator or Manager would be highly adaptable to a variety of industries and situations, and it is up to the candidate to convince the employer that he or she has the required skills, adaptability and work attitude to carry out the job with a minimum of fuss. An investment analyst could function as a private banker, portfolio manager or stockbroker on achieving the required qualifications. On the other hand a plastic surgeon or a miner would have some difficulty moving into another field of work as their skill set is less adaptable to different environments. If you are prepared to move to locations you have never been to if the job is good enough and it supports your family well, there is a choice of locations you would find all across the USA (www.salary.com). . 8. For each job, compare the median salary to the low and high averages. How much variation exists? What factors might explain this variation in pay rates for the same job? For jobs with lower starting salaries and lower social value, there is generally a lesser variation or spread between 25th, 50th and 75th percentile and so forth. For example, the job of college teacher has the least spread in salary terms from starting to ending, of course depending on location, experience, demand and supply factors and number of educational facilities and students in a particular locality. The same factors apply for investment analyst and business process consultant. As it is envisaged that the latter two jobs have greater potential to contribute to the company’s bottom line, or indeed get the company up and running and increase or create business opportunities, they are priced higher in the job marketplace. It is wise to move to places where infrastructure for particular industries is being built. For example, a primary school teacher or someone connected with childcare would do well to plan moving to States where the population of newborn babies is on the increase, as it would result in more schools and childcare centers in the long run, creating job opportunities. Sometimes excess competition at the centers of a particular industry can tend to depress salaries there, while being higher at new emerging centers (www.salary.com). . 9. Look for a description of how these salary data are developed. Do you think it provides enough information? Why or why not? Discuss some of the factors that might impair the accuracy of these data. What are the implications of using inaccurate salary data for individuals or companies? A perusal of the site certainly shows that www.salary.com is far from being complete in many respects. They themselves admit that they are just collecting data on a number of common and particular attributes of comparison and analysis and are by no means finished yet. Even after this, updating salaries, trends and occupations is a full time practice. Some of the common and well known positions are well researched and represented, while other more specialized jobs may not even have data readily available. Sometimes we have to look at generic jobs in the absence of a particular job being on this website, which is not truly representative but is the next best thing. Lack of proper research or paucity of information on certain jobs can have people looking at this website getting inaccurate information sometimes. This may not only lead to losing the job because of pricing themselves out of contention, but even worse, accepting pay much less than the average, leading to job dissatisfaction in the long run. That is why professional organizations would still prefer holding salary surveys conducted by independent professional firms that are more accurate and representative of current conditions (Jackson, 1983). 10. With this information available for free, why would you bother with consultants' surveys? As just indicated above, we cannot vouch for the accuracy and correctness of much of the data on freely available websites. Much of the information will either not be updated on time or insufficient research and data collection would likely make the averages unrepresentative of ground realities. That is why professionally run organizations prefer that a salary survey be conducted once every two years or even every year if possible in companies in their industry which they have identified as part of their competitive frame (Yate, 2010). 11. If you were a manager, how would you justify paying one of your employees either higher or lower than the results shown on this website? Sometimes the state of the economy and the lack of jobs and bleak prospects of job revival make it a buyer’s market, with the employers in the driving seat. On the other hand, an employee asking for a chance to enter a new profession should be willing to accept at a lower pay than average, considering his lack of experience and skills. On the other hand, when setting up a new department or a new business venture in which a skilled and experienced departmental head is needed to set up and manage the department, he must be enticed by a higher pay and a chance to lead the department. In this context, a higher pay than average will be necessary and justifiable as well. 12. In your conclusion, highlight one thing you learned that would help you in the future. Conclusion After going through this entire exercise, I have come to know about the relative usefulness of websites like www.survey.com and why salary surveys are still necessary even in the presence of such freely available information. References Bolles, R.N. (2011): What Color is Your Parachute? A Practical Manual for Job Hunters and Career Changers. Ten Speed Press. Jackson, T (1983): Guerilla Tactics in the Job Market. Bantam Books. Salary Information (n.d.): Accessed on 24 Sep 2011 from www.salary.com Yate, M. (2010): Knock Em Dead: The Ultimate Job Search Guide. Adams Media. Read More