You did it. You’re being interviewed by your dream employer.
You nailed the answer to your strengths and weaknesses. And your response to “Why do you want to work here?” flew off the tip of your tongue. But when the interviewer asks for your desired salary, you become the proverbial deer, frozen — and sweaty — under the overhead lights. What on Earth do you say?
If you don’t know by now, “it’s too late,” says Robin Pinkley, a professor of management and organizations at Southern Methodist University and co-author of “Get Paid What You’re Worth.” “You have to have salary and compensation information before the first interview.”
Knowing what you’re worth not only helps ensure you get paid fairly, but also better situates you to negotiate your salary. Even securing a small increase above the initial offer can translate into tens of thousands of dollars more down the road, says Lydia Frank, editorial director of PayScale.com, a site that provides salary compensation data. “You may not be thinking about it now, but your 60-year-old self looking at retirement is going to thank your 20-year-old self if you take that extra step and do negotiate.”
But before you become “The Negotiator,” you should know your value in dollar signs — which isn’t easy to quantify, especially if you’re relatively new to the workforce. U.S. News spoke with career and salary experts to round up the best resources for determining your worth, and we’ll walk you through what to do before throwing a number on the table.
Where to Look
Get ready for some serious Googling. Pinkley, who is also founder of the consulting business M2M Center for Profitable Negotiations, suggests surveying several salary websites and printing your findings to share with the hiring manager. “Visuals have more power than just talking about [numbers],” she says.
Recommended sites that offer salary information and wage calculators include: Glassdoor.com, PayScale.com, Salary.com, SalaryExpert.com, Vault.com and the U.S. Department of Labor’s CareerOneStop.org.
Most sites generate a salary range. Just note that ranges may differ from one site to another, since income data are often obtained from different sources, and figures could be out of date, Pinkley says. That’s why it’s imperative to check several sites and not rely on one, she stresses.
When evaluating search results to discern their pay range, job descriptions matter more than job titles, she adds, given that titles can vary among companies. “In some industries, VP means one thing, and in other industries, VP means something very different,” Pinkley says. “Job descriptions are much more consistent with the job and correspond better with salary than do job titles.”
Next, tap your networks. Scott Dobroski, Glassdoor’s career trends analyst, says recent college graduates, in particular, should reach out to family, friends and mentors from former internships. “Don’t be afraid to ask: ‘How much money do you think this position earns? Have you heard anything about this company?'”
For more precise salary feedback, he recommends contacting workers in your industry through email, LinkedIn or even Twitter. “The great thing about social media is you can start conversations with people who work at companies that you don’t know,” he says.
Target employees at similar companies in the area or competing organizations to get a sense of a reasonable salary range, advises Geni Harclerode, assistant director of experiential learning and employer development at the University of Michigan’s Career Center. That way, you’ll know if your dream employer presents a cushy package or lowball offer.
Breaking Down Your Number
You’ve got a ballpark figure based on online research and informational interviews, but is it accurate and will it realistically support you? Consider these factors before committing to your number:
Industry
Starting salary is very industry-specific. So how well will your industry compensate you?
In September 2014, the National Association of Colleges and Employers analyzed data from 400,000 employers. Here’s what the survey deems the top-hiring industries and their starting salaries for workers with bachelor’s degrees:
| Industry | Salary |
|---|---|
| Finance and Insurance | $57,683 |
| Professional, Scientific and Technical Services | $55,535 |
| Federal, State and Local Government | $50,026 |
| Health Care and Social Assistance | $45,222 |
| Educational Services | $41,923 |
And here are the top-paying industries, according to the survey, and their starting salaries for workers with bachelor’s degrees:
| Industry | Salary |
|---|---|
| Mining, Quarrying and Oil and Gas Extraction | $97,100 |
| Management of Companies and Enterprises | $61,490 |
| Construction | $58,033 |
| Manufacturing | $57,892 |
| Finance and Insurance | $57,683 |
Drilling down into these fields further, U.S. News asked PayScale what an entry-level worker with zero to five years of experience would earn for some of the occupations on our 2015 Best Jobs list. (Note: Salary data listed in the U.S. News rankings account for all years of experience and thus differ from these PayScale estimates.) Here are the results:
| Job Title | Median Salary | Best Jobs Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Health Care: | ||
| Pharmacy Technician | $24,300 | 48 |
| Dental Assistant | $28,800 | 67 |
| Paramedic | $36,500 | 94 |
| Registered Nurse | $52,200 | 9 |
| Physician Assistant | $84,500 | 10 |
| Social Services: | ||
| Restaurant Cook | $22,800 | 120 |
| Paralegal | $34,700 | 91 |
| Interpreter or Translator | $37,300 | 89 |
| Elementary School Teacher | $37,400 | 39 |
| Patrol Officer | $39,500 | 73 |
| Technology: | ||
| Computer Support Specialist | $39,400 | 77 |
| Web Developer | $50,600 | 11 |
| Civil Engineer | $56,000 | 22 |
| Mechanical Engineer | $63,000 | 18 |
| Software Developer | $68,200 | 3 |
| Business: | ||
| Insurance Agent | $31,500 | 33 |
| Event Planner | $38,900 | 57 |
| Accountant | $47,000 | 16 |
| Sales Representative | $47,000 | 61 |
| Financial Advisor | $52,700 | 25 |
| Creative: | ||
| Public Relations Specialist | $42,200 | 75 |
| Architect | $48,600 | 81 |
| Art Director | $50,800 | 87 |
| Construction: | ||
| Carpenter | $33,200 | 107 |
| Sheet Metal Worker | $33,500 | 96 |
| Plumber | $36,800 | 79 |
| Electrician | $38,100 | 109 |
| Painter | $42,300 | 105 |
| Source: PayScale |
While your industry comprises a large piece of the salary pie, your level of education, location, skills and experience also influence what you’ll take home. Education
The average starting salary for 2014 graduates with bachelor’s degrees was $48,707, according to NACE. In general, employees with college degrees make significantly more than those with just a high school diploma, Frank says. Yet how much your education level affects your salary depends on the job. “In some professions, you absolutely do need a master’s in order to see a big salary increase to get to that next level,” she says. “In other professions, a bachelor’s is just fine, and doing that extra investment of getting a post-grad degree isn’t necessarily going to impact your pay.”
Put another way: More degrees don’t always equal more money.
Last year, PayScale analyzed the 25 top-paying entry-level positions (defined as zero to five years of experience) and their education requirements. The No. 1 occupation was nurse anesthetist (requires a master’s degree) with a median salary of $136,000, followed by petroleum engineer (requires a bachelor’s degree) at $101,000 and data scientist (requires a Ph.D.) at $98,000. Veterinarian, which requires a Doctor of Medicine, was at the bottom of the list at $70,900.
And of course, some people make mega bucks without earning degrees. “We see CEOs today who don’t even have a bachelor’s degree who have been outrageously successful,” Pinkley says. “It just depends on the individual and the industry.”
Location
The average cost of living in your city of employment should play a role in how much you earn; cities with higher costs of living tend to pay higher salaries. For perspective, New York City, Honolulu and San Francisco are the most expensive U.S. cities, according to the Council for Community and Economic Research’s 2014 Cost of Living Index. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says the District of Columbia, San Francisco and New York City have the highest annual housing expenses.
To compare costs in various cities, sites like Homefair.com provide cost-of-living calculators. You can also contact your alma mater’s alumni association in the area you’re considering. . Harclerode of the University of Michigan Career Center, for example, advises Michigan graduates moving to Silicon Valley to connect with the Bay Area chapter to have an “apples to apples conversation” with alumni who can share what it realistically costs to live there.
However, even if you earn a higher salary in San Francisco or New York City, the cost of living may nonetheless eat into your disposable income, more than it would in other parts of the country. For instance, the technology sector has jobs in affordable cities in Texas and North Carolina, Frank says. “Even if the salary is lower, your quality of life may be better than if you chose to gravitate toward Silicon Valley where the cost of living is pretty high,” she says.
Skills
Do you have project management expertise? Know a foreign language? Can you code? “If you have some added skills, you stand a good chance at earning more,” Dobroski says.
Say you’re fluent in a language relevant to a market your potential employer works with. “If you have those language skills, you could be a hot commodity to them,” he says, “and when you’re a hot commodity, that does give you more leeway in negotiating a higher salary.”
The key is to stay current. Software developers who only know older programming languages tend to make less than those who know the latest, Frank points out. “That’s a lesson to everybody,” she says. To squeeze the most money out of your skill set, determine the in-demand skills for your profession. Then learn them. And don’t stop learning once you’re employed.
But whether you can speak Mandarin or code in Python, your skills will only benefit you if they are known. Pinkley emphasizes that you must showcase your expertise in the interview process. “You cannot assume those you work for are going to recognize your value and pay you for it,” she says. “It is your job to make a case for it.”
Experience
For entry-level workers, experts have varying opinions on whether the number of internships or previous jobs should affect your compensation.
Companies are, however, increasingly placing higher value on candidates who have interned for them, Harclerode notes. “We see a lot of organizations putting a heavy emphasis on [hiring] directly from that intern class,” she says. “If a student really wanted to leverage an opportunity … thinking strategically about an internship within certain industries that have that practice would be smart.”
On the other hand, serial job hoppers may not be able to use the work experience they’ve wracked up to their salary advantage unless the reason was underemployment, Franks says. “[Job hopping] is not always a bad thing if the first job you got out of school wasn’t utilizing your education,” she says. ” … it also doesn’t make sense to stay in a dead-end job that isn’t a good fit for you if that better opportunity comes along.”
The Negotiation Table
Once you understand what you’re worth, don’t shy away from aiming higher. “People are reluctant, and they think they’re going to lose the job offer, but for the most part, employers expect you to negotiate,” Frank says.
The bottom line is to do your homework. “If you come in asking for a number that’s kind of ridiculous for the position, that doesn’t reflect well on you,” Frank says. “So make sure you’ve done the research, and you’re asking for a number that makes sense.”
More from U.S. News
16 Great Jobs That Pay $90K or More
Don’t Make These Mistakes When Negotiating
15 Career Mistakes to Avoid in 2015
Do You Know How Much You’re Worth? originally appeared on usnews.com
