Evaluating a Job Offer Part II, The Nature of the Job The following article was written for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Outlook Handbook. The Occupational Outlook Handbook is a nationally recognized source of career information. Revised every two years, the Handbook describes what workers do on the job, working conditions, the training and education needed, earnings, and expected job prospects in a wide range of occupations. The Handbook is available online at www.bls.gov/ocohome. If you missed Part I, The Organization, you can read it online at www.nri-staffing.com. Click on Candidate Tips.
Even if everything else about the job is attractive, you will be unhappy if you dislike the day-to-day work. Determining in advance whether you will like the work may be difficult. However, the more you find out about the job before accepting or rejecting the offer, the more likely you are to make the right choice. Actually working in the industry and, if possible, for the company would provide considerable insight. You can gain work experience through part-time, temporary, or summer jobs, or through internship or work-study programs while in school, all of which can lead to permanent job offers.
Where is the job located? If the job is in another section of the country, you need to consider the cost of living, the availability of housing and transportation, and the quality of educational and recreational facilities in that section of the country. Even if the job location is in your area, you should consider the time and expense of commuting.
Does the work match your interests and make good use of your skills? The duties and responsibilities of the job should be explained in enough detail to answer this question.
How important is the job in this company? An explanation of where you fit in the organization and how you are supposed to contribute to its overall objectives should give you an idea of the job’s importance.
Are you comfortable with the hours? Most jobs involve regular hours—for example, 40 hours a week, during the day, Monday through Friday. Other jobs require night, weekend, or holiday work. In addition, some jobs routinely require overtime to meet deadlines or sales or production goals, or to better serve customers. Consider the effect the work hours will have on your personal life.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
Opportunities are usually disguised as hard work, so most people don’t recognize them.- Ann Landers
Wait for the employer to introduce these subjects. Some companies will not talk about pay until they have decided to hire you. In order to know if their offer is reasonable, you need a rough estimate of what the job should pay. You may have to go to several sources for this information. Try to find family, friends, or acquaintances who recently were hired in similar jobs. Ask your teachers and the staff in placement offices about starting pay for graduates with your qualifications. Help-wanted ads in newspapers sometimes give salary ranges for similar positions. Check the library or your school’s career center for salary surveys such as those conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers or various professional associations.
You also should learn the organization’s policy regarding overtime. Depending on the job, you may or may not be exempt from laws requiring the employer to compensate you for overtime. Find out how many hours you will be expected to work each week and whether you receive overtime pay or compensatory time off for working more than the specified number of hours in a week.
Also take into account that the starting salary is just that—the start. Your salary should be reviewed on a regular basis; many organizations do it every year. How much can you expect to earn after 1, 2, or 3 or more years? An employer cannot be specific about the amount of pay if it includes commissions and bonuses.
Benefits can also add a lot to your base pay, but they vary widely. Find out exactly what the benefit package includes and how much of the costs you must bear.
National, State, and metropolitan area data from the National Compensation Survey are available online at http://stats.bls.gov/comhome.htm
Data on earnings by detailed occupation from the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) Survey are available online at http://stats.bls.gov/oeshome.htm.
Evaluating a Job Offer: Part III, Opportunities Offered
A good job offers you opportunities to learn new skills, increase your earnings, and rise to positions of greater authority, responsibility, and prestige. A lack of opportunities can dampen interest in the work and result in frustration and boredom. The company should have a training plan for you. What valuable new skills does the company plan to teach you? The employer should give you some idea of promotion possibilities within the organization. Some good questions to consider are:
- What is the next step on the career ladder?
- If you have to wait for a job to become vacant before you can be promoted, how long does this usually take?
- When opportunities for advancement do arise, will you compete with applicants from outside the company?
- Can you apply for jobs for which you qualify elsewhere within the organization, or is mobility within the firm limited?
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We are here to help you with the answers to these questions! If we don’t already know the answer, we will ask our client for you.
Hey, Grads! What Should You Expect?!
From the National Association of Colleges and Employers comes the following Salary Survey information. The Salary Survey is a quarterly report of starting salary offers to new college graduates in 70 disciplines at the bachelor’s degree level. The survey compiles data from college and university career services offices nationwide. Below are highlights:
- Despite the talk of a softening economy, nearly all disciplines posted gains, albeit generally modest.
- Accounting grads now average $38,739, a 3.8 percent increase.
- Entry-level management positions, with an average salary of $33,896, account for a hefty number of offers to business administration grads.
- Computer engineering grads are now averaging $53,443—a 14.3 percent increase.
Looking at the Options: Work Schedules
The following is an excerpt from Managing Your Career for Dummies by Max Messmer.Alternate work arrangements is a catch-all phrase that describes any working schedule that deviates from the 9-to-5, 40-hour-a-week pattern. More specifically, though, it encompasses four arrangements in particular. Here’s a general description of these options.
Part-time, regular employment: As a part-time employee, you work fewer hours per pay period than full-time employees but are still considered part of the company’s workforce and, therefore, entitled to most benefits. (Note that sometimes, benefits are reduced or paid on a prorated basis) Part-time employment can be structured in any number of ways, such as three 8-hour days per week, five mornings (or afternoons) per week, or whatever arrangement happens to work for both you and your employer.
While part-time work is hardly a new development, what’s different today is that the arrangement is being sought by an increasing number of professionals and managers. A reduced workweek is an especially attractive option for business professionals pursuing advanced degrees or changing careers. It’s a popular option, too, among senior-level managers who want to transition to retirement. One drawback to part-time work, of course, is the financial implication. With fewer hours, you earn fewer dollars.
Another possible drawback is that as a part-time employee, you may not be available for high-profile projects that could be important to your career growth. You may be out of the office when key decisions, crises, or meeting occur, and your manager may need someone who can participate on a full-time basis. While you can’t necessarily avoid this, you can work with your team members or co-workers to help stay in the loop with e-mail and voice-mail updates. And you need to give 100 percent of your energy and focus to the job when you are in the office to avoid any possible perception that you’re less committed to your work than others are.
Job sharing: In job sharing, two part-time employees share the duties and responsibilities of a full-time job. The tasks and responsibilities are typically divided 50-50, but the division of labor can also be based on the preference or proficiency of each partner. Job sharing is best suited for positions in which the tasks are clearly defined, and the pressures of the job are reasonably contained and predictable. The downside to job sharing is that finding the right job-sharing partner can be as tough as finding the perfect job. Another possible challenge with job sharing is that you’re no longer in full control of your own career accomplishments. Your ultimate success depends as much on your partner as it does on you.
Flextime: Flextime is one of the most widespread alternate work options. This arrangement is geared more to employees who normally work a fixed number of hours each day, as opposed to managers or salespeople whose schedules fluctuate according to the daily demands of their job. In a typical flextime situation, you work the same number of hours as in a standard work day, but your start and finish times may be earlier or later, depending on how you structure the arrangement.
Most companies set parameters on how early you can arrive and leave, and usually require that you’re in the office during the core hours. You may also be asked to keep the same schedule as your teammates to facilitate communication. Flextime is popular with working parents because it reduces the need for after-school childcare. The practice is also widely encouraged by municipalities in areas that are plagues by heavy rush-hour traffic. The downside? None, really, other than the fact that you may not always be available for meetings or events that take place when you’re not there. A common variation of flextime is the so-called compressed work week. Instead of five eight-hour days, for example, you work four ten-hour days, resulting in one less day in the office per week.
Telecommuting: Telecommuting is used to describe any scheduling arrangement in which you spend some portion of the week working from a non-office environment, such as your home. Your schedule remains the same, but what you eliminate is travel time. Telecommuting wouldn’t be a viable option for most people today if it weren’t for advances in technology that enable you to access information and communicate with others from virtually anywhere. The option has obvious appeal to employees-working parents, in particular-who have lengthy commutes. Of course, some types of jobs lend themselves more readily to telecommuting than others. Sure, you can still participate in the meetings and discussions through conference calls, but you’ll likely miss the subtleties of group interaction. And it’s important to remember, too, that telecommuting requires the ability to work well independently and remain focused in a non-office environment.
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