Working from home has some benefits and challenges….this infographic might help you work out if it’s for you….
(we thought it worth mentioning that we haven’t been paid to post this infographic or have any affiliation with office.need.ie but they proactively sent this to us and we thought it has some cool info that may be of use to you)
Here’s a little bit of fun…the folks at Crystal Heart Psychics sent this over to us and we thought you might enjoy seeing if you get any inspiration.
As regular readers know I’m much more a fan of the gain experience, knowledge and skills pathway to determine your career destiny. But …funnily enough as a Virgo teaching is in my chart. Have fun!
By the way – we weren’t remunerated to promote this. It’s just for fun!
by Karen Adamedes
What you earn throughout your career is dictated by many things – your profession, the industry you work in, the career moves you make and how well and hard you negotiate your remuneration.
Particularly each time you move into a new role or company. Once you are working for an organization it can be challenging to negotiate more than the annual allocation for salary increases that has to be divided up between all employees.
When you are negotiating to start a new job though the time is right to maximize your return on investment. That is the knowledge, skills and experience you have for the best possible salary package.
This is the time to negotiate. Hard. And well. Regardless of what discipline or type of organization you select, the opportunity is there for you to negotiate the best deal you can.
The place to start is by understanding what is negotiable.
Numerous items and benefits can be part of remuneration negotiations, including:
This list is not exhaustive and only some of these things may be relevant for your organization. Your company may also offer other benefits like childcare or health club memberships.
Find out which of these apply to your role and organization. If your job is with a company you haven’t work for before – ask your contacts or Human Resources or use your knowledge of the market to make a best guess.
Once you know what your options are you can work out what is most important to you, what you might be prepared to trade off (e.g. some benefits for flexibility?) and what is acceptable to you.
If you have done enough research and know what the role is worth in the market you may well have a minimum position that you’ll say “thanks, but no thanks” if they don’t make a fair offer. You need to know what your walk away position is. If you go into a new role feeling ‘ripped off’ – it’s unlikely your experience in that role is going to be very positive. And even more unlikely that you’ll get the remuneration to an acceptable level with single digit percentage increases each year once you’re ‘in the system’.
If you don’t ask for what you want – your new manager/company is unlikely to offer it to you. Your new employer is not going to weigh up whether money or working from home or bonuses is more important to you. They don’t have anyway of knowing your level of flexibility. You need to work it out and then talk to them about it.
If you ask for what you want and they say no what have you lost? At the very least you have gained more information to make a decision. Or can position an alternative. For instance, if someone can’t quite get to the base salary you want maybe they can include more in a performance bonus or let you work at home a day a week. If they really want you for a job a hiring manager wants you to be happy when you start in the role.
But in order to have those kind of conversations you need to know the options of what you can ask for – and what you want – and what you will accept. The more you know the better empowered you will be to make decisions when you are in the midst of the negotiation.
And you never know what could happen…they might actually say yes to what you ask for.
Career Tip To Go:
Understand what’s negotiable when you’re negotiating your salary package! And what you want!
Once you know what’s negotiable you’re one step closer – but there’s more you need to know before you start haggling! Keep an eye out for the next Career Tips To Go post – What you need to know before negotiating a new salary.
Check out our earlier post Why it’s important to earn what you’re worth!
Like more career tips to go?
[mc4wp_form id=”1429″]
by Karen Adamedes
Money. Yes, there’s that dirty little five-letter word.
It not only makes the world go round, it pays the bills, buys the food, dictates what type of house you live in, the vacations you can afford and, one day, what type of retirement you will enjoy. It is important for your lifestyle.
Unless you are independently wealthy or have significant expectations, there is a pretty reasonable chance that money is one of the main reasons you work.
If you must work, you may as well optimize the amount of money you make to support the lifestyle that is important to you.
However, there is another much more subtle reason why the money you earn is important to your career.
The business world tends to be incredibly hierarchical and the amount of remuneration that you are perceived to receive, establishes your importance on the career ladder.
Your perceived relative importance in an organization can impact how seriously you are taken and, consequently, your potential capability to do more senior jobs. If someone perceives that they are of higher value than you because they earn more or is on a better bonus structure, even if they are more junior in rank, they may dismiss what you say. You may have to struggle to have your ideas or directions taken seriously.
Salary and remuneration negotiations are critical not only to what you are paid, but also to your reputation and status.
Downplaying your monetary value diminishes you in the eyes of others, making it seem like you’re not as serious, tough, skilled (at negotiations, at least) or confident.
Learning how to put a dollar value on your worth and how to negotiate hard for yourself is a necessary career skill.
The good news is there is a lot you can do to make sure you earn what you’re worth. To positively impact what you earn, you can:
If you increase your knowledge of these areas you may not make it to the top of the rich list, but you will be much more confident and better equipped to have the discussions that you need to have. The ‘they’ll notice how good I am and just pay me fairly’ approach strategy is prone to failure.
Career Tips To Go:
Appreciate that how much you’re paid is important to your career.
There’s a lot you can do to make sure you earn what you’re worth. Learn how.
Next post – “What can you negotiate?”
Like more career tips to go?
[mc4wp_form id=”1429″]