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At one time or another almost everyone wonders if they’re getting paid what they’re worth. Or maybe you’re wondering how your pay stacks up against other people in similar jobs.
Wonder no more.
Get a personal salary report
There’s a website that could help you answer both these questions.
It’s www.payscale.com. And it offers some really amazing information. It has a database of salary information from more than 36 million people representing 3,500 separate industries in 150 countries. It uses this data to generate a free personal salary report that can show you how you stand vs. other people in your job.
How to get that report
The way you get a personal report on Payscale is to first choose from four options. They are: I’m evaluating a job offer; I want salary information for my current job; I am researching a job that’s not my own; and I am an employer interested in benchmarking or pricing a job.
Your current job
Let’s suppose you chose the second option. You’d then be required to work through a total of five screens, providing information about the skills/specialties required in your job, your boss’ title, your employer’s business or product and your pay and benefits.
An anonymous account
The final step is to create an anonymous account. I did this and immediately received a report that I was earning more than just 7% (7th percentile) of people like me. In other words, I was being grossly underpaid.
What to do with this information
The information I typed into the five screens was purely fictitious, If it had been real I would have two options. I could use this as ammunition to negotiate with my current employer for a raise or I could start looking for a better paying job in my field.
Better benefits
Payscale.com also reported that I should probably have three weeks of vacation, profit sharing and a bonus. In other words, I was getting seriously taken advantage of by my employer and should probably look elsewhere – at least hypothetically speaking.
Very helpful
I found Payscale.com to be very helpful. I thought its questions were smart. I think that the answers that Payscale.com provided could be trusted – given the size of its database and the comprehensiveness of the questions I was required to answer. I believe it provides reliable information I could take it to my hypothetical employer and use as a bargaining tool or when I discussed salary and benefits with a potential employer.
Based on averages
Of course, the information provided by Payscale.com has to be based on averages. If you use this site to get comparative salary information, it’s important to think about the state of the economy, how many jobs like yours might be available where you live and whether or not you’d be willing to move if a better job required you to relocate a thousand or more miles. In other words, you might want to think carefully before running into your manager’s office and demanding a 40% raise.
For employers, too
Employers should also find Payscale.com of help as it would allow them compare what they’re paying their employees by job title with other similar companies. If you are an employer and chose the option of pricing a job or benchmarking a salary, you could get a free sample report on compensation that would help you understand if you’re paying your employees right in terms of cash compensation, bonuses and benefits matched to your company’s location, size and type.
Struggling with debt?
You could be earning in the 90th percentile for your job but still be in trouble over your debts. It’s happened to at least 30 million Americans so there’s no shame if it’s happened to you. But the worse thing you can do about your debts is try to ignore them. A much better answer is to contact us to discuss your debts and how we might be able to settle them for pennies on the dollar. Call us today for more information. It won’t cost you a penny and could save you thousands of dollars.
