Discover How to Be the American Express for Visas During the last eight years, James Sheldon* has served his Uncle Sam in Athens, Tokyo, and the Sinai Desert. And he did not even have to go through basic training. Sheldon was working as a foreign service officer for the U.S. Department of State. Foreign service officers are America's diplomacy corps. They typically are generalists who perform a multitude of duties across the globe - issuing visas, protecting U.S. citizens overseas, accompanying foreign officials, reporting on diplomatic issues, and conducting press conferences for ambassado... view article details

It Starts with the CEO Chief executive officers (CEOs) get paid lots of money for being the top employees in the company. Why do they get paid so much? Like athletes and actors, CEOs provide a level of talent that is required to produce the desired product - in this case, a strongly performing company. The skills and responsibilities that come with the job of CEO are extreme and the number of people who can fill these roles is limited. That is why the market has determined that people with these skills are worth a lot of money to their companies. Only about 20 percent of a CEO's pay is base... view article details

Chief executive officers (CEOs) get paid lots of money for being the top employees in the company. Why do they get paid so much? Like athletes and actors, CEOs provide a level of talent that is required to produce the desired product - in this case, a strongly performing company. The skills and responsibilities that come with the job of CEO are extreme and the number of people who can fill these roles is limited. That is why the market has determined that people with these skills are worth a lot of money to their companies. Only about 20 percent of a CEO's pay is base salary; the rest is made... view article details

Q:  My title is Senior Web Editor at a growing Internet company in New Jersey. With a nearly exact match in responsibilities as indicated for this position in your Salary Wizard, my total compensation falls short of the median by $25,000. I have presented this information to my bosses who assured me they cannot match the Salary Wizard figures and told me I can go elsewhere if I need more money. But my question is, where are these places that are paying $75,000 for my skills? Nobody who I have spoken to in the industry is being paid that well. Are these the companies that are now out of busines... view article details

Compensation SurveysPaying people fairly is good for business. Underpay, and employees will eventually look for a better offer. Overpay, and the payroll budget and profitability will suffer. That's why companies use market data to research the value of their jobs. But what is 'market data' anyway?To determine the prevailing rate for a job, companies can 'benchmark' jobs against compensation surveys that are detailed and specific to the companies' industries and regions. A good compensation survey uses standard, proven methods of data gathering and statistical analysis to determine how much com... view article details

There has never been a better time to plan your career path. In today’s war for talent, there are more job vacancies than unemployed individuals to fill them. Career growth will certainly evolve in the future. A report by Dell Technologies estimates that 85% of the jobs today’s learners will be doing in 2030 haven't even been invented yet – good luck future Marty McFly! So whether your plan for career growth in the new year is to enter the workforce for the first time, move into a more senior role, or make a lateral move, you should start strategizing now. But with so many possibilities, how d... view article details

Your Desk Speaks for You -- Even When You're Not There It speaks for you even when you're out of the office doing your thing to make the company wildly successful. Positive words? We hope. But it can also interrupt and speak out of turn, relaying completely unauthorized messages.Your desk. What does it say about you? Does it convey the message 'Respect the owner of this hallowed professional space?' or 'Attention: creativity in progress?' Or does it warn 'Caution: finding that file is going to take a while?'Your positive words & actions still speak loudest, but they'll have less impac... view article details

The proportion of older workers participating in the labor force is at an all-time high.The problem is, when this group of workers gets down-sized out of a job, they spend much longer looking for new employment than their younger colleagues. This article offers job search tips to help level the playing field and get older people re-employed as soon as possible.Tip 1: Cut years off your resume No matter what your age is, include only relevant experiences on your resume. Hiring managers don't want to wade through unrelated skills or positions to find why you're valuable to them.This als... view article details

Q: What is the percentage range for raises in public accounting? Is the average really 4 to 5 percent? If I expect 10 percent, am I kidding myself? A: Companies determine their merit budgets for the coming year typically by late summer of the previous year. Merit increases are based on the employer's ability to pay. Given the current economic situation, some companies have opted not to give merit increases this year because they can't afford to. Over the past four years, the average merit increase has hovered around 4 to 5 percent, so I think it's unrealistic to expect a 10 percent raise. A ... view article details

Here Are the Most Popular Job Title Searches on Salary.com for July 2015 What are the Most Popular Jobs on Salary.com? Wondering which jobs people are searching the most? Well, wonder no more, because we've got your answers. With more than 4,000 job titles in our database, people from all over the country come to Salary.com and use our tools to find out how much jobs are paying. So, what are the most popular jobs, according to Salary.com? We combed through our data for the month of July and came up with the top 10 most-queried searches. And we'll be back on a monthly basis to update the resu... view article details