If you take a job in a small, publicly held company, should you expect to earn less than at a large, public company? The surprising answer is no. Compensation survey data shows that a person working in a company with, say, $50 million in annual revenue should be making the same amount as a person doing the same job in a company with $500 million in revenues. 'The overall job market, not the size of the company, determines the value of the job,' said Erisa Ojimba, compensation consultant at Salary.com.Executives' pay may be the exception, she said, because of the mix of executives' pay in small... view article details

Where do you get your salary data? Why isn't the Salary Wizard dispensing 'accurate' numbers? Should pilots who keep secrets about flying their client's mistresses around get bigger raises?These are just some of the questions you asked us. And we brought in the big guns to get you all the answers.While most of you are already familiar with Aaron and Wendy---the hosts of Salary Talk---this week we bring in Patrick and Mike, two other Salary.com employees, to get all of your questions answered. While Wendy gives a great primer/refresher on properly using the Salary Wizard, Patrick talks about th... view article details

Find an Entry Level Jobs That Can Pad Your Wallet No one ever promised you were going to graduate from college and land yourself a job as CFO. But in today's job market, where competition is particularly keen, it seems as if even the mediocre jobs are few and far between. Before you relegate yourself to flipping burgers, check out the 12 jobs we've listed here. These jobs, while appropriate for recent college grads looking to enter the work place, have reasonable starting salaries and excellent growth potential. Graphic Designer Designs and creates graphics for advertisements, logos, packaging... view article details

Spin Doctor The flight leaves in an hour. One journalist is on the line while another is on hold. Red-eyed from lack of sleep, you put your reading glasses back on as an aide hands you the results of the latest poll. It's the life of communications consultant Michael Goldman, who has advised many of the Democratic presidential candidates of the last few decades. After years of serving politicians including Pres. Clinton, Sen. Bill Bradley, and Sen. Ted Kennedy, Goldman is rarely starstruck. Ironically, it's heroes from earlier in life who have provided Goldman the rare thrill on meeting for t... view article details

Salary.com estimates that at least one employee in ten has viewed compensation information on the Internet within the last year. That number is expected to grow, as salary sites have become a routine component of both the job search and the career management process. In response to questions from HR professionals about what to do when an employee knocks on the door with a salary printout in hand, Salary.com has prepared this advice for and from employers on responding to online data.There probably is no way for employers to prevent employees from using salary sites, and no advantage to doing s... view article details

In researching the pay for an executive position, it's best to consult several of the many sources of data to get a sense of the range for the job. Don't aim for the top of the range, because there could be unfortunate consequences if you become too expensive.It's relatively easy to get executive pay data for public and nonprofit companies. Publications such as The Wall Street Journal publish information about CEO compensation. A more detailed and more immediate source is your company's annual meeting proxy (DEF-14A filing) if the company is public. You can get it from your company's investor ... view article details

Q. I am working as consultant for a company and have been asked to join as an employee. How does the fee I receive as a consultant relate to the salary I would get as an employee?A. The answer depends on two things: the way you're currently charging the company; and the role you're being asked to take on as a full-time employee.First, there is the matter of expenses. Consultants typically work off site and are on company premises principally for meetings. Such consultants may charge their customers fees that cover overhead in addition to the fees for the services being performed. Consultants' ... view article details

Q. Our union is preparing to negotiate a new contract with management. Do you have any suggestions for using market data to improve the negotiation?A. Salary negotiations during collective bargaining don't have to be a painful exercise. Approaching the conversation from a similar perspective can level the playing field.Companies normally conduct or sponsor market studies to determine appropriate pay levels for their employees. Normally, union representatives participate in such exercises. Beyond that, as a member of a union, you can ask to see the jobs being benchmarked in a market study. Make... view article details

Q. I've accidentally come into possession of a confidential printout of my fellow employees' pay rates. After reviewing it, I've come to the opinion I am being well underpaid. In the near future I am up for review, which always is nothing more than a formality for a decision already made. What are the possible legal ramifications of possessing this information? How, if at all, may I ethically use this information to my advantage?A. Above all, be very careful.Since you found the information, I would not use it when discussing your salary with your manager nor your HR department. Unless your cow... view article details

High-Paying Jobs You Might Not Have Ever Heard Of You do WHAT for a living?? A couple of years ago we combed through our vast database of more than 4,000 jobs and picked out 11 of the oddest among them that paid a decent salary. To this date it's one of our most-read pieces. So we figured it was time for Round 2. Some of these were left off the list last time around and some of them are new jobs that have been added to our jobs salary library since the first article was published. But unless you're someone who already works in these occupations, most of you will be saying "Huh? I didn't kno... view article details