'Thank you for your Salary Wizard. I had no idea what people in my line of work made until I checked out Salary.com. I used the info on your site to ask for a raise and I got it. Thanks!'We get a lot of emails like that one from people who use our site to find out what their job pays. That information allows them to better negotiate a starting salary so they can earn more money. Money which then gives them the ability to do things like buy a house, get married, start a family and begin saving for retirement. And it all started with our free Salary Wizard.But don’t thank us. Thank Brian.Brian C... view article details

The Olympics as a Moneymaker We've watched American athletes win gold (and lose gold). We've watched world records fall. We've found ourselves assessing equestrians and rooting for archers, unexpectedly enthralled by largely obscure events enjoying their quadrennial moment in the spotlight. But there is another element, beyond athletic excellence and national pride, framing and shaping the Olympic Games: money. Preparing the Host City Hosting the Olympics is a pricey proposition. The British government originally pegged the cost of the London Olympics at about $14.5 billion, ... view article details

Tattoos and Jobs: Find Out How Tattoos/Piercings Can Limit Your Career Ink Can Be a Career Stain Maybe it’s a tribal armband, the orchids on your lower back playing peek-a-boo with your coworkers, or -- gulp -- you’re wearing it on your face a la Mike Tyson. But even if it’s that cute little leprechaun on your ankle, our latest survey results show visible tattoos at work could have a negative effect on your pot of gold. A recent study from the Pew Research Center found nearly 40% of people between the ages of 18 and 29 have at least one tattoo, and body piercings are also a growing means of... view article details

Used Correctly, Pinterest Can be a Valuable Tool to Aid in Your Job Search Pinterest: Time-Waster or Career-Starter? Pinterest, with more than 11.7 million users and a recent value of $1.5 billion, is the fastest growing social network since Facebook. First used by a mostly female demographic to create and share online "pinboards" devoted to topics like fashion, food, event planning, and interior design, Pinterest is rapidly finding favor with other groups of people, including job seekers. Pinterest allows users to create "pinboards" on specific topics. Users find images and videos that are... view article details

Reaping the Benefits Every morning Jay Fox wakes up at 4:30 to tend his 20-acre farm. Cleaning chicken coops, tilling fields, and hand-weeding three large gardens can't wait for the sunrise. There's no snooze button and hardly any sick or vacation days when it comes to working with nature. "It's all seasonal work. What you do on the farm depends on the season," said Fox. "You can be doing anything from spreading manure to weeding a garden to baling hay depending on the time of the year." Although Fox works long hours practically every day, he gets to enjoy the many perks of tilling the beautif... view article details

Thrill Builder! Slowly the car inches up the improbable incline, defying gravity, and propelled by unseen forces. As the roller coaster car gets to the crest of the hill and peers over the top at the twisted tracks and loop-the-loops that lie just ahead, you try to convince yourself that the person who designed this cruel contraption knows what he is doing. Relax. He does. Kent Seko originally wanted to be an architect. He rode roller coasters as a kid, but never thought about designing them until years later, when a friend who worked at Arrow Dynamics, Inc., a roller coaster design firm, talk... view article details

Types of Medical Insurance  Since health benefits were introduced in the U.S. marketplace in the 1940s, they have been both a blessing and a curse. No one wants to be without them, but few of us can afford to pay full freight either. Most people get health insurance through their jobs or are covered through a family member's insurance. This is called group insurance. Group insurance is generally the least expensive kind. In many cases, the employer pays part or all of the cost. Some organizations offer only one health insurance plan and others offer a choice of plans: a fee-for-service or inde... view article details

Dear Annette,Do you have any holiday gift ideas for the office?SantaDear Santa,This is my favorite time of year, as thinking of gift ideas for others always reminds me of me. One December years ago I received an ostrich from a client after helping him survey his New Zealand ranch. I had to get rid of him after Dickie became allergic. The ostrich stayed for five years.Narrowing down the wish list is always so difficult. A year or two ago, the Mednikow catalog had a $575,000 diamond ring on its front cover, complete with a little cutout so you can try the ring on for size. Difficult to duplicate... view article details

Most of us loathe the very idea of doing our U.S. personal income taxes, not because we expect to get fleeced each April 15 (or 16) but simply because we don't know an adjusted gross income from a standard deduction. For the many tax code illiterates among us, Salary.com has combed through the Internal Revenue Service website, taking inspiration from Sarah Young Fisher and Susan Shelly's book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Personal Finance, to come up with a checklist that may help simplify your tax-filing experience. Taxable and nontaxable income To get things started with the very basics, bel... view article details

Q. I recently accepted a new role as a Web assessment client coordinator within an organization for whom I have been working for a year. My previous salary was $25,000. When asked about my desired compensation for this new role, I replied, "I don't know what the salary range is for this position," trying to get a feel for what I might expect. I was due for my one year performance review and was expecting a salary increase of at least 5 percent. My manager told me to go into this performance review with $27,000 in mind. This was lower than I was hoping for. I didn't really feel I had much barga... view article details