Looking to negotiate your salary? Maybe you’ve received a job offer, or maybe you are simply looking to get a raise at your current company. Either way, salary negotiation can be a gut-wrenching process. Of course you want more money or more benefits, but will it affect the way your manager views you? Could the new company withdraw their offer in favor of a candidate looking for less? Many people are afraid of asking for more – particularly women, with a shocking 7% of women attempting to negotiate their first salary. And, for those that are unemployed, working in a toxic environment, or switc... view article details

Cash compensation comes in two forms: base salary and variable pay. As the term implies, cash is any type of compensation paid in the form of a bank check or direct deposit into your bank account. But what does cash compensation for doing your job really mean? Base Salary Base salary is a cash payment from the employer in exchange for your performance of your job. For most role, base salary makes-up the largest proportion, about 85% on average, of an employee’s total cash compensation. Base salary represents a fixed cost to the company, and the total cost of all employee’s base salaries are of... view article details

Higher education may be getting more expensive, but a college degree is necessary to compete for jobs in many industries. College should be healthy mix of passion and pragmatism, and it’s important to pursue the things you love while recognizing the fields that give you the best chance of finding a job upon graduation. According to research by CareerCast.com, here are the majors with the best career prospects. We also provided the median salaries of various jobs in each industry based on Salary.com data. 1) Accounting They say numbers don’t lie, but did you know they can also get you a job? T... view article details

Folks, you might be wondering what your fellow job-seekers and compensation enthusiasts have searched the most on our Salary Wizard. Here is the top ten - with salary range and average as well as job descriptions. 1. Physical Therapist Salary range: $77,510-$91,296 Average: $84,141 What you’ll do: Evaluate and treat patients suffering from a physical disability due to injury, disease, or surgery. This person establishes treatment plans and treats patients using a variety of methods, including exercises, stretching maneuvers, hands-on therapy, and equipment to ease patients' pain and help th... view article details

While our economy appears to be making gains in other areas, unemployment in this country is still hovering around 9.6%, according to the most recent statistics released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor. If you are currently searching for a job, consider taking paths less traveled -- and therefore less crowded. This article explores 14 less conventional ways to land a good job.1. Tailor your message to potential employers Forget generic resumes and cover letters -- they won’t cut it in today’s competitive environment. Make sure your objective statement is specific to t... view article details

Think Ahead While there are no ways to guarantee that a negotiation will succeed, there’s one way that will pretty much ensure that a negotiation will fail, and that’s to go in without any kind of plan.Common errors include entering a negotiation without doing research of your value on the market, not role-playing the conversation in advance to make sure your selling points are on target (and preparing for pushback on those selling points), and the least effective technique: barging into your boss’ office randomly and deciding to demand a raise or promotion.I recently came across a ve... view article details

Rich or Poor, Offer Letters Are Still Necessary If you’ve worked at any level in the corporate world, you’ve probably received an offer letter of employment. As a teenager, your first job offer – babysitting, mowing lawns, washing dishes, waiting tables – was probably pretty informal. Ah, but that first official offer letter.Sure, things might have gone great on your interview. You’re 99% sure they’re going to give you the job. Hopefully you negotiated a nice salary increase. You can’t wait to tell your parents and friends. And HR even verbally said you got the position. But it wasn’t... view article details

Gambling isn’t just for Las Vegas and Atlantic City anymore and that means the jobs aren’t confined to those two casino giants anymore either.You might say the casino industry is spreading the wealth.According to a 2013 study by the American Gaming Association, there are 39 states with some type of casino gambling whether its commercial casinos or Indian gaming. And there are other states, like New Hampshire, looking to deal themselves in.In 2012, the year covered by the AGA report, 332,075 people were employed in commercial casinos across the country accounting for $13.2 billion in wages. In ... view article details

How does a night owl who cannot shift her hours to “normal” navigate the work world? In the first story in this series, Peter Mansbach, Ph.D., president of the Circadian Sleep Disorders Network, shared the basics about a type of circadian rhythm disorder called delayed sleep phase syndrome (also DSPS, or delayed sleep), which half a million Americans suffer.Unlike most night owls, who prefer to go to bed late, delayed sleep sufferers are hard-wired to do so—in fact, they’re responding to a physiological need. Unless they meet that need, they feel exhausted all the time, and conforming to “regu... view article details

Whether you're already an executive or just an aspiring big cheese, it's never too early to begin studying the sophisticated art of negotiating executive compensation. Only executives are eligible for many types of perks and benefits - if you disagree, try asking for your own jet. And executives often have access to data sources that are harder for other employees to use, or less relevant. But you may be surprised to learn that some of the methods for negotiating executive pay can work just as well for you as they do for the senior VP whose salary continues to rise while everyone else worries ... view article details