A company's pay structure is the method of administering its pay philosophy. The two leading types of pay structures are the internal equity method, which uses a tightly constructed grid to ensure that each job is compensated according to the jobs above and below it in a hierarchy, and market pricing, where each job in an organization is tied to the prevailing market rate.A company needs job descriptions for all its positions so that people know where they fall within the organization. A pay structure helps answer questions about who's who, what each person's role is, and why people are compen... view article details

When Daft Punk released “Robot Rock” in 1997, surely they were portending the state of the job market 20 years later. In the modern war for talent, tech – and tech jobs – seem to be all the rage these days. If you’re looking for a job in the IT world, or are a current employee looking to make a change, it’s important to keep your eyes peeled for in-demand roles on the horizon. Based on a report by Robert Half, here are six entry-level IT jobs worth looking at in 2019. We've also included the average entry-level salaries for these kinds of roles, as well as their average total earning potential... view article details

Job descriptionProject management is the process of planning, organizing, staffing, and guiding the process of creating a solution or system. Project managers are responsible for providing a plan and the means on which to base management decisions throughout the life of a project. There are many scheduling software tools available to help project managers perform their job, including PERT, Microsoft Project, Scitor Project Scheduler, and many others. While such applications are usually designed for certain industries or projects, they all use Critical Path Methodology, or CPM. CPM plays a larg... view article details

Design Matters Whether you consciously think about it or not, design has an influence on the decisions you make every day -- the phone you use, couch you purchase, shoes you wear, and websites you visit. Why is it then, that the concept of design still seems to be in the dark ages when it comes to job-hunting? Many people think that great design is too expensive, but my feeling is that design is an investment.If you've got the knack for it, it's worth it to take classes and become skilled with the latest software. If it's not your thing, find a designer you enjoy working with who unde... view article details

Before negotiating an executive salary with a current or new employer, take some time to reflect on where your pay falls given the market data, the opportunities you face, and your current compensation.How little is too little?If you are making too little, assess yourself and your performance as honestly as possible. If you discover that your data is accurate, but you're underpaid - and that there are good reasons why you are underpaid - determine how to remedy it and create a plan with your current employer, or figure out what to do differently in your next post.Perhaps it's that someone else... view article details

As we all know, the economic picture is and has been rather bleak the last few years. And with unemployment still far too close to 10 percent for anyone's liking, we can't tell you it's going to get better any time soon. But while you can't magically predict whether or not you'll join the ranks of the unemployed someday soon, you can be prepared for it. And we can help.These tips are good habits to get into to manage your career even in boom times. So even if you're one of the lucky ones who aren't concerned about being laid off, put the economy to work for you. Let it motivate you to g... view article details

In the mid 1990s I took a job at a growing startup. The delineation of talent at the office was pretty clear: Four partners (President, VP/Technology, VP/Sales, VP/Marketing) and four employees (Video producer, Graphic Designer, and two Application Developers).Then there was Martin.Martin didn’t work at the home office in Boston, he worked somewhere near the mountains of Utah. For the first few months I only heard rumors of who he was and what he did. I heard he lived in an impossibly small apartment, slept on a small mattress on the floor, and owned only a handful of personal items. I heard h... 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: I am the IT manager at the local newspaper. I had no experience and settled for a lower wage than the position should have paid. I now have been here two years and am wondering whether I should ask for the salary your site and others say I am worth. I have a two-year degree in information management, and an A+ certification, and I'm working on my net+. I am the network administrator and implement and troubleshoot all their software systems. It's much more work than they first described. To get me to the average in our area they would need to give me a $20,000 increase.A: Even after two year... view article details

Creative Approaches to Layoffs  It's the classic layoff problem. Relief from bottom-line pressure on the one hand; and low morale, bad publicity, and the loss of talented employees on the other. In the face of an economic downturn they believe to be temporary, companies need to be resourceful in looking for alternatives to the traditional layoff. In the past, some large employers forced to layoff workers have pulled together some very creative approaches to this dubious issue. Consulting powerhouse Accenture announced a voluntary sabbatical program known as 'Flexleave.' Offered to about 1,400 ... view article details