Salary negotiations - need some help

[iamwiz82]

I am graduating in the next 3 months and my current employer (of 4.5 years) has offered me an ok salary however I feel I am worth more than that and could use advise as to how to do this. My title will be Network Admin, what is a good site to figure out my worth? Salary.com is way too high, IMHO.

Here are my benefits
Health/dental
401k - matched to 3%
10 vacation days


Thoughts?

 

[Drakkon]

well if u've been working there for 4.5 years...are u moving from part time to full time? if not what sorta % are you looking at?
With being there 4.5 years your slary has prettymuch been established and might go up 3-5% each year unless your taking on more responsibility...

 

[Evadman]

Salary.com is the real salery assuming you enter in all the relevant data. The numbers don't come out of the air you know, they are based on actual salary numbers submitted for tax purposes.

 

[sygyzy]

Originally posted by: Evadman
Salary.com is the real salery assuming you enter in all the relevant data. The numbers don't come out of the air you know, they are based on actual salary numbers submitted for tax purposes.

It's funny you say this because sometimes when I run data, it seems way off (too high as OP says). What's strange is my argument is always the same as yours - it's real data. So if that's the case, then there must be 1 company in my city that pays everyone many times what the 99 other companies are paying to have skewed the numbers so much.

 

[Squisher]

The best way to establish your worth is to shop your services around and pricematch.


Come on wiz, grow a pair.

 

[Kyteland]

Originally posted by: sygyzy

Originally posted by: Evadman
Salary.com is the real salery assuming you enter in all the relevant data. The numbers don't come out of the air you know, they are based on actual salary numbers submitted for tax purposes.

It's funny you say this because sometimes when I run data, it seems way off (too high as OP says). What's strange is my argument is always the same as yours - it's real data. So if that's the case, then there must be 1 company in my city that pays everyone many times what the 99 other companies are paying to have skewed the numbers so much.

Sorry, it's my salary doing that.

 

[sciencewhiz]

I just punched in some numbers at salary.com for electrical engineering in my area and the entry level was accurate. However, the other levels with more experience were very over valued.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: Drakkon
well if u've been working there for 4.5 years...are u moving from part time to full time? if not what sorta % are you looking at?
With being there 4.5 years your slary has prettymuch been established and might go up 3-5% each year unless your taking on more responsibility...

I am currently an intern making an looooow wage and am part-time. The new salary is about 307% higher and is full-time. The Salary.com info is about 50% higher than my offered salary, or 461% of my old salary, obviously.

 

[vi edit]

Most employers I know laugh at you if you flip a print out of salary.com in front of them.

Salaries are a funny thing though. Unless you are in a government job with very set pay guidelines, it's almost impossible to tell you what you *could* be making. It's really about how much your company values you, and how much brass you have to demand more when you are think you are worth it.

I've increased my salary nearly 50% in 4 years because I've gone in and told them that I was worth way more than what I was being paid. They sat on it for a bit, did some research, saw how much work I was doing and agreed to what I was asking.

If you think you are being underpaid, don't be afraid to ask for more. Unless they are total jackasses they aren't going to dump somebody that's put 4.5 years into a company and knows how the company works and waste their time retraining a new employee. Shot a bit higher than what you want, they'll take it or come back with a counter.

You never get a *real* raise until you ask...or at least threaten to leave

 

[iamwiz82]

What I would really like would be:

a $5,000 increase
5 more vacation days/personal days
retro-active seniority.

 

[vi edit]

If you get retro-active seniority, will that automatically net you those extra personal/vaca days you want?

Also, is this a bigger, or smaller company? Either way, most companies have a pretty structured acrrual policy for vaca/personal time.

 

[iamwiz82]

Originally posted by: vi_edit
If you get retro-active seniority, will that automatically net you those extra personal/vaca days you want?

Also, is this a bigger, or smaller company? Either way, most companies have a pretty structured acrrual policy for vaca/personal time.

5 years the vacation time goes to 15. The company is cheap with the vacations, 10 days and 6 holidays, thats it.

It is a smaller company in the US, but is one of the biggest auto. suppliers in the world.

 

[iamwiz82]

So is it smart to ask for almost 12% more?

 

[imported_Phil]

:shocked:


(Yes, it's a link)

 

[SpunkyJones]

Originally posted by: Dopefiend
:shocked:


(Yes, it's a link)

:Q

 

[Ogg]

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
So is it smart to ask for almost 12% more?

yes, Im sure they are lowballing to start with right???

Gotta take care of your lady

 

[Lola]

Originally posted by: Ogg

Originally posted by: iamwiz82
So is it smart to ask for almost 12% more?

yes, Im sure they are lowballing to start with right???

Gotta take care of your lady

so so true!!

 

[cchen]

Perhaps you should interview at other places? Then you'd have something to leverage with if any employer is willing to offer you 5k more

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: sygyzy

Originally posted by: Evadman
Salary.com is the real salery assuming you enter in all the relevant data. The numbers don't come out of the air you know, they are based on actual salary numbers submitted for tax purposes.

It's funny you say this because sometimes when I run data, it seems way off (too high as OP says). What's strange is my argument is always the same as yours - it's real data. So if that's the case, then there must be 1 company in my city that pays everyone many times what the 99 other companies are paying to have skewed the numbers so much.

You have to remember that the numbers salary.com gives are not actually based on data from your specific city. Instead, they just take the national average for a particular position and adjust it by a certain percentage based on the average difference in all salaries for your particular city.

So it doesn't take local supply and demand issues for particular professions into account at all.

 

[SearchMaster]

A 12% raise seems very low for a college graduate. Unless the market is depressed in your area, a college degree + 4 years of experience would likely land you a pretty good job. Call a recruiter in your area and ask them what the market will bear. You might be surprised.