Know Where You Stand on the Pay Scale

With the tide of sociological consciousness changing, many industries and aspects of those industries are coming under scrutiny. Wages have been a contentious debate among them. Discussions about raising minimum wages to discussions about fair pay among demographic subsections have significantly increased. Considering the conversations, its good to have a starting point, for the ongoing national discussion and for your own salary negotiations: What's your number? How does it compare to those around you? Is it fair?

Resources to Research Average Pay

There have been many tools that have been developed to show an overall comparison of pay. These tools can help narrow down the comparison to job titles, location, years of experience, education, among other factors. One of the critical things to note is to compare and contrast among multiple sources. Not every organization or individual is transparent with this sensitive subject. Some of these sources have an incomplete picture or insufficient data, so one must analytically take multiple sources into consideration.

Some of these tools include:

Indeed.com - With all the job postings this job search aggregator has, it also collects information on salaries. They are able to provide overall averages and ranges on salaries based on job title and location.

Glassdoor.com - Glassdoor has been a great source to find reviews on specific organizations. They also collect anonymous self-reported salaries from these organizations. Considering these salaries are self-reported there may be insufficient information for a good comparison.

Payscale.com - Collects salary ranges from organizations and individuals. You are able to research career and career paths, in addition to looking pay ranges for a variety of positions, locations, and organizations.

LinkedIn - LinkedIn has integrated many tools for job seekers in 2017. Among those is LinkedIn Salary. You are able to pull up ranges for positions based on positions title, location, industries, and years of experience.

Factors That May Affect Salary Ranges

There are additional factors that could affect your salary, you should take these factors into consideration while looking at the data provided by the resources above.

The location of the position could affect the range. Organizations take the cost of living and the supply and demand of talent into consideration when sorting salaries out. For example, according to Indeed, the average salary for an accountant in Chicago, IL is approximately $57K/year. An accountant in Schaumburg, IL, a suburb about 30 miles away, can see an average of $50K/year. Metropolitan areas tend to see higher wages due to a higher cost living and increased competition. An example on the opposite end of the spectrum, would be a a pediatrician in Chicago can see an average of $171k/year. That very same pediatrician can see an average of $191k/year in Mobile, AL. This is due to the low supply and high demand for the much smaller city of Mobile.

The size and type of organization may also be a factor. Some of these trends include smaller organizations may see slightly lower wages due to limited resources. The same trend is visible for nonprofit organizations. Nonprofit organizations trend on the lower end of salary ranges.

There are aspects about you as a professional that increase or decrease your potential in comparison to the average data. The years of experience you have in a field or industry are taken into consideration. Your level of education is taken into consideration. Any specialized certifications, skills, or languages can also be taken into consideration.

Discussions around wages are in flux. It is critical you know where you stand not only for the discussion, but for your own potential salary negotiations in your current or future positions. "Money talks" will certainly take on a different meaning after your research.

How does your salary compare? Do you have any questions about your job search, interviewing, or your resume? Please comment below or on our Facebook page. You may see your questions featured on one of our posts!

Also check out our Instagram for additional advice, motivational posts, and more!

This post was sponsored by Stallion Consulting Group, LLC. Stallion Consulting Group provides one-on-one coaching and also partners with companies to improve their recruiting processes.

#JobSearching #Payscale #LinkedIn #Indeed #Glassdoor