Knowing What You are Worth
The salary or wage paid to any employee is determined by some key factors:
How hard is such an employee to find?
How much training is required to do the job?
What are competitors paying for the same position; what are the average wages for similar positions?
What can the business afford to pay?
What do employees expect to be paid?
Most employers consider all of these when establishing pay rates. It is not uncommon, however, for smaller employers in particular to fail to stay up-to-date with prevailing wage rates.
Employers in highly attractive locations, such as Hawaii or Florida, may intentionally offer salaries lower than the national or regional average because they are confident the location itself is desirable enough to potential employees to make salary a less critical part of their expectations.
Getting a fair salary that you feel matches your abilities means you have to know as much about your personal market value and the prevailing wages for the industry, the geographical area, and the position itself.
The Internet has given employees unprecedented access to information about salaries, information that in the past has been nearly impossible to find. Sites such as Salary.com and SalaryExpert.com contain databases of salary information drawn from both government and businesses sources. They also conduct salary surveys themselves to gather up-to-date data on prevailing wages. On Salary.com, you get a free basic salary report drawn from government statistics. On SalaryExpert.com, you are asked for additional information about responsibilities and experience and get a free report that is adjusted for these factors
