Should you go back to school

Should you go back to schoolAn article published earlier this month showed that mora than half of recent graduates from college did not receive a job offer prior to graduation, regardless of their undergraduate major. September 2010 data showed that the average length of unemployment was more than eight months. Scary statistics such as these have left many wondering if now is a good time to return to school. Here are some things to consider when making this decisionWhat do you want to be when you grow up?If you havent figured out the answer to this question yet, getting more education is not a good idea. Higher education costs have risen at a much faster rate than inflation over the last decade. The worst thing you could do is invest tens of thousands of dollars and years of your time into getting a degree, only to discover five years from now that youre no longer interested in the field you sacrificed so much to study.Is there job growth in the field that interests you?Once youve re ally determined what youd like to do with your career, you should look at the jobs that are available in your field. Having a local university program in your city may allow you to attend school without making major life changes, but it may also release you into a saturated job market once youve finished your degree. Its important to determine whether people are hiring in your desired field in the area in which youd like to liveor anywhere for that matter.How much will it cost?If youre considering graduate school, there are many programs out there that include substantial financial aid packages to help you obtain your degree. There are also many loan forgiveness programs designed to attract educated professionals to underserved areas. For example, a friend of mine just had $75,000 worth of vet school loans forgiven by the USDA, because she works in an area where there arent enough large animal vets. The military also offers great educational incentives, particularly for health care professionals. If youre looking to start or finish an undergraduate degree, taking your required classes at your local community college can lower your total costs substantially. Lastly, verfallen distance learning programs allow many professionals to continue working full- or part-time while they further their education.Will you make enough money to justify more debt?If youre independently wealthy, you have the luxury of obtaining as much education as youd like without worrying about the return on your investment. But for most of us, its crucial to take a hard look at whether more education is worth the expense. My friend is married to a CPA who decided to obtain a law degree in addition to his bachelors and masters degrees in accounting. The payment on his student loan debt is now higher than their house payment, and his salary went up only about $5,000/year.For a lot of people, returning to school does make good, solid sense. If adjusting back to the student lifestyle allows you to obtain a degree that will get you hired into a field that pays well, go for it. Just be sure to give this major decision the consideration that its due.

How to Handle the Dreaded Salary Interview Question

How to Handle the Dreaded Salary Interview Question How to Handle the Dreaded Salary Interview QuestionWhen it comes to salary negotiation, the ball is mora in your court than you may think.Weve all come to that moment during an bewerberinterview when the hiring manager asks the dreaded question So, what are your salary requirements?How you handle yourself during the minutes that follow may mean the difference between walking out with a job offer or walking out empty handed. Heres how to answer this common interview question.Find the middle groundNegotiating salary when an offer is not yet on the table may make you feel like youre walking a tightrope. Answer the salary question too high and you might price yourself out of an offer give a figure thats too low and you run the risk of appearing desperate. Like Goldilocks, the key is to find the middle ground.A good job search involves preliminary salary research it will be worth your effort to find out what typical salaries are being o ffered to others with similar credentials in comparable roles and industries. These sample salaries will help you determine the sweet spot that most employees will be willing to pay a new hire in your desired role.When opting to low-ball a salary, know full well that your perceived self-worth may come across in your answer. Before answering the salary interview question, be sure to think about how youll feel knowing that the company you might work for doesnt know your true worth. Youve worked hard to earn your qualifications, and now is the time to translate all of your knowledge and expertise into actual numbers. Its not easy, but it can be done.Do your homeworkWhen you browse through job postings online, you have no doubt experienced the frustration of not being able to spot any salary information whatsoever. Employers keep this information relatively secret, but you can access ballpark salary expectation figures from websites such as Payscale.com, Salary.com, and BLS.gov. The sal ary comparison features on some of these sites will provide you with a good head start. If youre seeking a position in healthcare, for example, you can browse job categories to get a sense of alternative job titles to research The salary for a Nurse Practitioner can be compared to salaries of similar subspecialties like NP-ER and NP-Specialty Care. While all three require a masters degree and certification, the in-depth training of the third title warrants a higher salary. Walking into an interview armed with recent salary data posted by federal statisticians will provide you with confidence to answer any interview question about salary expectations, and that confidence will extend to other parts of your conversation with the hiring manager.Salary research can enable you to effectively field sticky interview questions about your salary expectations. As you search on sites such as Glassdoor, Indeed, and other job aggregators, youll discover that most positions do not list a salary, b ut some employers may request a salary history from interested applicants. These businesses may be testing the waters by asking candidates up front for their salary histories this also helps them get an idea of applicants expectations, as well. Since the most significant determinant of future salary is past salary, this essential data gives employers ample insight when setting new ranges. Employers will typically pay a new employee somewhere in the range of 1015 percent mora than the persons last salary, which is why knowing what youve made over your past employment history is of such interest to them. They are trying to determine your monetary value so that they, too, can negotiate for the best person at the lowest price. However, this interview question just became illegal in a number of places in the U.S., so the salary-negotiation tactic is going out of style.RelatedDont Answer These Off-Limits Interview QuestionsBe a little calculatingLets go back to the interview question What are your salary requirements? Notice that the question does not ask how much would you like to make in the job position, but what you will require in order to accept. One way to look at this is to present a figure that is a calculation of gross salary plus benefits, not your net wages. Your net or take-home pay is considerably less and is not the figure you will want to share. Think in terms of total compensation salary plus medical, dental, life insurance, 401K or 403B accounts, tuition remission, and other benefits unique to your industry.Another highly-effective approach is to state your baseline salary expectation as a product of your highest monthly salary previously earned. So, while you may not have always been compensated at this high rate each and every month, you can take that intermittent increase and use it to substantiate a higher fhigkeit salary at this new employer.See the big pictureBecause so many employers propose benefits packages that are often promoted as sal ary equivalents, why not give yourself the leverage to do the same? When youre seeking a new job position, youre looking for the whole package. Employers, too, are seeking additional benefits from their prospective employees. While you may find an employer who tries to hire staff at the cheapest rates possible, many other employers are more realistic, realizing that offering the going rate will get them the most loyal employees in the long run.As unternehmensverbund down turnover rates is of primary concern to most employers, you can bet that loyalty is a priority for many companies. While employers do prefer to hold the cards when it comes to keeping salaries private, youll find that the most successful companies tend to offer the most equitable, competitive salaries to keep and hold their talents what they offer can serve as a benchmark for other companies.Find your focusIf you think you are unique in your distaste for salary negotiation while other candidates can run circles aro und you in their ability to advocate for a fair salary on their own behalf, nothing could be further from the truth. Knowing your worth, knowing what the market is paying, and knowing that the process of wage negotiation is a two-way street will hopefully embolden you when it comes to expressing your salary expectations.Like you, employers are doing their research, making sure that their offer will be within the norm for their particular industry and for the specific job position theyve been asked to fill. To break employers out of the baseline thinking pattern, your job will be to get them to focus on YOU the candidate who can deliver more than the next guy. Ironically, the best way to get them to focus on you is to focus your attention on them What are their issues, what are their goals, where do their problems lie, and what do they need to move ahead in their markets? Conveying that you have their interests in mind not just your own will go far in convincing them that you are that one-in-a-million candidate who is worth your weight in gold.Click on the following link for more advice on negotiating salary.Before you start talking numbers, your resume has to get you into the door. Will yours? Let TopResume critique your resume to tell you where you stand.Recommended ReadingYour Guide to Negotiating the Best Compensation Package5 Phrases You Should Never Use When Negotiating SalaryPowerful Ways to Improve Your Negotiation SkillsRelated Articles