Job offers and salaries can be tricky topics. The resources below can help you become more knowledgeable about typical salary ranges for your field, and how to negotiate to ensure a fair compensation package. If you're going to talk salary, make sure you've done your homework. We are happy to discuss this with you, email to set up an appointment!

Handling Job Offers

Throughout your job search process, you should be researching and evaluating the organization. You need to learn all you can in order to know whether to accept an offer or not. In addition to the responsibilities of the job, here are just some of the things to consider: work environment, opportunities for advancement, relocation considerations and the compensation package. The research you did on the organization, as well as your questions and impressions at the interview, can help you gather information to make your decision easier.

For more information on job offers and negotiating, check out the resources to the right of the page.



Salary Research Links

Entry-level Salary Information:
NACE Salary Calculator Center

Additional Salary Research:
Salary.com
Wages by Field - Bureau of Labor Statistics
Wages by Location - Bureau of Labor Statistics

Be sure to check professional associations in your field for additional salary guides.

Guidelines for Salary Research

• Remember that compensation varies by industry and geographic location. 
• Pay attention to how the salary statistics were gathered. Many books and websites contain national salary figures, which may include wide variation from state-to-state.
• Remember how an average/mean is computed, and keep in mind that outliers (especially high or low figures) can skew an average.
• Keep in mind that reported salary figures are usually not entry-level unless they say "Starting Salary Offers". Unless labeled "entry-level," expect salary stats to include people with 10+ years of experience.
• Look at several sources of information. Statistics have limitations - using several sources will give you a more accurate picture. 
• Privately-owned, for-profit companies tend to pay more (on average) than non-profits and governmental agencies.