Employment Archives - Page 7 of 8 - The Voice of Job Seekers

Basic Salary and Employment Negotiation (Part 1)

Many job seekers ask about negotiating salary, yet never get in leveraging position. It is a passing thought or just too passive to strategize. There are also times when a job seeker doesn’t make enough money is understandable. It is also misunderstood knowing what it is and how it is an important part of accepting a job.

I am not a negotiation expert, but coached others on negotiating. There are some basics that could change the approach to employment. I have learned throughout several situations that negotiations are like an oscillating fan that it can blow everything off the table that isn’t stapled or bound. That happens to job candidates who concern themselves at the last moment and leave money on the table to be blown off.

1. Negotiation starts at the beginning of the last job

Before meeting or knowing the working relationship down the line, the best leverage is the new training and added responsibilities of last job. If you are passing on updated workshops, and training on new company initiatives, you are letting your career pass you by. Not to mention, as the clichés goes, leaving money on the table.

A willingness to learn or a teachable spirit doesn’t make you a well-qualified candidate. Employers ideal candidate can operate the car (so to speak) and teachable enough to learn where to go.

2. Negotiation is a plan throughout time, not an event

Negotiation strategy is effective before the first interview, and after the offer has been accepted. Beginning to plan after the first or second interview is too late. I am not suggesting but discourage any salary discussion during the interview other than to inject and reiterate value. If you cannot clearly assert your qualifications, your value will be a questioned.

Bill Holland, the author of Cracking the New Job Market: The 7 Rules for Getting Hired in Any Economy, and a widely regarded career expert states that,

Preparation is helpful, timing is crucial. If you communicate your preconditions to a company before you even land the job, you are violating the rule about delivering worth.

3. Negotiation is competitive AFTER they want you

Some candidates become comfortable after the negotiation begins. It is a big mistake. It is likely you are the first candidate they want but NOT exclusively. How you carry yourself, and enduring measurement against the second candidate on the list. Character flaws like arrogance and lacking discipline can make you undesired.

4. Negotiation is strategic

Most experts will insist that negotiation is a win-win process and I agree 100% that there is no other way. The way you lose is guessing your value (again, not always salary), and employers will not lose because someone will take something less than you. Research and plan but don’t wait for a special sign from God in form of a halo and a glowing ball. There are resources like Glassdoor.com to use for salary and culture research.

5. You don’t receive because you refuse to ask

As the lead hiring manager once upon a time, my director told me the rules of communicating to HR what to salary negotiate, but not one person negotiated salary. Fearing the unknown is a real and debilitating. Preparation and research is the great equalizer if you put in the time and effort.

Part 2 will be posted Wednesday. Do you struggle with any of these points? Please share in the comment section.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Time to Get Down to the Heart of Your Employment Matters

Years ago, Don Henley released a song called, “Heart of the Matter,” that describes the broken and turbulent relationship is about forgiveness,

…even if you don’t love me anymore.

Closure is important proceeded by resolution, if a lack of forgiveness is the source of anger. Relationships are crazy and complex if the heart of the matter never comes to light.

I mean, how powerful and honest are the lines,

I’m learning to live without you now…but I miss you sometimes

The more I know, the less I understand

All the things I thought I knew, I’m learning again

A job search can be as turbulent as a broken relationship. But if you can’t get down to the core of your problems, or at least define the doldrums, delayed success you can expect.

Yes we can talk about effort and exertion, but without strategy, failure begins. But there is something to be said about shortcomings, weaknesses, and character obstacles that can hold you back. I listed a few of them below:

1. Fear of returning to your career vomit

You do not want to do the last job. That is understandable as diligent professionals avoid sticking their hand in the proverbial plow and look back to do the duties of their last job. You move on but the lack of money is tearing your interests in two. Solution: Patience and diligence pay off. If you don’t want to return to old job duties, see if you can transfer those old skills into new opportunities.

2. Demons of your past errors

Errors are good. They remind us of what we shouldn’t do. Past errors are not good if they are allowed to roam free in your heart and mind. Solution: Shut down the pity party, and focus on your successes. Taking care of business may mean additional training, or a visit with a mentor.

3. Have not tapped the value of skills

People will look at their career as a moral and economic obligation, but rarely will people understand demonstrated value his or her performance results. Solution: Past performance reviews are good to read sometimes to remind us how valued our performance was to past employers. Look to see if your work was broken down by quantity and quality to showcase performance measures on your current resume. Not only numbers are eye-grabbing, but also it highlights your value. Words alone hides your worth, and your abilities.

4. Your network lacks a bold and honest person

We can win a war with many advisors, assuming the advisors are wise. Unwise advisors lack strategy and perspective, thus losing the war. Solution: Most need objective and honest people to shake us up, and motivate us to increase our expectations. Capable individuals who bring the best out of us know how to push the positive button, urging us, and spurring us in all areas of our job search.

5. Lack outstanding oral and written communication skills

The truth is that most people do not master oral and written skills. Although there are varying measures to what “master” means, but most jobseekers do not possess excellent oral and written skills. Solution: There are writing courses that can be taken online. Although it would be easier if people checked your work, it is not always possible. I wrote an article that cited some resources that help correct grammar and spelling errors.

6. Money is determining your happiness

Money is a temporary solution to a life long wound. Money is idolized if your pocket are always empty after working “just a job!” Throw the idol in the fire by unearthing a career path as you look toward the future. Solution: A frequent cliché but true is pursuing a career that you would do for free brings more happiness than a job for twice the money. Find intrinsic markers that allow you to find careers that provide some fulfillment, and allow the release of endorphins.

Job seekers need candid talks with mentors and coaches to shed light on strengths and grow in areas writing and speaking. It is essential that each job seeker understand what motivates him or her. It is not what you see that can keep you from being hired at the job you want. Everyone needs an individual who will get to the heart of the matter.

What areas do you find difficult to change? That is where the conversation should start. What do you think? Please offer your thoughts below.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Make Career Defining Choices Like a 17-Year-Old

Adults make career defining decisions often think about benefits, and salary, but rarely happiness. Everyone does things that they don’t want to do in their career. Would you do something that was considered horrible?

My son, “Boy Wonder” is 17 years old, is pretty level-headed for his age. We have lots of conversations about college, his future, and women (although mostly theory at this point). He works at the world’s most famous food chain, and has sustained employment for a year.

To digress momentarily, working teens stimulate the economy, and the household. He has to work because it builds character and responsibility. Most of all, working for “Boy Wonder” provides training opportunities for him that my wife and I offer.

The one lesson that we did not teach him is to make assessments in understanding the breadth of his current job.

He is 17 years old. He still plays jokes on friends and coworkers, wants to spend his money frivolously, and would rather eat candy and oatmeal raisin cookies. The eyes are on the prize, and he understands that the 2016 Escalade will not be paid by his parents.

However, he thinks the way beyond his dream car. He wants to be a nurse.

He understands the sacrifice, and the intensity of the work that is ahead to get into nursing school. However, he is trying to understand how this experience will compare to his experience as a nurse.

Last week, a homeless man vomited in the bathroom, and left a rainbow (use your imagination here). He had to clean it all up. It was awful for him. It was good for him, as it is hard for him to put trash in the garbage can at home.

Character. Responsibility. The irony.

He has to remain temperate no matter how unstable the social culture changes. Customers his age want to challenge authority and be served appropriately.
His bosses rarely gave him the schedule he desired. He had to learn to approach one time to see if it could be change with respect and tact. After that, successful or not, let it go.
Although he has impressed the owner repeatedly, he is still just an employee. No benefits, vacation time, or sick days to reward him for missing one day of work out of a year.
A nurse will make much more money, will always have a job, and retain benefits. However, the transferable issues remain the same. Undesired responsibility is painful no matter how old, or professional you have become.
Jobseekers wait too long to as the question, “What is the worse that could happen to me?” In some way, “Boy Wonder” understands that he will do nasty and dirty tasks, be hot and sweaty, maintain self-control, be patient, and be content with undesirable circumstances. All in the name of saving people’s lives.

As adults, we can ask those questions in interviews, networking situations, or find online information. The average job seeker can research jobs before pressing the apply button.

You can find out, without prior notice, that you are cleaning a rainbow in the bathroom.