Money…they say it’s what makes the world go ’round. I am not sure about that, but it can determine your fate in getting a position you want. Most people do not like dealing with salary requirements and negotiation. It seems to have become a game between job candidates and companies. I have received questions as of late in terms of a salary negotiation strategy and thought I should share my opinions to help you in your negotiation efforts.

Companies typically handle the initial discussion of salary in one of two ways: the company will provide you with the position salary range or the company will ask what you desire in terms of salary. It is always a gamble when pitching a desired salary to a company. Some companies are very in-tune to market salaries and skill-worth while other companies think it perfectly acceptable to pay a very low salary for a very valuable job. A good company should engage in negotiation, but some companies simply remove a candidate from the applicant pool if the salary request is too far out of range.

The key to successful salary negotiations is to first, DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Research salaries for the specific type of position for which you are applying. When matching positions on those sites, try to match the position and your skill set as close as possible. The second key is to KNOW YOUR WORTH. You know your education level, experience, and so forth. Know what your skill set is worth and be prepared to defend that worth in a salary negotiation. The final key to salary negotiation is to KNOW WHAT YOU WANT. If you have your heart set on a specific geographic location with minimal opportunities, the company may be in a position to offer lower wages. If this geographic location is really where you want to be, you might have to accept a salary that is not exactly what you want. If you are focused on a particular career path, it may require you to start low. You need to be educated and realistic in approaching your salary negotiation. Do your homework…know your worth…and know what you really want.

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In a previous post, “Privacy Warning!” I warned about cleaning up your Facebook and MySpace accounts during your job search because more and more employers are viewing applicant profiles on these sites in the selection process. I recently came across an article that I wanted to share with you all regarding “Digital Dirt.” It goes further than these online communities. As a job applicant, you must ensure that your reputation is favorable on the entire web. The article “How to Clean Up Your Digital Dirt Before It Trashes Your Job Search” by Jared Flesher offers some great tips in this area. I encourage you to read the article and apply their suggestions in your job search.

Technorati Tags: career insight, career advice

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Oftentimes, when the prospect of beginning a job search comes on the horizon, our plan of action is to print as many resumes and cover letters as possible and perform a mass mail-out hoping to get a few call-backs. This can be likened to randomly throwing a bunch of darts in the general direction of the dartboard and hoping to get a bullseye. Possible…but not very likely. In this post I just wanted to share with you some ideas on preparaing a strategic marketing plan for your job search where you will be aiming for the prize.

A good first step is to define your professional objective and state the work functions you wish to perform in the job you acquire. You should match those work functions with your skills, abilities and interests. Then prepare a positioning statement that targets those work objectives. (See prior post “Do You Have Your Elevator Speech Ready?“)

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Recently I attended several workshops concerning recruiting and the job search process. One of the things the speaker stressed was the importance of having your “elevator speech” ready. It is coined an elevator speech because of the fact that we meet many poeple who could be instrumental to our career in an elevator and your speech needs to be short enough to deliver in the duration of an elevator ride while still being effective. This elevator speech is also called a positioning statement. It is basically the response you should have to the ever-popular request of “Tell me about yourself.” Your positioning statement or elevator speech should consist of the five or so things that you want that person to know about you and can also be used on the resume.

As I sat in that workshop, I figured this concept was basically common sense and I would just “wing it” if asked to tell about myself. However, the facilitator had us write out our elevator speeches and read them in front of our collegues. In composing mine, I realize that it can be a bit more difficult that one thinks. To “wing it” often results in your most important points not getting across. After I took the time to pick out those points I deemed most important and composed my elevator speech, I realized that this small time investment resulted in a better quality speech.

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Editor’s note: If anybody thought we were kidding about companies Googling or checking online profiles of potential hires, here it is … straight from our own HR gal!

Internet communities have become extremely popular among college students.

Sites like Facebook.com and MySpace.com seem to be the perfect place for people to express themselves, keep in touch with friends, share thoughts, and post pictures of fun times. However, as a job seeker you should be very careful about what you are posting on your internet profiles. These sites are becoming a new tool for recruiters to truly get a glimpse of the person they are thinking of hiring. I am hearing more and more stories of how potential employers are turning to these online profiles for employment screening.

While MySpace has already received much publicity for its lackadaisical viewing restrictions, Facebook has traditionally been considered safe due to the site requiring a “.edu” email to have access and even then only granting viewing privilages to those in your network. However, recently Facebook has allowed companies to register under their own networks, making it all the more important to monitor your profile content and privacy settings.

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To refresh your memory from my last post, behavioral interview questions will be much more specific than traditional interview questions. Interviewers have chosen specific competencies that are key for success in that position. He or she then asks the interviewee very specific questions that address those skills. As promised, I am providing additional sample interview questions for this type of interviewing. This is a terrific opportunity to use these sample questions that you are very likely to hear in behavioral interviews to practice and perfect your answer. Remember to use the STAR method (Situation-Task-Action-Result) as I mentioned in the last post. Tell the interviewer the specific situation you were facing, the task(s) needing to be accomplished, the specific actions that YOU took, and the result of those actions. Answer these sample questions using the STAR method and you should be well-prepared should you face a behavioral-based interview. If you are unsure of certain answers or have any questions, feel free to ask me. You will find that some of the sample questions are very similar. Remember that you will have similar questions if they are addressing the same competency.

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Interviewing can be a very stressful process. There are several different interviewing styles, but I would like to share with you all an interviewing method in which I have the most experience and I feel is the most intimidating for interviewees. I am addressing the behaviorally-based interview.

Each company conducts their interview process differently. A company that I worked for used a very popular published method that is come across many companies. It involved interviewing with thress to five separate people within the company and a scoring system of sorts based upon the applicant’s responses to behaviorally-based questions.

First let me explain behaviorally-based questioning. In these types on interviews, the interviewers will ask for the interviewee to provide specific examples pertaining to the area in the line of questioning. An example of a behavior-based question is ” Tell me about a time when you had to work with a difficult client. How did you handle it and what was the outcome?”

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Last week I discussed the benefits of posting your resume on various “resume-posting sites” for your job search. In researching the topic, I did find some very useful information on maintaining your privacy and data security while taking advantage of these sights and I wanted to share it with you all. According to Job-Hunt.org, “Web job sites generate revenue by selling ‘employers’ access to their resume databases. Access is usually sold to anyone who can pay the price, with minimal screening done to ensure that the purchasers actually have jobs to fill. So your complete work history, education and contact information are available to anyone who can pay the access fee– employers, recruiters, sales people, scammers, identity thieves, etc.” Having said that, it is important that you consider some key security issues and how to protect yourself before using these Web sites for your job search.

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While most of us have moved away from the classified ads in the newspapers and more towards the internet, searching job postings is a common practice for job seekers. There is certainly nothing wrong with such a job search tool and it can, in fact, be very useful. I do, however, have a helpful hint for you.

Recently I spoke with a Human Resources Generalist for a consulting firm out of Atlanta, Ga. We were discussing the issues of recruiting and she brought up to me a very interesting topic that I wanted to share with my Forward friends. She indicated to me that fewer and fewer companies are actually posting job advertisements when they have position openings. The new trend in recruiting is the new resume posting websites.

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I recently had a discussion with a Director of Human Resource Services for a large company about resumes, interviewing, and other areas in the job-search process. I would like to take this opportunity to share with you some of the suggestions that she and I discussed. My next few posts will pertain to this, but for now I would like to start with guidelines for preparing a resume. I have previously posted some suggestions on resume preparation, but these are some further suggestions coming directly from that Director of HR Services that I thought you all might find helpful.

Resume Preparation

1. The most important rule: put your cell phone number (or work number) on your resume. Interviewers will try to call you during the day and you should make it as easy as possible for them to reach you immediately and directly with no phone “tag.”

2. Put your email address on the resume, preferably in a “link” format if emailing the resume.

3. A resume is a marketing piece; make sure you list your achievements, awards, and accomplishments on the resume. These are historical facts that distinguish you from other similarly qualified candidates.

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