How to Find Salary and Pay Information Online
To target a job search effectively, it's important to know what the market is paying for jobs requiring your specific skill set and qualifications. There are many valuable online resources for finding salary information to help you find a job or get a salary increase. Many of them are free; others offer customized analyses for a fee of how much you should be making based on your qualifications and the industry you are targeting. Here's what you can do to find salary information online which can be used to make your job search more effective.
- Difficulty:
- Easy
Instructions
-
-
1
Do a Google or Yahoo search for salary information online. Use keywords related to the job title you are targeting or just search for general salary survey information. The more targeted your keywords, the richer the results.
-
2
Click on each result until you find three or more that specialize in your industry or profession. Most of these sites are sophisticated and allow you to search by industry category, salary range, job title, and location. They contain salary calculators and quick salary wizards, as well as articles and information on negotiating the right salary for you.
-
3
Exhaust all the free resources before deciding to purchase a customized salary report, unless you are in a highly specialized profession that is not normally reported in a general salary survey. Online sites like PayScale.com offer free customized salary reports.
-
4
Pay special attention to online salary information sites that are subsidiaries of recruitment and search firms. For example, CBSalary.com is a subsidiary of CareerBuilders.com and Futurestep is an alliance between Korn/Ferry International (an executive search firm) and The Wall Street Journal. You can get great job hunting advice and resources along with salary information.
-
5
Get this information in advance of a job interview and when doing company research. Spend some time reviewing the results to accurately gauge the salary range you should consider when evaluating a job offer or answering difficult questions about past salaries and compensation.
-
1
