Career Path Thread: Money is happiness

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Career Path Thread: Money is happiness

Ragingsheep: Nov 7, 2009

What's the best way to calculate how much you're worth to your company when asking for pay increases? For example, last year I worked and implemented a new product by myself (others helped in various stages but only I had the technical know how to make it work). If my company went and got some external consultants to do it, it'd probably cost them $20,000+ all up but at the same time, it'll be a bit more fancy and robust. Do I get to say that I should be paid a sizable proportion of that $20,000 or is it just an input that goes into that overall calculations?

# ¿ May 27, 2013 12:04

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 08:31

Ragingsheep: Nov 7, 2009

BossRighteous posted:

How big is the company?

I work for a small business and our review process is deliberate and designed to spur growth. The owners are really pretty transparent about goals/needs and raise possibilities are clearly defined for those that ask. Instead of trying to backtrack and figure out your perceived worth, you may consider simply asking how you could be more cost effective for the company. Small businesses in my experience welcome this sort of initiative and you can probably set up a goal based raise structure if you can identify some new demands and meet them within a certain time frame.

Its a small company (around 50 people). I should point out that what I did would be considered outside the scope of my responsibilities. I could've easily said that it wasn't achievable. I don't expect $20k, but I was just wondering if there are any sort of guidance for this sort of thing.

# ¿ May 28, 2013 00:05

Ragingsheep: Nov 7, 2009

If you don't take the offer, what are you going to do?

Fake edit: the way I see it, experience is always vital and its easier to leverage that experience into finding another job later than looking for one as a fresh grad.

If you find that the social life truly sucks, it'll be easier to move after 6 months or a year.

Ragingsheep fucked around with this message at 08:18 on Jun 7, 2013

# ¿ Jun 7, 2013 08:09

Ragingsheep: Nov 7, 2009

Probably a bit obvious but is putting together a database considered a separate skill from just using it like the above examples?

I.e. if the job ad says "Data analyst - must know SQL", can you get away with just knowing those commands?

# ¿ Jul 3, 2013 03:42

Ragingsheep: Nov 7, 2009

Australian job market isn't great at the moment. What roles are you looking to get into?

# ¿ Jul 10, 2013 03:42

Ragingsheep: Nov 7, 2009

It's not stupid to ask what the salaries are. As a contractor, you need to factor in all the benefits that are available to a FTE and the additional hassles of managing your own poo poo and lower level of job security.

You need to be very clear on what each position will be paying.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2013 03:29

Ragingsheep: Nov 7, 2009

Any general tips for going into a review? I'm expecting it to be pretty positive but I'm hoping to either get a transfer to a new overseas office that's opening up or into another line of work. Also hopefully more money. In the past, I've just taken the offer on the table but apparently everyone is telling me that I should be negotiating all my raises.

# ¿ Jul 30, 2013 14:21

Ragingsheep: Nov 7, 2009

YF19pilot posted:

I have an engineering degree that is 5 years stale (total of 2 interviews for "related" positions, no job offers) and I'm currently working big box retail. What is something I can break into that pays decent starting out, or that I can advance in a manner other than "minimum wage for 2 years until you get enough 'experience' for lower retail management".

I obviously can't get into the career field I want, but I need to find something I can do that will also pay the bills. Preferably something that doesn't require going back to school and spending money I don't have.

You're an engineer so you should be half decent with numbers. Try any entry level "analyst" position.

# ¿ Jul 31, 2013 06:10

Ragingsheep: Nov 7, 2009

Xovaan posted:

I just got my first job/internship as a market research analyst. They were impressed with my resume, but all of my experience comes from Stata and a lot of what they want me to do involves Excel. What's the easiest way to keep my head above water? The job mainly focuses around survey creation, implementation, and statistical inferences arising from results, but I'm also creating various forms for the company in Excel and have absolutely no idea where to start. Any good resources to brush myself up?

For Excel, if you know how to use pivot tables and basic formulas, then you have a pretty good solid base. Google has pretty much gotten me through 3 years of market research on Excel and if you're ever stuck on trying to figure out how to do X, pretty much just googling "how to do X excel" will give you a decent answer.

Also don't be afraid to try something new and generally if you get the feeling that "there's probably a better way to do this", then there probably is so spend a little time looking into it and introduce that solution to your team/manger. Worst case is that nothing happens but if it is genuinely more useful, you've just increased productivity and demonstrated some initiative which is always good when it comes to performance reviews and bonus time.

# ¿ Sep 24, 2013 02:21

Ragingsheep: Nov 7, 2009

If you already work as a full-time employee, when are you going to be able to carry out the contact work?

# ¿ Oct 18, 2013 06:54

Ragingsheep: Nov 7, 2009

Anyone have advice on working overseas? I know the best way would be for my existing employer to shift me to another office but that's unlikely to happen. Looking at the US or UK mainly.

Unfortunately I don't have citizenship for either of those countries.

# ¿ May 8, 2014 11:36

Ragingsheep: Nov 7, 2009

I do business consulting work on banking related projects for a boutique consultancy in Australia.

# ¿ May 8, 2014 23:13

Ragingsheep: Nov 7, 2009

While I wouldn't mention that you're considering leaving, you should probably just tell them most of what you've said here with a bit more sugar coating.

- You feel that the job is a good opportunity, but you'd like to take on more challenging tasks/more responsibilities.
- You're interested doing "wet chemistry/synthesis/design side of industrial chemistry", is there the opportunity to take on tasks that are more in line with this in my current role or in another role with the company.
- You're interesting in position X in department Y because of reasons A, B and C. What are the chances of moving there within the next year.
- What career progression plans does your manger/company have for you? (Make sure these are real plans rather than just empty words)

# ¿ Jul 4, 2014 03:37

Ragingsheep: Nov 7, 2009

Dreamer101 posted:

My location is mostly men and small office personnel. It's supposed to be expanding in a year or so. I just don't think there will be HR for awhile there since it's in a remote location and overlooked. Other issues of sexual harassment has also arose from my boss. I feel obligated to report it to HR to try to improve the work environment. However, I think it will be extremely hard and they will find out that I had reported it.

Start looking for a new job externally. You're in a dead-end (position wise) and you don't know how the company and HR are going to treat you when you report the sexual harassment. They might handle it perfectly but you still won't have any career progression. Alternatively, they might side with your boss and make your life miserable.

Then report your boss once you leave.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2014 05:07

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# ¿ Apr 29, 2024 08:31

Ragingsheep: Nov 7, 2009

Macaroni Surprise posted:

I've been working as a counselor with a small agency that is... Not well. We're getting split paychecks, no Heath insurance or 401k, and have released staff to save money. I've seen some borderline unethical things too. I just got an advanced license that allows me to practice independently, bill insurers directly, and supervise others. I'm looking at positions in larger companies with benefits and good reputations.

I have to disclose my new licensure and my current employer may be looking for me to take supervisory responsibilities. I don't plan to stay, but the idea of having a nicer position on my resume is tempting. But if I leave in 3 months like I hope to, I feel like that would look bad on the resume.

Could having a better title for a few months help, or in a situation like this, could it actually hurt? I guess on a resume I might be able to hide that detail.

Thanks for any feedback.

Don't think it'll matter at all. Worst comes to worst, just tell people that you're previous employer wasn't doing well and it was time for you to leave.

Ragingsheep fucked around with this message at 10:19 on Feb 13, 2017

# ¿ Feb 13, 2017 10:11

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Career Path Thread: Money is happiness