ESS Candidate Newsletter – April, 2018
Worthington, OH April 01, 2018
In this month’s, ask the recruiter, we discuss how to determine a candidate’s total compensation.
Introduction – Aaron Wandtke
Positions Filled in the last 30 days
Ask the Recruiter – “How much am I earning?”
Introduction:
For the second year in a row, Executive Staffing Solutions has been named by Forbes magazine as one of the top 250 recruiting firms in the United States. ESS was selected from of over 5,000 recruiting companies within all industries. Selections were made based on survey to employers and surveys to people we have worked with in the past year.
We are extremely proud to receive this recognition, as it is important to treat each person we work with the right way. We cannot help everyone we meet but we try to refer people to other firms or provide other suggestions that may help people in their job search.
ESS has been recognized by Modern Healthcare each of the past 10 years as one of the top firms in the healthcare market. When we combine that with the recognition from Forbes magazine, we believe we are the firm each company should want to work with. We know we cannot work with everyone but we have a record of success that makes it a worthy discussion.
If there is anything I can do to help you in your search, please let me know. If your firm is looking to work with a proven successful recruiting firm, please consider ESS.
Ask the Recruiter – How much am I earning?
I am often surprised when negotiating an offer on someone’s behalf about how little he knows about his total compensation. What about you? If you are like most people, you probably know your hourly rate or top-line income before taxes. Some people can recite it to the penny. However, what about the other value hidden in your pay stub? Things like health insurance costs, retirement contributions and how your paid time off works.
For working candidates, you must review your pay stub and understand your deductions so that you can negotiate an offer that will meet your needs. How terrible would it be to make a job change thinking you had received an eight percent raise, only to find out on your first paycheck that the increased cost of health insurance wiped out your gain?
In addition, in some cases, the net result of a lateral to small increase in compensation can actually increase your pay if your out-of-pocket benefits costs decrease. For these reasons, I encourage you to take a Compensation Inventory before negotiating a new offer. To help, I have put together a few questions to ask in the main benefits categories:
Health insurance – What is the cost of your current health insurance? What is your deductible, copay, prescription costs? Are certain treatments that are important to you covered or not covered?
Dental, Vision, Life Insurance and Short & Long-Term Disability – Do you have these benefits currently? What is the coverage and what is your cost?
Paid Time Off – How is your PTO allocated currently? How many holidays do you have?
Retirement Plan – What is your current plan? Are your contributions matched? What is the vesting schedule?
Bonuses & Overtime – Did you receive a bonus last year? How much?
Chances are, if you are changing jobs, the benefits will not align perfectly from one company to the next. But not all career moves may be money motivated. Smaller companies, for example, may not be able to offer the same level of benefits that more mature, established companies can offer. In these cases, the value in changing job comes from something other than what is found on a pay stub; perhaps it is the opportunity to build something new or to work in a more forward-thinking company culture.
No matter your reason, going through this exercise will prevent surprises and will give you the ability to negotiate on certain points that are important to you… monetarily or otherwise.
So get out that calculator and start crunching!
I can be reached at 614-885-8490 or by e-mail at aw@ess123.com.
