These days, the hiring manager or recruiter will most likely ask about your salary expectations in the first or early round of the interview process. If you aren’t ready for this conversation, it can make you look unprepared, diffident, or worse….costing you the entire job opportunity.
So, let's show you how to avoid that and talk about your desired salary with confidence!
In this training, you’ll learn how to:
- Figure out the correct sites to explore while doing salary research
- Identify the tools you need to figure out your market value
- Choose a salary range that you feel comfortable with
Join our CEO, J.T. O'Donnell, and Director of Training Development & Coaching, Christina Burgio, for this live event on Wednesday, September 28th at 12 pm ET.
CAN'T ATTEND LIVE? That's okay. You'll have access to the recording and the workbook after the session!
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Let's not be confused by the word “simple." Sometimes the simplest of concepts or steps can be tough to do because they require some intense thinking and effort. Yet, your think time and effort are an investment in your future and career happiness, which make it all very worthwhile to plan your career growth today.
1. Figure Out Your Destination
As with all efforts, you must be clear about your direction when you create your own career development plan. You don't take a road trip without knowing where you want to end up. You also don't need to overly complicate this task. I think the following questions are helpful in thinking about your destination.
Where do you want your career to be in two years?
I like this question because this window is close enough to your current reality that it's easy to visualize.
Where do you want your career to be in five years?
If you see that your two-year goal is merely a step in an overall direction, then this question helps you define a longer-term career growth goal. Sometimes it's difficult to see that far out in time as life and different opportunities present themselves and can cause you to reset your plans. That's okay, but it's good to be looking "two steps ahead."
What makes these targets resonant for you?
Don't make a goal just for the sake of making one. You need a goal that helps to motivate you into action. If you're making a goal based on what someone else wants, it also isn't going to be that compelling for you. Being clear on your direction means being clear that this direction is inspiring and motivational, and knowing what is driving you to it.
2. Do A Gap Analysis
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A gap analysis is where you figure out the differences in the qualifications between where you are right now and your two-year goal or next step. Using a job posting or job description for the position you are aiming at is a good way to get specific information about the skills and experience that are expected. I think it is good to get more than one job description (perhaps one from your company and one from a competitor) in order to ensure you aren't missing any key items during your analysis.
Go through the job description line item by line item and rate your current state of skills, education, or experience to what is listed. Your rating system can be as simple as 1-10, with 10 a perfect match and one being completely missing. As you rate, make notes about your thought process for future reference.
Once you have completed this exercise, identify all of the items where there is anywhere from a fair amount to a substantial amount of development that is needed. Look for commonalities and clump those together as a category. You will discover that there will be themes to your gaps.
Also, don't get too compulsive about where you don't think you're a perfect match but think you have fairly developed skills. If they are mostly present, they will make you a competitive candidate and shouldn't require too much development attention. You now have a list of development items.
3. Create Your Development Plan
BigstockYou are now fully armed with a clear two-year goal and all the details of where and what you need to develop to get you where you want to go. Your plan will be best if you can consult with your boss and/or a mentor to help you with ideas on how to get the skills you need to add.
There may need to be some logical order to a few of the items on your list. Sometimes you need to do X before you can do Y. Make these among the highest priority items so you can accomplish these things and move on to others. Usually, there are multiple ways of accumulating the skills you need for career growth.
You may also want to have multiple ways of beefing up your skill set to add depth to it. An example is if you want to move to a project management position, you may want to get a certification and also ask for project responsibilities. Initially, these may be small, which is fine; they will give you an opportunity to grow and learn. In addition, you may need to research various ways to get the skills you need to grow in your career.
Once your research is done, it will give you ideas on how you can approach these items. You need dates. You need to keep yourself accountable to your plan. And the best way to do that is to give yourself a "start by" date.
You can't predict how long or how much work you will have to do in order to develop the skill at the level you need, but you do have control over the action you take to get started. Keep track. You need to pay attention to your career development plan a minimum of twice per year. This will allow you to stay focused on your progress and remind you of next steps.
Career development is the sort of thing that you can easily forget about until you wake up one day to realize you have gone nowhere and aren't having fun. You are responsible for where you go in your career. With a little bit of planning, you can accomplish great things.
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
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We recently asked our leading executives what the biggest misconception about their job is—to gain some insight about their profession.
Here are their responses...
Jim Black, Engineering & Technical Executive
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I am an engineering executive, and I am very technical in nature. I also admit I am a NERD. My job expects me to be a nerd, and I know many things. I lead a highly specialized aviation testing group with over 100+ years of experience. These men and women are the best in the industry. I work every day to keep up with their expertise as an outsider.
The misconception about my line of work is simple... I rarely have all the answers. I need to rely on my team, my peers, my network, and my friends to share ideas. By collaborating with my team, I can find solutions. By working with peers, I can help guide the group to improve. Friends and colleagues often lead me to new insights and better ways of thinking.
Engineers come off as "know-it-alls" and experts in their field. We did not get there overnight. We worked with many people and collaborated over time to gain this expertise. Very, very few engineers and scientists are like "Sheldon Cooper." Many of us work with great people to share ideas and develop new solutions for today's problems. Our secret weapon is our ability to collaborate and combine experiences. Rarely do we work alone or have brilliant ideas given to us by divine intervention. Our solutions require hard work and sharing with others.
Jim Black is an engineering professional focused on the development of technical professionals. He is also a professional bass player.
Andrea Markowski, Marketing Executive
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Some people may think that marketing executives spend all day placing advertisements. Advertising is certainly an important ingredient in the overall marketing pie, but it is only a small slice.
The supporting crust of the marketing pie is an in-depth understanding of the target consumer and how to best communicate to them the value of a product or service. This is done through loads of research and data analysis (the ingredients) that inform strategies (the recipe) and, ultimately, actionable tactics (assembling the pie).
One of those tactics is often paid promotion in various channels, AKA advertising, which is viewed as the whipped cream and cherry on top!
Outsiders usually only see that delicious pie topping and don’t realize all the work that went into baking the pie that supports the topping and makes it appealing enough to eat. Bon appétit!
Andrea Markowski is a marketing director with specializations in strategy development, digital tactics, design thinking, and creative direction. She has superpowers in presentations and public speaking.
John Schembari, Senior Education Executive
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Since schools tend to seek out consultants during periods of challenge, they often are looking for quick fixes to their problems and expect education consultants to direct them accordingly. While expedient, client schools won’t grow in their expertise around best schooling practices and/or systemic processes if consultants "tell" schools how certain opportunities for school improvement should be addressed. Consultants aren't the people necessarily doing the day-to-day implementation work; long-term positive change happens best, therefore, when staff is consulted/vested in the next steps.
An education consultant serves as an outside thought partner when looking at school/community-based data, listening to stakeholders about wants/needs, and helping schools develop effective strategic improvement plans. Yes, education consultants should share knowledge of best practices gained from having worked within many school settings but, ultimately, the chosen course of action needs to be owned by the school. It is the consultant's responsibility to follow up consistently with the client, throughout the length of the contract, to ensure that improvement milestones are being met. Good education consultants work themselves out of a job.
John Schembari is a current K-12 teacher/school leader academic improvement coach and former school building and district administrator. He loves to draw, travel, swing dance, and read nonfiction.
Lisa Perry, Global Marketing Executive
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Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions about marketing. Too many to list here. The biggest misconception about marketing is that it is an external activity. For example, if you have a campaign, advertising campaign, or email campaign, these are external activities. Marketing is an internal process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services. It’s the strategic work you do, figuring out who your customers are, what their needs are, where they are, and how to communicate with them. Make no mistake, marketing is a leadership function that, when done correctly, will develop the strategies that drive lead generation, conversions, fulfillment, and revenue.
Lisa Perry helps companies build leadership brands, driving loyal customers & delivering profitability. She does this through a process that builds brands consumers love. Her goal is to help companies develop, monetize, and grow their brands.
Dr. Hannah Hartwell, Learning & Development Executive
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One common misconception about learning and development is that “everything” can be solved with training; that is, offering training is the only way to solve business problems. It’s empowering for professionals to think training can have such amazing business problem-solving skills. However, training is not always the solution. I would need to ask more about the business problem, including the direct impact, the audience, the resources available, and the desired timeline. Often when I meet with clients and colleagues, we figure out more appropriate solutions—sometimes it’s training but not always.
Dr. Hannah Hartwell is a learning and development executive and change management practitioner with 15+ years of business transformation experience in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, higher education, and professional services industries.
Carla Biasi, Personal Stylist
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The biggest misconception is that we shop all day. While we do shop to learn about current trends, merchandising ideas, and services, we study trends and learn how to incorporate them into everyday living. We study color and body type analysis so our customers look and feel their best.
We understand the human psyche and how to work with people of different backgrounds and personalities. Stylists help individuals build confidence and self-esteem. We work with their concerns and create images that propel people forward.
Our financial skills include creating budgets and how to save our customers money.
We are professional and can earn certifications.
Personal stylists can truly wow the executive community.
Carla Biasi is a personal stylist living on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. She currently has her own business and works part-time at an upscale women's boutique and as a virtual and kit stylist for a women’s specialty brand.
What's the biggest misconception about your job? Join the conversation inside Work It Daily's Executive Program.
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