Salary Research Tools
Salary Research Tools
Salary Research Tools
Knowing how to research what you should be paid is part of being an active and serious student affairs job seeker. Some of this comes from knowing the value of your knowledge, background, skills, and abilities and what they bring to the institution and the position. This value stems from networking, connecting, and collaborating with your other colleagues in the field to determine what a fair salary includes.
Making sure that you use all of the salary research tools available to you is one of the best moves you can make. But how do you go about doing that? How do you determine what is a good tool to use?
This article will cover what you should consider when researching and proposing an estimated salary for your next student affairs job opportunity. The article includes what salary tools you can rely on during your student affairs job search. In addition, specific tools addressing your search for other non-profit organizations as well as estimates for your cost of living are covered. Finally, a list of general salary research tools is provided for you to use throughout your career.
What you should consider
There are many things that you should consider when completing your salary research in student affairs. Some research is pretty wide and relies more on the industry, field, and functional area. Some of it relies on your proposed title; the location of the institution; and your own experience. Finally, some closely tied to your educational attainment in addition to any special skills you have. A combined look at all of this will help determine fair compensation for your professional background.
The first thing to consider is the industry of higher education and the economy of working for colleges and universities. While the higher education may not be as competitive as other industries; you could make up for potential salary shortfalls dependent on the functional area you’ll work in. For instance, residential life and housing professionals can often rely on institutional housing to offset their cost of living.
Job title also has an effect on the expected salary of a position. Coordinators, resident directors, and assistant directors are often entry level positions in student affairs. Therefore, they are often at the lower end of the salary spectrum. Whereas directors, assistant deans, and deans are more senior level positions and earn a higher salary.
Title and functional area are also augmented by the location of the institution. Colleges and universities in denser and more populated urban areas pay more than ones located in rural locations. Often this is to offset the higher cost of living in these metropolitan areas.
Your experience also plays a significant role in how much you are compensated for your position. Someone with significant professional experience can often command a higher wage than someone who has little experience coming out of an undergraduate program. Likewise, a graduate student with little practical experience isn’t as competitive against another graduate student possessing applicable internship experience.
This experience feeds into what role your educational attainment plays in your compensation package. Someone with a specific graduate degree in student affairs, college student personnel, counseling, or higher education administration will be more desirable than someone without a graduate degree or a degree from a different discipline.
Lastly, any special skills that you have working with specific populations (i.e. opportunity programs) or any special credentials (i.e. wilderness first responder) will make you more competitive for specific roles that require specialized skills.
Higher education salary tools
When looking for and reviewing compensation for positions in higher education, the two best sources for finding information on the specific field and industry are:
-The Chronicle of Higher Education https://data.chronicle.com/
-Higher Ed Jobs https://www.higheredjobs.com/salary/
Non profit salary tools
If you’re looking for positions in non profit sectors outside of higher education then you can always turn to:
-Idealist https://www.idealist.org/en/careers/salary-surveys
Cost of living tools
However, salary isn’t the only thing that you should consider as a form of compensation for your next position. Remember: the location of your next opportunity affects the cost of living in the area. That’s why it’s important to determine if your compensation package will help you maintain your standard of living at your new location. To determine that, you can turn to the following tools:
-Home Fair Cost of Living & Relocation https://www.homefair.com/
-Cost of Living Calculator by NerdWallet https://www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-living-calculator
-SmartAsset.com https://smartasset.com/mortgage/cost-of-living-calculator
-Cost of Living Comparison Index Tool https://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/moving-cost-of-living-calculator.aspx
General salary tools
Lastly, it’s also a good move to research your compensation package through other sites in addition to vetting it through colleagues and other professionals. You can turn to the following sites to gain some additional salary information:
-Glassdoor https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/index.htm
-Indeed https://www.indeed.com/salaries
-LinkedIn Salary https://www.linkedin.com/salary/
-PayScale https://www.payscale.com/
-Robert Half https://www.roberthalf.com/salary-guide
-Salary Expert https://www.salaryexpert.com/
-Salary.com https://www.salary.com/
-SalaryList https://www.salarylist.com/
-US Bureau of Labor Statistics https://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm
Takeaways
This article covered what you should consider when researching and proposing an estimated salary for your next student affairs job opportunity. This article included what salary tools you can use and rely on during your student affairs job search. In addition, specific tools addressing your search for other non-profit organizations as well as an estimate for your cost of living were covered. Finally, a list of general salary research tools were provided for you to use throughout your career.
I hope that you found this article useful! If you need some additional help on your student affairs job search, then check out the eBook The Student Affairs Job Search: A Comprehensive Guide available here.
Happy searching,
References
Bergen, A. (2020, January 23). 7 Of The Best Salary Information Websites For Negotiation. Retrieved April 23, 2020, from https://www.moneyunder30.com/best-salary-information-websites
Herman, L. (2019, October 14). 9 Tools to Figure Out a Fair Salary to Negotiate. Retrieved April 23, 2020, from https://www.themuse.com/advice/9-resources-you-need-to-check-out-before-you-negotiate-your-salary
Lopaze, K. (2017, January 25). Top 8 Tools You Need to Use For Salary Research. Retrieved April 23, 2020, from https://www.thejobnetwork.com/top-8-tools-salary-research-012017/
Cite this Article
Eng, D. (2020, May 05). Salary Research Tools. Retrieved MONTH DATE, YEAR, from https://www.jobhakr.com/blog-1/2020/5/5/salary-research-tools
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