How to Know Your Market Value

But also it’s important to know your market value. Matt, how would you start or go about learning what your market value is? Yeah, so this is definitely, more of an arts, not a science. There’s a lot of info out there on how to know what you should be paid based on your skills and your experience level.

So can be quite complex. I know a lot of times people go to the websites like PayScale or salary.com or Glassdoor or Indeed, but all of that data is self-reported data. So, you know, self-reported meaning like I would go to salary.com and say, this is my salary as a agency recruiter. So sometimes that can be misleading because, you know, I might put in my base salary, but Kierra might put in her base salary plus her commission.

Some people might add their base and their bonus, and their total comp with like benefits and 401K contributions. So all of that’s a little bit convoluted and most big companies aren’t using that self-reported data, but instead they’re paying for data that actually comes directly from HR departments and they are reporting that data to companies like Mercer or Willis Towers Watson, or any of the other companies that do large salary surveys nationwide.

So, a lot of times what you’re seeing public isn’t what corporations are using to come up with their budgets and their salary bands for different positions across the organization. Yeah, I think that’s a really good point because when you do go on Glassdoor or any of those other websites and you’re looking up salaries, they do have such a big range.

And yeah, oftentimes people will use those when they’re targeting and they’ll be way off because those ranges are based on so many factors. Yeah. So I do think that’s really important to be aware of, but another way you can kind of find out as well is I’ll be on calls with people and they’ll ask me like, what are you seeing in the market right now?

Yeah. For my experience, my tools and technologies, just where do I kind of fit in? And based on my experience with companies that we’ve been working with or candidates that we’re talking to, you can get a pretty good idea of what other people with similar experience are targeting. Yeah.

And I think that’s always a great way. That’s why you should talk to agency recruiters because- Yeah, take those calls! Yeah, we can help you out more ways than just one. So, yeah. Definitely ask your recruiter what they’re seeing in the market, because that can help you get an idea if you’re within that target or what their competitors are seeing and what other candidates are targeting.

Yeah. You can even ask, you know, if you think two years down the road you want to get into from an individual contributor to a manager position, you can ask agency recruiters what they’re seeing those roles pay for, and then you kind of know what you might be making in the future. Once you build more skills and become qualified for those roles, that would be the next step in your career.

I also think. Another great place to get like quality data that’s not self-reported is from the Department of Labor or O*NET, you can type in different jobs that are in many different industries and you can see what those pay. And that’s information that’s coming directly from the government.

Yeah, we’ll try to include like a link for you as well that you can use for your search to see your market value. But I think another piece that we really need to touch on is geography. Applies a big into your comp if you are working remote, but you’re working in New York and the company that you’re looking at is in Phoenix.

The comp probably isn’t going to be the same as the companies that you’d see that are based and onsite in New York. So I do think you need to pay attention to what area you are living in compared to what types of jobs you’re applying to, because that will differ drastically. And just because you’re in New York doesn’t mean that you’ll get paid more with a company.

Yeah. Because they have a budgeted rate that they’re they’re sourcing from all over the us and other parts of the world. So it just really depends on what they’re looking for and what they have in their budget. Yeah, just because a role is a hundred percent remote doesn’t necessarily mean a company is going to pay a premium for a location like San Francisco or New York that has a very high cost of living, so.

I’ve seen it both ways where they do have geo-based salary ranges, and then I’ve seen it where it’s kind of just the same across the board. Again, compensation is an art, not, not a science. So a lot of different factors come into play here where you’re trying to find out your market value.

Yeah, absolutely.