Job searching, how do I get the salary I deserve?

[Deja Q]

http://hrsalarycenter.salary.com/salarywizard/layoutscripts/swzl_compresult.asp?zipcode=55117&metrocode=110&statecode=MN&state=Minnesota&metro=Minneapolis-St.+Paul&city=Little+Canada&geo=Little+Canada%2C+MN+55117&isedit=&jobcode=IT10000069&jobtitle=PC+Maintenance+Technician+II&search=&narrowdesc=IT+--+Computers%2C+Hardware&narrowcode=IT04&prevnarrowcode=IT04&isforcompanalyst=1&geocode=&geotypecode=geometro&prevgeotypecode=geometro&isrefresh=1&r=&jobcodeedit=IT10000069

I am something like a PC Maintenance Tech II, though I do analyst work as well.

The median salary is $46000. I barely make $40000, which is below the LOWEST field in their precious curve!

Yet for any jobs resembling mine in the marketplace, companies are offering anywhere between $20-$30, with the higher paying jobs wanting bachelors' degrees of all things :eyes: . I can't survive on that. Not right now and I bet the benefits they offer, if any, are shit.

Do they expect candidates to haggle, or are they trying to devalue the industry?

Unless things improve, I'm as good as dead if I lose my job.

[Abe Linkman]

1. Move to greener pasture & get a higher-paying job

If you feel you are underemployed, make a change. You can do it. If you don't know how to market yourself effectively or how to find a better job, get professional help. It pays.

I'm not talking about blasting resumes or those firms that just tell you to Network. What you need is a real marketing approach that lets you get judged on your capabilities, rather than what your current job title is.

see www.expage.com/careersearch

There are many, many firms out there. Just make sure they will take personal responsibility for your success & give you at least three references you can talk to.

[Deja Q]

2. Some companies will take personal responsibility for my success?

Some companies do care about their employees? If that's true, my opinions on corporate America may be slightly unfounded.

Thanks for the link! With the chance of a layoff being high, doing this now is probably a good thing. I don't want to leave my employer and I haven't complained about them in the background nearly as much as other co-workers who are safe unless 40% of the staff are cut down and who have gotten in trouble for violating serious rules... but it is time for me to move on. And given how they currently like me, it will be a loss on their part.

[Abe Linkman]

4. Professional firms, not corporations

What I said, and was referring to are FIRMS that are in the business of helping job hunters. Anyone who seeks professional career advancement assistance should only go to a firm which will take personal responsibility for your success...as a client of theirs seeking a new job.

Corporations see you (by that, I mean most people, not just you personally) only as a dispensable robot or commodity.

[Deja Q]

6. Thanks for the reminder

!&@^#%$ corporations. If they treated employees with even a grain of value, this country would be a better place.

Do you know of any places throughout the US I could look up?

Thanks!

[teryang]

3. Just a suggestion

Did you ever think of starting up your own PC store, or computer consulting firm? Maybe on the side to supplement income.

I think small PC businesses can grow into something setting up and maintaining LANs for local small businesses. I know it must be highly competitive, but there are a lotta niches out there that larger firms won't serve or overcharge. Some people want networks in their homes. Getting courteous personal service for office networks, getting new programs set up, or DSL installed from people who care is an exploitable market for small operators. Not a techie myself but I buy these services on occasion. The small businesses that I've encountered doing this have a storefront and two or three qualified friends working together to get them up and running. IMHO

[Deja Q]

5. My previous employer did that

And I have a habit of forgetting things, which is most disconcerting.

And I hate making lists because they look unprofessional to the users, but that is something I will have to do.

I'll see what I can do as what you've mentioned is all child's play to me. Just as long as I don't piss off my company's HR and go by all the beauracracy...

It is highly competitive, I know that. But I will try.

And do continue on my certification paths as well, though those tests include all sorts of things which aren't relevant to most real-life situations.

[nuxvomica]

7. I make less than the minimum for my job according to that site

I think salaries in IT are being devalued and I don't think the salary site reflects that. Hell, with the number of people unemployed, it's really a buyer's market out there. Thanks, Chimpy, for making it such a easy ride for your corporate overlords. Too bad Joe Six-Pack doesn't get how badly he's being screwed by this mob.

[Deja Q]

8. Yikes

Then I hope and pray and everything else I don't lose my job. This devaluing of the industry is an insult, pure and simple.

I do know that PC support in the IS department will be crippled if there are layoffs; of the first 3 people to be let go, 2 of them are the main helpdesk person and myself. The main helpdesk person recently had a baby and her hubby is unemployed right now. Of course, her parents would let her move back in and such if she lost her job, so she'll be fine. I'm toast though as I have nowhere to go and I have to accept the fact I might only have 9 months to live.

My department I am responsible for is trying to get me under their payroll completely which would separate myself from the IS department totally. This is nice except I'd be on THE bottom of the seniority list, so if there was just one layoff elsewhere in the company, I'd be the first out the door. And it's also questionable if the branch of the company which wants me full time will remain in operation... :-(

And with the department head haphazardly giving out as many promotions and hiring new supervisors as often as she's telling us all there might be layoffs... for that and 5000 other reasons she is creating a hostile work environment. Fortunately we're union and there's a meeting coming up for employees only. I'm hoping she'll be toast because she deserves the boot, not me.

[DEMActivist]

9. Simple answer...

With a Bush in the White House, you don't.

This is not new - when Poppy was in the White House the EXACT same thing happened. It's the republican way.