Does Your Current Compensation Reflect Your True Market Value?

December 3rd, 2006 - - Filled in: Money/Investing

While some are happy with their enormous salaries and rewarding careers, others often wonder “am I being compensated deservedly” and “…according to the market”. There are a number of popular resources available such as monster.com and CareerBuilder.com to help you find a job and get a general idea of compensation levels. But here are some that can help you get an idea of where you ought to be…categorically. The grass may not always be greener on the other side, but here are a couple of lesser-known but valueable services that might help you figure that out:

SalaryScout: SalaryScout is an anonymous community of professionals whose purpose is to seek fairness in compensation. It is built around a network of users that offer various salary and compensation data (job title, salary, hierarchy within the organization, etc) to a specific job function. In addition to this interactive feature, SalaryScout offers regular posts with regard to “Career” (50 Common Interview Questions, How to be Ultra Productive) and “Compensation” (63 Salary Negotiation Resources, 10 Ways To Get The Most Pay)…and the service is free.

PayScale: With the world’s largest database of individual employee compensation profiles, PayScale provides an immediate and precise snapshot of the job market. This service boasts a real-time profiling system, which indexes custom employee attributes (such as industry-specific certifications) and specific job titles for every industry…similar to SalaryScout. PayScale offers two tiers of membership: [1] My PayScale membership, which is free, allows you to create a profile and compare it to up to 3 other profiles of others with similar job titles as well as the ability to view job listings and educational opportunities related to your job. [2] Premium membership costs $19.95 and includes more specific job data comparisons to up to 10 similar profiles…and they offer a money-back guarantee.

The folks over at KnowHR.com make a good point with regard to using these resources:

‘Demanding’ pay and benefits based on [SalaryScout] is a sure-fire way to make yourself look foolish. Sure, have information. Know what you want to make. Get a sense of your value in the workplace. But know that thereâ€™s no single number for salary and benefits. And each company pays on a continuum for a given job. You canâ€™t possibly think that youâ€™re as valuable to a company going in as an incumbent with the same background and skills. Just beware.”

…and then there’s always blogging.