Article submitted by: Complaints

Author: Richard Taylor Edwards

Everyone aways needs to be careful in choosing compensation: both those who offer it and those who accept such a deal. It’s rather like old Leo Tolstoy’s note in Anna Karenina, there are so many ways in which such a relationship can go wrong that each one that goes right does so in its own way. Odd perhaps to compare an employment relationship with a marriage but it is apt at times.

The thing about compensation packages is that first and foremost they have to be clear. There should be no grey areas in which opinions, sometimes fraught around the time of the annual evaluation period, can come into play. Bonuses, if there are going to be any, should be worked out on a clear basis well known in advance. But that sort of bickering in a modern company is less important (for those sorts of issues are rarer) than that of the overall make up of the compensation.

It is well known from the company side (after all, they do employ all the accountants) that it is the total cost of employment that is important. With taxes like National Insurance, income tax etc on what is paid directly to employees and with certain non-cash compensation not subject to them, it can be possible to increase the compensation received without increasing the cost of it. The loser in that little game being the tax man (shame, we know).

However, from the other side of the desk, from the employee’s side, while those non-cash benefits can be desired (private health care, company car etc) they can also have significant tax implications for the employee (that car as the largest example). There is also the point that most economists would want to make: that people in fact value many non-cash transfers at less than the cash that isn’t being transferred. For example, a company might offer free private health care to all employees: some will value this more than the (after tax) money they could have received instead, others less.

What this means is that for everyone involved in creating compensation packages it is necessary to get the experts involved: those at Talisman for example. There will be certain parts of a compensation package that are, in a certain industry or at a certain level are simply regarded as normal (a car in the automobile industry for example, a mortgage when working for a bank), some that are highly desirable in that they are sought after but not generally offered and then that last group, those that are perhaps gilding the lily: quite possibly costing more to provide than the perceived value of them when received.

Article submitted by: Complaints

Author: Bill Piker

At this point you have posted your resume online and even applies for a few of the positions you have seen listed. You are also scouring the online classifieds postings as well as the newspaper classified ads. You have of course been sending off cover letters and resumes by email, fax and snail mail for the entire job opening that seem appropriate for you.

Is there anything else that you can do to look for that job you wish? You bet! In fact, the more diverse and wide spread your job hunting strategies, the more effective it is likely to be.

First you should contact the professional organizations in your chosen field or wide scope of employment area.

National. Regional and local professional organizations exist in a great part to help their members with career development as well as employment search. Many of these organizations include field specific job listings on their web sites or in their printed publications. Check out the career contact and alumni network which is composed of alumni, employers, students as well as friends and patrons of the organization who have offered to share their career experiences with alumni and students.

Next Visit Company and organization web sites.

Many companies and organizations post their job openings right on their websites. Often it is the Employment or Career Opportunities Links. If it doubt check the site map. Or as another resort actually contact the webmaster of the site.

A more direct tack is to apply directly to the organizations that actually interest you. What a compliment it is for a firm for an applicant to be able to appreciate their hard work and focus. You can send a well written cover letter directly to the human resources department or even the direct person who is most likely to initiate hiring decisions. Your research skills may be necessary to find that vital information. The entire better to demonstrate your research skills which are actually hard to come by and very valued by many current employers.

Networking is key to effective job hunting strategies.

It is often said that close to 85 % of jobs are filled through networking. Talk to your contacts. Always remember when one door closes often another opens. You never know where even a failed interview will lead.

The one contact you make there or in your research travels can easily lead to another contact. Sometimes even name dropping can have great results so says Layton Mancin an expert in the field.

Make a list of contacts you know in the field.

You most likely know lots of people or know people who do.

Sit down with them. Take them for lunch coffee or a donut. But do it sincerely not like an aggressive insurance salesman.

If there is a professional organization in your field, join it and start participating in its meetings and other events so that you can get to know people in your area of interest ? Work with a career counselor at your college or school to both tap his or her contacts and learn of alumni who might be willing and able to lend you a hand. Do not forget your supervisors or instructors connections as well.

You can consider using either a placement agency or recruitment agent now often called a headhunter. It is often very expensive for companies to conduct hiring.

Companies incur not unsubstancial costs as well as time to research, screen, conduct initial interviews as well as travel and hosting costs. As well they may not want to make to known that they are hiring either to their industry or employees including the one that they are planning on replacing. For these reasons as well as the fact that the management of the firms may already be short of time many progressive firms will employ the services of headhunters.

You can avail yourself of the services of these headhunters or placement organizations.

You can do an initial search in your local phonebook. Follow this up with contacts in your networks and at professional organizations. It is amazing how helpful people can be with a simple phone call with well prepared specific questions. As well as the posting that are prominent in local, national and industry newspapers and publications.

Note that most of the firms are paid by the employers. They are generally paid a percentage of your projected earnings. Basically they are paid on a commission basi sothat they have a vested interest in placing you. Often these firms are even paid a percentage of projected  future bonuses” or in the case of sales  projected commissions” However be very wary headhunting firms that try to charge you fees or send you on courses supplied by their very firm or a sister company. As said many good employers use reputable head hunters and consider the money they spend as very good value and an ultimate saving of both money and time