Here's the next item I wanted to cover from Kiplinger's "The Best List". Today, we're highlighting the best salary-rating site:
The Best Salary Rating Site: Salary.com
This site lets you search by job category and zip code, then zoom in on the description that most closely matches the job you're looking for. Personalized reports cost $30 to $80, but the free basic service gives you a median salary for your position to help you judge potential offers. You can also see how bonuses and benefits sweeten the deal and get a net paycheck estimate -- which lets you calculate actual take-home pay after taxes and deductions.
I've used this site before and agree that it's a good one. I'm not sure if it's "the best" or not because I can't remember ever using any others. But this one will certainly give you a good check on what your salary should be and provide enough information for you to act appropriately (such as ask for a raise or negotiate a salary to a new job.)
i also like indeed.com/salary
Posted by: KalluMama | October 31, 2006 at 03:07 PM
I used them recently to see what they think I should be making. Despite a 20% raise, I'm still well below what salary.com says. However, I got what I wanted out of my current company and still love my job, so I called it good.
Posted by: Blaine Moore (First Time Homeowner) | October 31, 2006 at 03:17 PM
Salary.com is pretty good, but there's another one out there with, in my opinion, more accurate data. It's called Payscale.com. I actually wrote an article about the site over at http://www.howdopeoplegetrich.com/2006/10/are-you-paid-what-you-deserve.html I think that payscale is a little more accurate since it bases all the stats off of what other people have entered into their database. You have to go through about a 5 minute process to get the information out, but I feel that it is worth it. Go check them out at Payscale.com.
Posted by: David B. | October 31, 2006 at 05:40 PM
Payscale is a good site, although its list-driven interface needs work. At a minimum, they should use zipcodes and not make you wade through every city name in the US - getting this sort of thing set up takes just a few days. But their report was interesting and more relevant than the more "galactic" data used by salary.com.
Posted by: Foobarista | October 31, 2006 at 06:51 PM