How to Negotiate Your Salary

Hey everyone, welcome to part two of 10 Things I Wish They Taught Me in College, How to Negotiate Your Salary. For many people, the past few weekends have been focusing on college graduation and with the finale of your college career came that feeling of panic of finding a job. While finding a job you love is your main focus, you would also like to avoid living out of a cardboard box, eating ramen, because you are unable to pay back student loans. Never fear, I have researched far and wide to help you negotiate a good salary for the job of your dreams!!

Research, Research, Research: Like many other things in life, negotiating your salary requires some prep work. Use websites like Glassdoor to look up the average income of people with the job title you are trying to achieve in your section of the country. Then look up the company itself on Glassdoor and find more about the amount people with titles similar to your potential job make. This will give a good idea on what kind of salary amount you can feasibly negotiate with for this specific position.

State Your Number Clearly: What do I mean when I say state your number clearly? I mean that you must tell the employer the amount you would like to make with a distinct number, instead of saying a general ball park. You should state this number in an assertive tone and make eye contact when you state your amount.

Counter Offer the Counter Offer: Remember, if the prospective employer gives you an opportunity to negotiate, then this means they want you, and are usually willing to negotiate further to get you. If the employer is adamant about being unable to pay you your goal salary, then negotiate for job perks, like extra vacation time, or a larger annual bonus. Just please keep your negotiations realistic.

Be Polite: This one should go without saying, but please be polite to the person you are negotiating with. The negotiator is a human being who is most likely not out to get you, so don’t be evil to them. Remember that you may be working with this person in the future.

I hope that these tips help those of you out there currently on a job hunt. Do any of you have any negotiating tips that you found helpful? If so, please feel free to leave them in the comments.

How to Choose the Healthcare That Is Best For You

Hello again everyone, and welcome to the start of my first miniseries: 10 Things I Wish They Taught Me in College, or TWTTC. Since most recent college graduates join the workforce in the summer months, I have decided to focus my first post on one of the most important decisions you must make when starting a new job, choosing the best health insurance for you. If you are anything like me, then you have probably never been taught what the differences between PPO coverage and HMO coverage, even though this is something that we will all need to know at some point in our lives. This is why I have decided to do the research for you guys.

According to the Humana and Medical Mutual websites there are a few key differences between a PPO policy and an HMO policy. Here are the main things that vary between PPO and HMO plans:

PPO:

·      PPOs do not require you to have a PCP (primary care physician) referral to cover the cost of seeing an specialist

·      You are still provided some form of coverage when you go to a medical facility outside of your network area, although you will pay a little more than if you go to a facility within a coverage area

·      If you go to an out of network healthcare provider, you may have to file a claim to get reimbursed for your expenses

·      Monthly Premiums tend to be higher than those of HMO plans and there is usually a sizeable deductible

HMO

·      PCP (primary care physician) referrals are required to receive coverage for a trip to a specialist

·      There is no out of network coverage for healthcare

·      Lower monthly premiums and deductibles than PPO plans

So which plan should you go with? Well, most of this will depend on the area you live in and which insurance company is your provider. If you live in a rural area or an area where you are considered out of network for most healthcare facilities, then I would recommend choosing a PPO plan because it provides you with more flexibility. If you live in a city or an area where the vast majority of healthcare facilities fall under your network, then I would recommend choosing an HMO plan.

I hope you guys have found this information helpful. Do you have any recommendations for choosing a healthcare plan? If so, please leave your advice in the comments.