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.

10 Things I Wish They Taught Me In College

          Hello everyone, I’m very sorry that this post is so short, but I felt it was important to announce my new miniseries, the 10 Things I Wish They Taught Me in College. This series of posts will focus on all of the things that you need to know how to do in life, but were never taught in school. I will be discussing how to do your taxes, how to find a great apartment, and many other things. New posts will appear every week for the next ten weeks. Check it out!

3 Tips to End Your Writer's Block

Writer’s block, the two words that every can make every student cringe with anxiety. It can creep up at the worst possible times, whether it be before a major assignment is due or when you just want to write for enjoyment, writer’s block disrupts your train of thought. That is why I have decided to dedicate this blog post to four ways to combat writer’s block.

1. Map it Out: If you are having trouble writing an assignment, but know the general things you need done, then make a map. When I am suffering from writer’s block, I create a bubble web of the main things that I need to accomplish. Then I connect some of my ideas for each section and mark out the ones that won’t flow in the finished project. (If you like going the more traditional route, then you can do a traditional outline like this one.)

2. Take a Shower: Yes, this may sound bizarre, but doing some menial task like showering can help get your creative juices flowing. If you just showered, are away from your bathroom, or just don’t want to take a shower at this time, you can try going for a walk, doing laundry, or another task that doesn’t require the majority of your focus.

3. Steer Into the Skid: If the project you’re working on lets you choose the subject, then you can write about your writer’s block or procrastination. This will allow you to express your unique perspective on the subject.

I hope you found these tips helpful. What do you do to combat writer’s block? Please share your answer in the comments and check back next week for how to decorate your apartment on a budget.

3 Resume Tips That Will Help Wow Employers

Hello again, my readers, my fans, and everyone my mom forced to read this blog! Welcome back to the Millennial’s Survival Guide to College. This week’s post is focused on something very important to students looking for internships and jobs after, resume building. Hopefully by now you know the basics of what to include on your resume, because today we are focusing on three tips that will help your resume stand out.

1. Get Creative: Recruiters see anywhere between dozens to hundreds of applications a week, and most of them have one thing in common, they are in black and white. If you want to wow your potential employers with your creativity, put your graphic design skills to work with Canva. Canva lets you create your own twist on a resume by providing you with templates like the one above to help guide your creative juices in a professional manner. You can go the traditional route and use the resume template or if you are feeling really creative you can create your own resume infographic!

2. Include Your Social Media: Many employers are going to scour the internet anyway, so you might as well use social media to your advantage. You should include at least a link to your LinkedIn profile and to your Twitter account, because they are the two main platforms that most people leave available for everyone to access. Having your LinkedIn page available will also allow employers to view projects that you have worked on, which may help you get the job.

3. Include Links to Projects: If you are submitting your resume online and would like to include any projects or writing samples on your resume for them to click through to. This works especially well if you are trying to show off any social media campaigns you led or if you want to show off your writing skills through your blog.

I hope that this advice will help those of you applying for internships and careers. If you have any questions or comments for me, then you can post them in the comments or tweet me, my Twitter handle is @JoieBieger. Stay tuned next week for tips on how to survive the last few weeks of the semester.