The Job Offer: Negotiating Salary

Most people find “the money” conversation difficult to address when interviewing. If you aren’t working with a recruiter, you may not even know what the salary range of the position is. If you do, you likely have no way of knowing where your experience fits into the company’s compensation scale. This is one of the many advantages of working with a reputable recruiter.

There are many reasons for actuarial job seekers to work with a recruiter, but one of the most compelling is that they know the industry and all about salary and negotiation.

Your recruiter should have all the information about the company, what the position pays, what skills the job really requires, how those skills are valued, and what type of person would be a good fit for the culture. When you are the perfect match, the recruiter knows that it makes you more valuable to the hiring manager. All of these things factor in to successful salary negotiation. When you work with a recruiter he or she will be able to eliminate the confusion. 

When you receive an offer, the recruiter can help to “sell” your qualifications to the company in a way that you could never do, because they have a connection with the company and the manager.

A good recruiter is experienced in finding the right fit first and then getting the best offer for the candidate. They do the negotiation so that you don’t have to!

Visit us at www.actuarialcareers.com for more information.

Are your salary requirements realistic?

It can be difficult to get perspective on your value in the workplace. Often candidates’ ideas of what they think they should be earning are misaligned with what employers are willing to pay, or what the marketplace will bear.

Wanting to earn more can be a reason to change jobs, but if that’s the only reason, it might mean you need to take a closer and more educated look at the marketplace, your value in it, and your value to your existing employer.

Before you begin, realize that your financial needs are not justification for earning more. Take stock of your experience, not only in terms of years in the industry, but projects and leadership roles that brought value to your employers. If you have accomplishments in your current position such as: money you’ve saved them; models you created; projects you were involved in or spearheaded; results that went beyond your job description, you could use them to ask for an increase. If not, make sure you include them in your next resume.

Knowing what your position with your specialties is worth in your field could be difficult to pinpoint. To assist actuaries, we gather information on actuarial careers and offer detailed salary information, via great query tools that make it easy to see how your skills and salary measure up, and what you need to reach the income level you want.  

Our job listings can also help you see the possibilities! 

Remember when Sony Pictures got hacked?

When Sony Pictures' email system was hacked? Actors’ salaries became public knowledge. That was when some actors discovered the discrepancies in pay scales. Fortunately, the actuarial community has real information and great tools to find out what the marketplace is paying for actuarial positions throughout the country, and for nearly every field and specialization.

We at Actuarial Careers, Inc. realize how important it is to your life and your career path to compare  where you are now, where you are going and what the next step should be along the path in terms of salary advancement. Our recruiters can help you with a strategy for your advancement. Our unique salary survey results are presented with query tools that allow you to slice and dice the salary data we collect. In a few keystrokes you can see what job titles, specializations and geographic locations are paying.     

   

Every year, in December, we launch a new survey. Participation in the survey includes actuaries in a drawing for prizes. We encourage you, and the actuaries you know to participate. The more participation we get the more you will know about salaries in your industry. Your information is always confidential. 

Take a look, and be sure to be on the lookout for our emails and social media posts. If you aren’t on our list, sign up here.  In the meantime, here’s a link to our HOT jobs.

What will 2015 actuarial salary numbers tell us?

In 2014, according to our annual salary survey, more respondents earned $300K plus than ever before. We are now collecting information about 2015 actuarial salaries, which we will share on our website. This is our fifth year of collecting and charting this information, and what’s so exciting is that we are able to present year-over-year actuarial salary comparisons.

Each year our actuarial salary survey attracts more respondents. The information we collect, chart and share with clients and candidates is our way of sharing our knowledge of the marketplace. It allows us to help our candidates and clients, giving them the ability to make better decisions.    

Our respondents come from all over the world. They volunteer to participate on a strictly confidential basis. Participation also makes them eligible to win one of several prizes.

Our presentation of the results includes unique online query tools that allow you to see how location, education, experience and area of expertise influence salary. Our charts are so flexible and unique, it’s exciting. 

Each year the number of respondents increases. We’ve been told by participants how valuable this information is, and we encourage everyone to participate this year and every year. If you have not done so in the past, here’s the link. Take a look and what we’ve presented so far, and then jump into the survey.  It’s one way you can help us help get the most accurate information, and also discover if you are actually earning what you are worth!

Check out our latest job postings and access our salary survey and results on our website: 

http://www.actuarialcareers.com

Advice From the BEST

Free advice. What’s it worth? Sometimes it really depends on who it’s coming from. Sometimes it is worth the price you pay for it, but maybe not when it is from people who’ve achieved success beyond most of our wildest dreams. If you are ever lucky enough to meet any of the people listed below, you’d probably want to ask them for “a word” of their advice. Until you do, there are these to consider. We excerpted these from an Inc. article if you are interested in the background on each quote.

We think it’s interesting to read them to see if one or more resonate with you. If so, what could that be worth mean in terms of motivation and inspiration for your career? We think that they’re worth their weight in gold.

1.    Warren Buffett: Exercise humility and restraint.

2.    Maya Angelou: Make your own path.  

3.    Richard Branson: Never look back in regret -- move on to the next thing.

4.    J.K. Rowling: Embrace failure.

5.    Steve Jobs: Don't just follow your passion but something larger than yourself.

6.     Suze Orman: With success comes unhelpful criticism -- ignore it.

7.     Bill Gates: Keep things simple.

8.     Arianna Huffington: Don’t work too hard.

9.    George Stephanopoulos: Relax.

10.  Alexa von Tobel: Get up, dress up, and show up.

11. John Chen: Being a superstar can hurt your career.

12. Deepak Chopra: Embrace the wisdom of uncertainty.

13.  Cynthia Tidwell: Be patient enough to learn, but impatient enough to take risks.

14. Diane von Furstenberg: Keep it real.

15. Rick Goings: Be nice to everyone.

At Actuarial Careers, we offer you insights into the marketplace, with our free access to our salary survey results. 

What you might not know about Bill Gates

Typically the best careers for introverts are those that allow the individual to work independently. That certainly could apply to an actuarial career. However, Bill Gates is an introvert. Does that surprise you? If you are an introvert, you are in good company. According to Forbes magazine, other notables like Warren Buffet and Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer are introverts too, proving that you can get to the top without having an extrovert’s bravado.   

Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, (TED Talk) brings to the forefront that introverts often have natural strengths when it comes to being calm, thoughtful and prepared . . .  all good leadership qualities. Getting superiors to recognize is the challenge.

Honoring your natural tendencies is always the best strategy, knowing where the gaps are can help you prepare for that promotion or the next step in your career. Forbes says “success is an inside job”. If that’s true, introverts are ahead of the game when it comes to the ability to shine the light of introspection on their strengths and use that knowledge to foster self-confidence. It doesn’t always take heroic grandstand efforts to get to the top. There is no substitute for passion, which comes easily to introverts, and becomes a powerful force when harnessed at work.

Finally, when it comes to influence and advancement, there is no discounting relationships. Introverts cherish meaningful relationships and sharing the fruits of their thoughtful ideas. Finding the right connections to share them with is important. Having the right, strong business relationships is the easiest way to allow others to experience your value. Whether or not you believe the adage that it’s not what you know but who you know, it is definitely worth the temporary discomfort of networking or taking the initiative to make the first move. 

Easier than networking, meet our team.

  

Workplace Gossip. How to Avoid it.

Gossip. It’s never a good idea. Maintaining a professional image means keeping conversations factual and business related. Staying away from personal or speculative conversation about co-workers can be the fast track to professional disaster. If you engage in gossip, you risk your own reputation for being untrustworthy and unprofessional. Why jeopardize your career?

When someone starts spreading workplace gossip or wants you to engage in it, what can you do? Here are a few strategies you can use to avoid getting drawn into gossip.

1. If gossip erupts during a conversation you are involved in, make a work-related excuse and walk away.
2. Change the subject. A pleasant interrupt, like last night’s sports scores or an upcoming work agenda can change the course of the conversation.
3. Just come out and say that you aren’t comfortable talking behind other people’s backs. (Remember that people who talk about others in conversation with you are most likely to do the same about you behind your back).
4. Confront the subject of the gossip by saying, “I hadn’t heard that, let’s go and ask him or her.”

           Visit us at www.actuarialcareers.com