You have been offered a dream job. You searched for hours, days, even weeks, you got the first interview, you got the second interview and they call you to tell you they want YOU for the job. You are on cloud 9, life is wonderful, you want, you need, you have to have this job. Before you scream, “Yes, Yes, yes” you need to make sure you have done your homework.

   Chances are you have already discussed salary in your interview but where you prepared to counter offer if needed? Did you have the information at your fingertips to do be able to do that? It is a guarantee that the company you interviewed for has researched you down to the bottom line. They know that you are a good fit for the job but do you know what you are worth? The one thing I wish someone had shared with me is to take that same amount of effort the company put into finding you, to figure out what you should be getting paid.

Make sure you do your research. Find out what people are getting paid in the area of this new job. Where does your proposed salary put you? Are you in line with others or not? There are a few websites that can show you what your worth in your area.

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Country=United_States/Salary

http://www.salaries.com/

http://www.salary.com/

   These websites are important they can put you in the position you need to be when talking salary. Remember if you know what you are worth you have the upper hand and can be prepared when you negotiate your salary. The difference between accepting a job blindly and doing your homework could potentially be thousands of dollars a year. I personally think it’s worth the extra time doing a little homework to be able to make thousands more a year. Make sure you know your stuff. Make sure you know your worth. Take a little time to write it down, to find it out. A little work for a potential big payoff, makes sense to me.

Go, right now and find out how much you are worth. Good Luck!