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Salary Information

Whether you are trying to decide on a career or are looking to determine whether or not a job offer is competitive, understanding salary information is important.

Salary and Your Possible Career Choice

There are a number of things to consider when deciding upon a career including your skills, interests and values. Income is one of the many work-related values you will need to discern. You should have factual information on your entry-level income and life-long earning potential in a prospective career. After you have this, you will be better able to realistically determine whether or not a possible career matches your income (and potential income) expectations. Please note that there are number of other work-related values to consider when selecting a career. For help in discerning your work values and how they match with your career preferences, schedule an appointment with a career counselor.

Considering Job Offers

Want to see if your job offer is competitive? Be careful! When making this determination you should know that a variety of factors influence the salary an organization offers including:

  • Geographic location: Organizations typically offer higher salaries to employees in regions where the cost-of-living is higher.
  • Level of experience: In general, higher salaries come with more work and sometimes more related work experience. It is helpful to discover whether or not a particular organization has job promotion potential.
  • Benefits and perks: Think an offer is too low or too good to be true. Delve deeper and find out about benefits (such as health care) and other perks (such as cell phones, car allowances and vacation).
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Additional Financial Advice
  • Cash Course - a Xavier resource providing what you need to know to manage your money