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movax posted:Hmm, this is for an entirely new job, not my current one. Looking back at it, that is pretty insane, I think I will reword using "cost of living bump" or something like that, and see what they come back with. You can get a much bigger increase for a new job, that's a completely different league. Especially when you're switching employers, according to what I've read that's when you get the biggest bump. If it's the same company, it'd be pretty easy to find out how much they usually pay and work from there.
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# ? Jun 16, 2013 05:27 |
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# ? May 4, 2024 11:24 |
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FrozenVent posted:You can get a much bigger increase for a new job, that's a completely different league. Especially when you're switching employers, according to what I've read that's when you get the biggest bump. Yeah, it's an entirely new company, entirely new industry, only thing that gives me pause is them being a start-up.
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# ? Jun 16, 2013 05:29 |
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Then they are probably going to lowball you. Most startups do but as they get funding you can defintely ask for 20% increases. I've gotten 30% twice now.
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# ? Jun 16, 2013 20:04 |
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movax posted:Hmm, this is for an entirely new job, not my current one. Looking back at it, that is pretty insane, I think I will reword using "cost of living bump" or something like that, and see what they come back with. If you haven't yet, then you should absolutely not tell them how much you currently make and thus the percent increase would be irrelevant and you should ask for more than you want since there is very little to no downside for doing so.
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# ? Jun 17, 2013 00:07 |
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What does a summary of qualifications look like? What should be in it, how should it be formatted, etc.
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# ? Jun 17, 2013 01:52 |
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hitension posted:I don't think the questions are stupid, but PLEASE drop the phrase "big girl job". The Ask a Manager blog does a better job explaining why it is bad than I ever could: I would never (and didn't) use the phrase in my cover letter. I was just being casual and silly here. Didn't mean to scare you! Even so, that article did give me a little kick. I should stop that mentality altogether! Thanks for responding to my questions. I was leaning towards doing both, just to cover my bases. I'm probably over-thinking things, but better safe than sorry! Quarex posted:I am literally stunned that someone would use a phrase like that in a cover letter. Literally stunned. I am unable to move or speak or type. I was just kidding!!!
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# ? Jun 17, 2013 03:48 |
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For the record I knew you were only making reference to yourself in a silly manner on the forums. I don't know why these people thought you wrote it on your résumé but didn't have time to post a reply because I was at work.
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# ? Jun 17, 2013 05:36 |
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Jet Ready Go posted:For the record I knew you were only making reference to yourself in a silly manner on the forums. I don't know why these people thought you wrote it on your résumé but didn't have time to post a reply because I was at work.
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# ? Jun 17, 2013 07:56 |
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I've a bit of a conundrum. I have a MS in molecular biology and 5 years of quality lab work, 3 as a grad student, 2 as staff, for experience. However, I last worked in a lab, or any other formal job, almost 3 years ago. I was at a public university, working, and it simply didn't pay enough to justify daycare. See, I had a friend who does some window cleaning and handyman stuff that I was already working with, when I had the time. It simply made more sense to quit at that school, watch our kids, myself and with the help of family, and work as much as I could. We weren't and still aren't hurting for money, but we want to get our kids into daycare/pre school now just for their own social development. So, I'm looking for jobs. Part or full, in my field or otherwise. The problem is the nearly-3 year gap where my only work is what I've done for myself/friend, both of which are kind of 'cash' jobs. I've made up my resume as best I can to make it look legit and everything, using the name of the company on my business card, etc. My question is: what do HR people think when they see someone who runs their own small company and is now applying for a job? How do I, as an applicant/interviewee, handle that on both my resume and when answering questions? johnny sack fucked around with this message at 15:48 on Jun 17, 2013 |
# ? Jun 17, 2013 15:45 |
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movax posted:Yeah, it's an entirely new company, entirely new industry, only thing that gives me pause is them being a start-up. Definitely use your position to establish your pay at market rate. Starting a new job is the best time to get every penny that you're worth out of the company. From a company perspective it's HARD to find the right candidate you want to hire. We spent 6 months replacing a guy who left last year before we found someone we liked. We weren't letting that guy walk away over 5,000 dollars a year. If the market is hot, and you're in demand, stick to your guns and get paid. 5K is nothing to a company but can have a major cumulative effect on your earnings over the course of your career. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU GOT PAID AT YOUR LAST JOB. If you made 25K a year as the only IT guy for a 40 person company, who gives a gently caress. You should be compensated appropriately for the work you are going to be doing. If you're going to be doing 80K a year work, you should be making 80K a year. The market goes both ways, if they have 50 qualified people to choose from, they can low ball the hell out of folks. If they take 6 months find a qualified candidate, well that person can demand top salary. Sometimes cash is limited, negotiate other benefits for yourself. Extra PTO, or extra stock, or even a specific workstation. We had one developer that wouldn't start unless we bought him a top of the line MBP. We had another who wanted an extra week of vacation. If the company wants you bad enough they'll accommodate within reason.
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# ? Jun 17, 2013 17:53 |
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skipdogg posted:Definitely use your position to establish your pay at market rate. Starting a new job is the best time to get every penny that you're worth out of the company. Yeah, I just got more PTO without a fight whatsoever, but my wishful salary requirements probably aren't going to get met; I think I'm getting everything I can from them. It's a tough negotiating spot considering other employees there took massive pay cuts from Intel, Qualcomm, etc. to join this firm. Pretty sure I'll at least get enough to achieve parity / slightly more than my current pay considering the 30% increase in cost-of-living (the Midwest is ruinously cheap). President of the company should be calling me tomorrow or so with some final numbers re: stocks + salary, so we'll see what's up there.
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# ? Jun 17, 2013 23:05 |
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I have the dreaded all-day interview tomorrow morning two weeks after the phone screen kicked rear end. Meet someone for breakfast, then meetings, meetings, meetings, lunch... then a two hour session of them handing a sample data set in which I need to analyze generate a report. Then two more meetings and dinner. They sprung for a nice hotel for both nights, which is an encouraging sign. What's not encouraging, or at least confusing, is that I'm scheduled to conduct two phone interviews Wednesday afternoon after I get home. Each is an hour long. What I Know: Done my research of the company Asked for but didn't receive a copy of the day's agenda Somehow the two interviews wednesday afternoon are important or not important at all. Have my book to take notes/collect business cards. tldr version: All-day interview: incoming. Any ideas?
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# ? Jun 18, 2013 06:44 |
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SaxMaverick posted:I have the dreaded all-day interview tomorrow morning two weeks after the phone screen kicked rear end. Sounds like good news--they normally don't go through this kind of trouble unless you're being seriously considered. I had one of these, but it wasn't quite as long. The meetings tend to be short, so each person will probably focus on a specific area. If they don't, you'll end up repeating yourself a lot (which is OK, better than leaving out essential info). I've heard that marathon interviews are a way of determining if you're a good 'culture fit' (i.e., whether they could actually see themselves working with you) so try to be sociable in a way that doesn't scream "I'm trying to show you how sociable I am". Also, make sure you have a cup of water handy--four straight hours of talking is killer on the salivary glands. Make sure you get contact information from each person so that you can send them all follow-up 'Thank You' emails that night or the next morning. It's very easy to forget who is who when you talk to so many people. Good luck! Goky fucked around with this message at 17:15 on Jun 18, 2013 |
# ? Jun 18, 2013 17:10 |
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Not sure if this is the right thread to ask in but I have a job-hunting question. I'm considering starting a search in a much larger city that is an hour and a half away from where I live now. I need some tips on job searching in a city that you don't live in. I'm thinking it would be a good idea to address the fact that I don't live in the area in my cover letter but I'm not sure of the best way to go about it. Would I possibly be selling myself short if I say that I don't need any relocation assistance and the company had planned on offering it? I certainly could use the help if I do end up relocating but I'm trying to make myself look as good as possible and I don't want to scare companies away by requiring relocation. Also, should I mention that I have 'roots' in the area(family, have lived there before)? Any tips at all for this situation would be appreciated!
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# ? Jun 18, 2013 19:07 |
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I was always under the impression you should try to use a friend or family member's address that is local to them so that the idea of relocation isn't even a concern to them.
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# ? Jun 18, 2013 19:12 |
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I got a bite on an application I recently put in; they sent me a questionnaire. One of the questions isquote:Are you knowledgeable or proficient with the following computer languages? I haven't actually hand-coded any HTML in over ten years and since then it's been just off and on that I use GUI webpage design programs. What would be a good response? None of those things are even in the job listing requirements. Also continuing salarychat, most of the applications I fill out have "desired salary". My current salary is low since I'm working part time and not too often. The jobs I am applying for have salaries ranging from $50k - $95k depending on which job hunt website I look at. How do I answer this?
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# ? Jun 18, 2013 19:40 |
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Stultus Maximus posted:Also continuing salarychat, most of the applications I fill out have "desired salary". My current salary is low since I'm working part time and not too often. The jobs I am applying for have salaries ranging from $50k - $95k depending on which job hunt website I look at. How do I answer this? Don't. Wait until they ask you, then finagle your way into making them offer something. The first person who names a number usually ends up loosing.
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# ? Jun 18, 2013 20:08 |
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FrozenVent posted:Don't. Wait until they ask you, then finagle your way into making them offer something. The first person who names a number usually ends up loosing. It's usually a required field in the application form.
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# ? Jun 18, 2013 20:16 |
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GreenCard78 posted:I was always under the impression you should try to use a friend or family member's address that is local to them so that the idea of relocation isn't even a concern to them. Well I've thought of that but my work experience will still tell them that I'm working in a different city. Maybe I could remove [city name] from the different jobs I've worked?
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# ? Jun 18, 2013 20:26 |
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First, thank you so much for this thread, I have so much anxiety about job-hunting and this has helped tremendously already. I have a question if you don't mind?Bisty Q. posted:[*] Unless this is your first job out of college, put your education at the end of the resume and emphasize it as little as possible. Do not include your GPA unless it is 3.5+. I'm a second-year M.S. student. I want a full-time job, and my program is designed to be night classes only and most of my classmates have full-time jobs or are looking for one. I have a 4.0 in grad school so far and very little work experience, basically one semester-long internship. I've been told by my academic advisor to feature my education prominently on my resume, maybe even include specific information about courses I've taken. Is this good advice? Second, should I put my GPA on my resume? I'm a member of an honor society that only admits people with 4.0s, is just putting that on there enough or should I spell it out? Thanks so much.
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# ? Jun 18, 2013 21:15 |
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Stultus Maximus posted:It's usually a required field in the application form. I have the educational/skill requirements to land $100k+ government jobs, but despite ostensibly 7 years of "work experience," my highest-paying job ever was either $12/hour or $4,000/summer project (depending on which of those sounds less pathetic). So when I get to the parts of these forms like WHAT ARE YOUR SALARY EXPECTATIONS I expect that no matter what number I put down the employers will be like "ahahah U WISH" because they assume I am obviously not worth paying any amount of money.
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# ? Jun 19, 2013 00:29 |
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johnny sack posted:My question is: what do HR people think when they see someone who runs their own small company and is now applying for a job? How do I, as an applicant/interviewee, handle that on both my resume and when answering questions? I hope others can chip in on this but: I wouldn't see it as a problem, provided it was spun right. People work from self-employed to salaried all the time, and you could say things like "it was very useful at the time to run my own company in terms of taking care of the the family but now I want something different in terms of work etc. etc." Make it look as if it was a considered decision and you're not going to fly back to the company after a few months. Now, my own question: I'm in the job market again (having taken redundancy a few months ago, yay me) and so old interview questions keep popping up in my mind: * A few years ago, I applied for a fairly senior but non-management position. It was a surprise therefore when the HR rep started asking me all these questions about management techniques: "how would you manage a project", "how to you keep things on a schedule" etc. I work in a field (science / academia) where most management is frankly done by people without any special training, so this caught me off guard. I answered fairly well, using mostly common sense but (1) what sort of things should I look to say, (2) what could I study to brush up on this sort of stuff and (3) why would they have asked me this? * Similar situation but a different interview: I was asked how I would prioritize tasks from two separate groups. I replied that I would ascertain which was the most urgent, and the reply was that they were both equally urgent and both critical. This flatfooted me and I stumbled out that I'd look at the consequences of either task being delayed and then make the judgement. But I can't help but feel this was a trick question. Any ideas?
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# ? Jun 19, 2013 11:57 |
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What's a good way to word a request for someone to write you a letter of reference? I have to get them from 3 people. One of them I know won't be an issue, but as far as the other two know, I'm still at my old job on the West Coast (I moved back to New England), and I feel like that warrants some kind of explanation. Edit: To clarify, the two people I'm referring to acted as references for the West Coast job, which was October - December of last year. Mike Danger fucked around with this message at 15:40 on Jun 19, 2013 |
# ? Jun 19, 2013 15:00 |
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outlier posted:* Similar situation but a different interview: I was asked how I would prioritize tasks from two separate groups. I replied that I would ascertain which was the most urgent, and the reply was that they were both equally urgent and both critical. This flatfooted me and I stumbled out that I'd look at the consequences of either task being delayed and then make the judgement. But I can't help but feel this was a trick question. Any ideas? I'm fairly certain anything like this is to just see how you think on your feet and if you can explain your rationale for doing one task or the other. Basically it's a "poo poo happens, how do you deal with it?" type question.
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# ? Jun 19, 2013 15:37 |
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COUNTIN THE BILLIES posted:I got asked this today: Are there any questions you wished I asked? "I wish you had asked me about [insert best/most relevant achievement on your resume]."
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# ? Jun 21, 2013 00:00 |
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johnny sack posted:I've a bit of a conundrum. Can you bridge the gap by going back to work at the public university lab? Or can you ask your old contacts for help? Even after three years, you probably still have some relevant contacts.
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# ? Jun 21, 2013 00:08 |
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movax posted:Yeah, I just got more PTO without a fight whatsoever, but my wishful salary requirements probably aren't going to get met; I think I'm getting everything I can from them. It's a tough negotiating spot considering other employees there took massive pay cuts from Intel, Qualcomm, etc. to join this firm. Pretty sure I'll at least get enough to achieve parity / slightly more than my current pay considering the 30% increase in cost-of-living (the Midwest is ruinously cheap). Here is a good way to think about it. Those people who took huge pay cuts did it because they believe in the company and the 10 year promise. They would probably almost work for free if it didn't cost $X for food, rent, and a little on hand assurance. If you can't see yourself making a below average salary for several years based on what the company promises, don't do it. I'm not a start up guru, but from what I hear it takes a lot of sacrifice and if you don't have the right mind set then chances are you will be on a nice cup of coffee, working your 12th consecutive 60 hour week, thinking to yourself "I can't loving believe I'm at this going-nowhere start up" There is a reason why a lot of successful people have stories beginning with "I put every single thing I had in this company", because usually that is what it takes. The hidden side is all the unsuccessful people moving back in with mom and pop.
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# ? Jun 21, 2013 02:17 |
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Crazyweasel posted:Here is a good way to think about it. I think you are right on the money. But there is also something to consider. If they can't pay you a good wage because they don't have funding, you should really ask why they don't have the funds? If the company isn't worth investing in then why invest several years of your life upwards of a decade to it?
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# ? Jun 21, 2013 05:10 |
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Does anyone have a connection here to HubSpot? There's an amazing job I applied for, and took a phone interview for.. but I realized I want to get as many legs up against the competition I can get.
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# ? Jun 22, 2013 23:03 |
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T. J. Eckleburg posted:First, thank you so much for this thread, I have so much anxiety about job-hunting and this has helped tremendously already. I have a question if you don't mind? As a hiring manager, grad school GPA is worthless to me, but depending on your specific field education can be more or less important. I would still play the internship up far far more, though. Nobody cares about honor societies and bluntly basically everyone has a 3.9+ grad school GPA so it doesn't communicate any information to me. several people posted:startupchat You can choose a startup for connections/resume building/whatever, but just know how you value those in your head and don't let the starry-eyed promises of "WHAT'S COOLER THAN A MILLION DOLLARS BRO???" get in your head.
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# ? Jun 22, 2013 23:40 |
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Mike Danger posted:What's a good way to word a request for someone to write you a letter of reference? I have to get them from 3 people. One of them I know won't be an issue, but as far as the other two know, I'm still at my old job on the West Coast (I moved back to New England), and I feel like that warrants some kind of explanation. As for asking for a letter of reference for yourself, I am told to (obviously) ask if his/her letter of reference will be a good one. If he/she answers yes, then you can politely ask and ask about your positive attributes with details and examples. As for the second part of your post about being at your old job, I presume you're hesitant about them knowing of your plans? That is another issue.
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# ? Jun 23, 2013 17:33 |
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I'm doing a bit of touchup work for a coworker applying for a slightly different position in our company. This was her 1st job out of college, so the previous summary of qualifications I wrote for her was 'A recent college graduate with X years in the Y fields'; now that she's been out of school for two years, she'd kind of like to get away from the recent college graduate thing, but I haven't found anything I'm really thrilled with. The job she's applying for will be a lot of working with adult learners, modifying policies, and helping to train staff; is there a different phrase I can plug in to replace recent college graduate (something like young professional, but not so boring) or should I go in a different direction with it?
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# ? Jun 23, 2013 23:06 |
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Bisty Q. posted:As a hiring manager, grad school GPA is worthless to me, but depending on your specific field education can be more or less important. I would still play the internship up far far more, though. Nobody cares about honor societies and bluntly basically everyone has a 3.9+ grad school GPA so it doesn't communicate any information to me. Yeah. My company isn't a biotech company (just software), but whenever I see a resume with a GPA on it, that just says to me, "I have no real-world experience." That can be fine for an entry-level position, but it's also not really that useful. What would be more worthwhile would be pointing out courses that you've taken which covered material applicable to the job you're applying for. That at least helps show that you might have the background to get up to speed. Expect to get questions about the classes you do that with, though.
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# ? Jun 24, 2013 00:14 |
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Do the rules for negotiating salary and benefits change when you're dealing with a public/government institution, rather than a private business? Is there any room to negotiate at all in those cases?
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# ? Jun 24, 2013 07:36 |
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Quick question: what is a good font for resumes? Currently I am using Times New Roman, which I am guessing is not great.
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# ? Jun 24, 2013 15:09 |
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Duckman2008 posted:Quick question: what is a good font for resumes? Currently I am using Times New Roman, which I am guessing is not great. I used Arial on my most recent CV I think
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# ? Jun 24, 2013 15:21 |
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Computer Modern.
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# ? Jun 24, 2013 17:27 |
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Chalets the Baka posted:Do the rules for negotiating salary and benefits change when you're dealing with a public/government institution, rather than a private business? Is there any room to negotiate at all in those cases? I've never worked public sector, but benefits/time off are usually set in stone by policy. If they pay on a a grade/step level chart you can negotiate to start at a higher step than what they might want to start you at. Just a random example, but say you're getting hired by the State of Kansas as a Machinist. Machinist are Pay Grade 20, and they want to start you at Step 6, well you could probably negotiate up to Step 10 if they wanted you bad enough, a difference of 15.03 and hour vs. 16.56 an hour. But that snowballs as you get your step/grade increases as you work there. It can make a big difference, especially with retirement contributions and whatnot. http://www.da.ks.gov/ps/documents/payplan0614hrly.pdf Spend a little time and figure out how the department is run and the payscale/grade/step for the position and see what you can do.
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# ? Jun 24, 2013 17:38 |
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Is it a good idea to send anything back when you get an email saying you didn't get the job?
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# ? Jun 24, 2013 20:03 |
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# ? May 4, 2024 11:24 |
Duckman2008 posted:Quick question: what is a good font for resumes? Currently I am using Times New Roman, which I am guessing is not great. Non-serif: Verdana Serif: Georgia Both were designed to be legible on computer screens as well as print (e.g. 12 pt Georgia is bigger than 12 pt Times New Roman). This is good because whoever reads your resume may have relatively poor eyesight or may be stuck with a low resolution monitor (At my last job we still used CRTs! ). Finally, they're standard fonts so if you have to submit your resume as a MS Word document instead of PDF there is a slightly smaller chance that Word won't screw up your formatting because you went with a custom font or something.
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# ? Jun 24, 2013 20:13 |