Relocating for work can be a good move for your career. If you’re planning to relocate, it’s important to remember that not every company offers relocation assistance. Understanding what to do if it’s not included in your signing offer or benefits package can help you find other ways to make your move easier to afford. In this article, we discuss what relocation assistance is, review what the package typically includes and give suggestions for approaching a situation where a company doesn’t offer this assistance.

What is relocation assistance?

Relocation assistance is a potential item in a business benefits package. It offers compensation to help an employee move to a new city, state, or country to work for a specific company. Organizations may offer relocation assistance to employees who are a good fit for the company but may have to move away from their current homes to join the team.

Companies may try to pay as little as possible for this type of assistance while still providing the necessary compensation to help an employee live near the office and get settled in a new place. Only certain items may fall under the acceptable expenditures for relocation assistance. These can vary depending on what type of move you’re making.

When to ask for relocation assistance

Situations where it’s acceptable to ask for relocation assistance from an employer include:

If you’re moving to a new city

To qualify for most in-state city-to-city relocation assistance packages, your new city must typically be over 50 miles, or over an hour’s drive, from your current location using highways or toll roads. If both cities have connecting public transportation, such as subway systems or bus services, you may not be eligible. It can still be appropriate to ask for assistance in a city relocation situation because it may cost the company less than moving someone across the country, and they may be more willing to hire someone closer to the job.

If you’re moving to a new state

Moving to a new state for a job requires logistical planning and strategy to make it happen. It may also cost more than moving within your current state. Consider asking for relocation assistance in this situation to help offset the costs of your move. As with a city-to-city move, there may be some exceptions to this situation.

For example, those working in a place like New York City, which offers direct train and light rail transporting to other nearby states like New Jersey and Connecticut, may ask for transportation assistance instead. Another exception may be employees who live near state borders, working in one state but living in another. People near the Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio borders may do this and have less than a 50-mile commute, even if they cross state lines.

If you’re moving to a new country

Moving to another country is one of the biggest moves you can make for work. It requires not just travel costs for you and your family but also shipping costs of personal possessions, such as cars. Ask for relocation assistance in this instance. You may try to get more than just monetary payments from the package. Consider requesting help with services such as securing visas or coverage of travel visits to explore your new country before the move.

If you have a quick start date

If the company asks you to start your job in a new location less than a month after your interview, it may be appropriate to request relocation assistance. This is because there are many steps that go into moving, including selling your current home or getting out of a lease, packing and shipping your possessions, and securing a new place to live. It may take longer than one month to complete the full process.

Consider sharing these concerns with the company’s human resources (HR) department. They may either provide relocation assistance or delay your start date to give you more time to complete moving tasks.

What does relocation assistance typically include?

The exact details of a relocation assistance package may vary by company and the type of move you’re making. Some potential items in your package could include:

·         Reimbursement for moving costs

·         Temporary lodging, such as hotel payment

·         Travel expenses, such as airfare or payment for a rental vehicle

·         Home sale help for a current residence

·         Classes to learn a new language

·         Loading and unloading of moving trucks or shipping containers

·         Visa application guidance

·         Travel, home, or moving insurance

·         Full packing services

·         Storage

·         Spousal employment assistance

·         Rental guidance

·         Pre-move visits to your new city, state, or country

Lump sum

A lump sum is a one-time payment provided by the company for moving-related expenses. You negotiate this amount with HR before your move. You can decide where and how to spend the money based on the type of move you’re making and the services it requires.

Reimbursement

A reimbursement is when the company pays you back for moving expenses you charge to your own accounts. You pay for the services initially, then receive payment from the company after you’ve completed the move. Most organizations cover a reimbursement up to a certain dollar amount. The HR or finance departments may ask for receipts, proofs of purchase, and other documentation of services rendered to approve the reimbursements.

Direct bill

With a direct bill, the company pays for some or all of the relocation expenses without your intervention. Moving companies and services send the bills to the company’s accounting department instead of coming to you. Another way an organization may cover direct billing is by providing you with a company credit card to charge travel expenses. Some may also combine direct billing with a lump sum or reimbursements to cover more of your moving expenses.

Third-party relocation

With third-party relocation, the company hires an outside organization to provide all your relocation assistance. This advisory team coordinates with you to set the logistics for the move. It also coordinates with your company to receive payment for services.

Tips for what to do if a company offers no relocation assistance

There are several actions you can take if your company does not initially offer relocation services. Here are some tips to consider:

Request it

If a company is used to hiring employees within its geographic area, the HR department may not consider that you’d like relocation assistance unless you ask. Be polite but direct when speaking to a company representative. Be clear about how you’re excited to work for the company, but that you may need help to make the move and live close enough to work for them. Making this claim may be enough to encourage HR to put together a relocation package for your approval, which you can accept, reject or negotiate.

Ask for an advance

If the company doesn’t offer a relocation package, you can ask for an advance in your earnings to cover some of your moving expenses. If HR agrees, you earn more money at the beginning of your tenure, either as a lump sum or in installments, to help supplement the immediate costs of moving. Asking for and accepting this type of offer means you may make less money later in the year, something to remember when creating your household budget. Another option could be accepting a lower base salary for a relocation package.

Ask for a bonus

If an advance isn’t available, ask HR if you could work together to create an incentivizing goal program to earn bonuses in your new position. Together, you can set certain criteria or performance standards to reach within a certain period to earn more money. This could be an option to help you cover some moving costs without actually calling it a relocation assistance package. When making this suggestion, communicate that it’s to help compensate for your move.

Do your research

If your company doesn’t offer relocation assistance, HR may not understand just how much it costs to move from one place to another. Research moving costs from your current location to that of the new job. Compare facts like costs of living, price of moving all your belongings, taxes in the new location and any other monetary expenses to prepare for the move. You can use this information when making your case with the company to show why a relocation package is necessary.

Practice your negotiation skills

Even if your company offers some relocation assistance, you may negotiate to get certain aspects of your move covered. Doing your research can help, but so can practicing your persuasive skills. Learn how to construct a factual argument and how to negotiate for compensation you think you deserve. This can help you feel more confident when approaching HR and also makes it more challenging for the company to refute your claim. One negotiation tactic may include leveraging other job offers that provide relocation assistance to convince your company to create a competitive package.

This article is for information purposes only and is not intended to constitute legal advice. Consult with an attorney or lawyer for any legal issues you may be experiencing.

The post What To Do When an Employer Offers No Relocation Assistance appeared first on Résumé Writing and Career Services.

Millions of employees started working remotely after the pandemic first took hold in 2020. But now, more people are returning to the office – and they’re being greeted by much higher prices for just about everything. Food. Commuting. Daycare. Rising gas prices and soaring inflation have made going back to the office more expensive. And that is eating into workers’ incomes, especially if their pay increases aren’t keeping up.

Here are some daily costs that have crept higher, making the return to post-pandemic office life more expensive.

Eating at the office
Coffee runs and long lunches with colleagues are one of the perks of returning to the office. But they come at a higher price these days.

The index for food away from home increased 7.2% over the last year, the Labor Department reported earlier this month. Food prices were up 9.4% in April from the same time last year – the biggest jump since April 1981, the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported. And grocery store prices increased 10.8% for the year that ended in April.

Office workers are seeing higher costs for everything from their morning coffee to their lunchtime salad: Starbucks raised prices in the US earlier this year and in October 2021 – and said prices could continue to rise.

“We have additional pricing actions planned through the balance of this year,” said then-CEO Kevin Johnson during an analyst call in February, citing cost pressures such as inflation.
Salad chain Sweetgreen has raised its menu prices by 10% since the start of 2021, the company said in its most recent earnings report.

“Lunchflation is 100% real, everything is more expensive,” said Kelly Yau McClay, who lives in Potomac, Maryland. “Before, you could get lunch for $7 to $12. Now there is no way you can get a decent lunch for less than $15.”

Yau McClay had just started a job doing branding and marketing for a real estate company as everything was shutting down in April 2020. She had been working remotely full-time until October 2021. But now she’s on a hybrid schedule, going into the office three days a week, and estimates she spends around $30 to $35 a day on work-related expenses, like lunch, coffee and snack runs, and parking.

But for other workers, returning to the office has brought some relief – at least on some fronts. Consumers changed the way they spent during the pandemic, with expenses like dining out at restaurants getting replaced with higher grocery bills and more meals at home.

Sara Hill, who works in the insurance industry in Buffalo, New York, saw her food budget increase when she and her four children were home full-time.
“I was eating more food because I am closer to the kitchen… my food spending was still increasing because we were all home,” said Hill.

After working remotely full-time during the height of the pandemic, she is now going into the office two days a week.

Before the pandemic, she spent around $25 to $30 a day on breakfast and lunch when working from the office. But now, with many of the food businesses near her job closed, she regularly brings lunches with her. “I pretty much bring things from home, whether it’s leftovers or a cup of noodles to get me through the day.

Getting to the office
A return to commuting has also meant more gas usage.
With gas prices hitting record highs recently, it’s an expensive time to be filling up more frequently. According to AAA, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline is now $4.60. In February 2020, it was $2.44.

In Orlando, Florida, Mike Tobin upgraded to a minivan in August 2020. At the time, he said it cost about $40 to fill up the tank – but now it’s closer to $75.
“My biggest driving thing is going to the office…everything else is really close to where we live,” said Tobin, who works for a wholesale electric distribution company.

For Hill, the higher prices at the pump have made her change her routines to try and fill her tank up just once a week. She fills her truck with premium gas, which she said costs between $110 to $120 a tank.
“That is extremely crazy for gas,” said Hill. “I try to pack the days when I go to the office – if I can do anything right after work or on my hour lunch break I will try to squeeze things in because…it’s a day I am already driving.”

She tries not to leave her house on the three days she works from home.

For Yau McClay, any day she goes into the office she has to pay for parking. It used to cost $1 per hour but increased by 50 cents earlier this year. Now she is paying $12 a day – up from $8.
Ditching the comfy sweatpants and dressing up for the office again is also costly. Apparel prices were up 5.4% in April from the same time a year ago.

“Now that I am going into the office, I have to go buy new makeup sets – so I am spending money there when I wasn’t before,” said Yau McClay. “The things you used to spend money on, like hair cuts, makeup, manicure and pedicures, and updating your wardrobe, those things were essentially on pause for two years. Yes, I was spending it before… I got so used to not spending that it was really nice. And now everything is more expensive.”

Caring for the kids
Childcare costs tend to be one of the biggest expenses in working parents’ budgets – and that is getting more expensive for some parents, too.

In 2020, the national average annual cost of child care was $10,174, according to Child Care Aware of America.

In September 2020, Yau McClay put her three-year-old daughter in a new daycare facility full-time for $2,150 a month. Though child care tends to get cheaper as a child ages, a series of price increases has eaten into those savings, Yau McClay said.

“Every time she got bumped up [to an older age group]…later, they would announce: ‘Sorry we have another price increase,’” Yau McClay said. “Between when we started there and now, the price [for her current class] has gone up almost $200 net.”

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You may feel like shouting a triumphant ‘yes!’ when the recruiter offers you the job, but you need to play it cool.

Accepting a job offer is a triumphant moment for any job seeker. After all the work you’ve done researching, applying to jobs on Monster, and interviewing, you’ve finally been offered the position you’ve been aiming for. Go you! You’re understandably psyched. But don’t be so quick to jump on board right away. Knowing how to accept a job offer is a key skill every job seeker must master.

When an employer makes a job offer, they’re effectively laying their cards on the table and they want you to do the same—meaning they want you to also put your cards on the table and accept the position right then and there. Do that and you’re giving up your negotiation power. Bad move.

To understand how to accept a job offer the right way, follow these steps:

1. Express Your Appreciation for the Job Offer
Whether you’re communicating in person, on the phone, or via email, thank the person who made the offer and say how excited and grateful you are before you do anything else.

Whether you’re going to come back with a negotiation or accept the offer without changes, starting off this way sets a good tone for the conversation.

Keep up the enthusiasm as you move forward. Remember that the company is vulnerable—you might not accept their offer—so make them feel less so with your interest in the role. Using words like “excited” and “thrilled” will get the point across, without saying you’re accepting the position.

2. Ask to Get the Offer in Writing
Learning how to accept a job offer means you need to know exactly what you’re saying yes to. Once you’ve thanked the employer, request to have the offer put in writing. An official job offer letter should include, at the very least, the name of the position, a start date, a salary, and details about benefits.
This step does two things:

1. It makes the offer official.
2. It gives you a chance to review the details thoroughly to make sure you completely understand what you’re being offered.

Ask how long you have to give a final answer after receiving the letter. If the employer says they need an immediate answer, that’s a bad sign. Accepting a job offer properly requires due diligence, and a company is very much aware of this. Pressuring you doesn’t give the best impression and tends to be used as a scare tactic. A responsible employer wants prospective employees to have some time to think—usually a day or two—before accepting a job offer.

But if you want to negotiate the terms, respond by saying: “I’ve considered the offer and it’s a wonderful opportunity; I would want to discuss the details more carefully. When can we set up a time to speak or meet?”

Be prepared with the right questions to ask when negotiating salary, and remember that you should take a collaborative, not confrontational, tone in your negotiation. After all, both of you want the same thing—you in that job.

3. Know What to Say When Accepting a Job Offer
When you’re through negotiating and ready to accept, reiterate all the details as you understand them in your acceptance. You can say: “It is my understanding that I will be eligible for X days of vacation, Y amount of bonus payable on Z, the company covers 75% of my health care costs and matches my 401K contributions up to the first 3% of my salary.”

This is especially important if you’ve negotiated up from the initial offer. In fact, you should also ask to get the final, official offer in writing.

If the negotiations took longer than expected, acknowledge that in your acceptance. Negotiation is stressful for both sides and expressing appreciation for your new employer’s time and effort once you finally accept an offer shows you’re ready to move forward.

Finally, ask about the next steps. For example, is there any onboarding paperwork you should get started on after accepting a job offer? Will there be an orientation? And how can you prepare for your first day? This shows your interest, which will reaffirm to the company that they made the right choice in hiring you.

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If you’ve been laid off recently or think you might lose your job in the near future, you need to respond strategically and massively. The hard reality about layoffs is that how you respond may depend on your financial and emotional state.

You may have predicted this event and prepared for it, or you may view the layoff as a blessing in disguise if it forces you to make a change you’ve wanted to make for some time. In these cases, it’s time to crank up your search efforts with focus and confidence.

If, on the other hand, you are totally blindsided by the layoff and/or unprepared for it, your first step is to take stock. What is your cash position? Do you feel strong, and can you see the situation as an opportunity to move into something better? Or are you at a loss about what to do next? What kind of support can you get to help you through? What do you have to do to ensure that you survive—financially and emotionally?

While feelings of panic and uncertainty are normal, remember that the most effective job searches are not scattershot approaches but rather targeted strategies that leverage your past experience.

In either situation, a strategic job search is in order. Based on my report, “How to Manage Your Career in Scary Times,” here are eight top-level tips to ensure your response to a layoff is focused and effective.

1. Breathe
Find your center. You are a professional and there is a place for you out there. You will get through this. And the best way to do so is to focus on what you offer and take massive action.

2. Get out the contact list
Make a record of the people you worked with and dealt with. Put that address information into your own system and contact people using your personal email address.

3. Inventory what you offer
Take time to develop a sound understanding of your abilities, skills, experience, and fit. This includes really analyzing your professional background to identify stories, evidence, and data about your job performance that you can use to better market yourself and prove your candidacy. What are you interested in doing next? What is the next logical step for you? Depending on your position and situation, you may be looking to move forward or you may need to focus on where you are most employable.

4. Define your targets
You are not equally valuable everywhere. Define A, B, and C target groups. A is the perfect home for your offering. B is acceptable. C will pay the bills. Use information like job title, organization type, organization size, industry, and market to make your targets as defined as possible.

5. Cultivate multiple channels
Work more than one channel to find those target opportunities. By all means, use online job postings and apply selectively to jobs. But realize this is only one channel. Develop a multichannel strategy and invest your time accordingly. Those channels might include recruitment agencies, professional associations, and, of course, your network.

6. Create channels for people to find you
Nothing is better than receiving a call about an opportunity. It puts you in the driver’s seat, at least for a bit. Ensure your network contacts know what you’re looking for so you are top of mind when they can make a referral. Use social networking sites as another way to accomplish this.

7. Follow the Pareto Principle
This is otherwise known as the 80/20 rule. Analyze your network for the people who are hubs of contacts and information. Who do you know who can hire or refer you? When you’re ready, get in touch with them. And remember, the actions you might resist are usually the most valuable, high-impact ones. In my experience, successful job searches are often the result of that one, correct call.

8. Get out and talk to people
The worst place to conduct a job search is in your pajamas at your family computer. Yes, there are a lot of important activities you can do from your computer, but schedule them outside of prime meeting time. You must get out there—every day.

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When it comes to creating a supportive work culture, we all have a role to play.

The concept of workplace wellness is nothing new. These days, countless employers big and small tout their commitment to supporting their employees’ personal needs, usually through benefits packages and other health initiatives. Less discussed are the actual issues these programs seek to address—and in particular, mental health in the workplace tends to get the short end of the stick.

Even in our age of radical transparency, there’s an overwhelming sense of hesitance around discussing mental health at work out of fear that divulging a mental health issue could have a negative effect on overall job security.

But by the same token, mental health issues like anxiety and major depressive disorder are far from unusual. According to a Monster survey:

31% of US respondents have experienced anxiety because of their job
15% experienced depression because of their job
36% of women reported anxiety
26% of men reported anxiety
11% of women have experienced loneliness
17% of women have had physical ailments such as headaches because of their job
Wondering where to find support? Let’s dig a little deeper into mental health in the workplace.

Know Where to Turn
As the CDC notes, poor mental health can have a marked negative impact on factors like job performance, productivity, and relationships with one’s colleagues. But in terms of accessing the right resources to address mental illness in the workplace, it’s not always so easy to know where to start.

Some people might feel more comfortable talking to their manager or another supervisor rather than going straight to HR. But maybe it’s the exact opposite for you. What’s important is that you reach out to let someone know how you are feeling.

Of course, it’s also worth exploring your job’s benefits program and Employee Assistance Plans (or EAPs), which seek to address personal issues that can have an impact on job performance. While resources will vary from one employer to the next, many are placing an increased focus on mental health—particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic. As an increasing reliance on remote teams blurred the line between work and personal life, more employers started offering mental health resources in the form of apps, videos, and webinars.

Additionally, take a moment to familiarize yourself with your rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. This law prevents employers from discriminating against job seekers with mental illnesses, and also includes rules stating companies must provide “reasonable accommodations” to employees protected under the act. If you suspect you’re being discriminated against at work due to a mental health issue, get in touch with an attorney specializing in employment laws like the ADA.

Create a Supportive Work Environment
When it comes to looking after your own mental health, there are countless strategies to consider—taking breaks, scheduling time off for mental health days at work, and knowing when to ask for help are all great, small ways of helping ensure your needs don’t get short shrift.

But supporting your colleagues is an equally important part of the equation. Check in with your coworkers to see how they’re doing, and give them a chance to respond in an authentic way. While it can be difficult or awkward to talk about mental health in the workplace, everyone plays a role in creating an environment that’s warm and supportive, not casually dismissive.

Company leadership should let employees know it’s okay to discuss mental health issues at work. An organization that provides resources and benefits that address the well-being of employees is a great sign of a supportive work environment. That includes regular reminders of how to access support as well as allowing for time off when it’s needed.

Your Wellbeing Is Essential to Your Career
Talking about mental health in the workplace is something that still needs to be normalized.

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Employee compensation can be an emotional subject, especially if you’re the employee. It is often daintily tiptoed around in interviews and loudly complained about in bars. Personally, I’m a firm believer that compensation is a reflection of an employee’s value to a company. As the value goes up, so does pay. When I express these opinions, however, I often get disgruntled rebuttals like “Yeah, right. Corporations have no concept of loyalty,” “Layoffs are completely arbitrary—it doesn’t matter what you’re worth,” and “The only way to get a raise is to change jobs!” Since these complaints are made to me—the CEO of a company that clearly isn’t so callous—it’s obvious that these stereotypes cannot be universal.

Putting aside this irony, though, even if every company in the world were as ruthless and coldblooded as some believe, value and compensation would still be inextricably connected.

Let’s take a look at why this is the case and how you can increase your value as an employee to get paid what you deserve.

What Happens Behind Closed Doors… Let’s be a fly on the wall in that dim, coffin-shaped room where lanky, black-suited business misers drum their spindly fingers together and cackle over that most evil of subjects: layoffs. When they discuss the customer support floor, they decide they need to lay off one person, and gradually narrow the options down to two employees:

Option 1: “Bill” is an old-and-true company standby. He’s worked at the company for 20 years and has been completely faithful to his job expectations. He clocks in and out on time and delivers his customer support perfectly on script. As a result, he’s accumulated a number of raises over the years and now makes $20 an hour.

Option 2: “Shelly” has only worked in customer support for 5 years but has obtained advanced technical certifications, has an excellent interpersonal manner, and routinely turns upset customers into loyal patrons. Clients who get support from her are 30% more likely to purchase additional services and to refer friends. She talks off script a fair amount but keeps track of what she says and how customers react. As a result, she has submitted many helpful modifications to the basic IT script, resulting in a 10% increase in customer satisfaction for the whole floor.

Due to her high performance, Shelly also makes $20 per hour. Which one gets the boot? It’s Bill without question. The company is actually losing money on Bill. If they fired him, a new employee would work for only $12/hour and could read the script just as skillfully as him within 2 weeks. If Shelly were fired, however, the company would lose out on a major source of sales, referrals, customer satisfaction, and an internal system for improving the whole department—they can’t afford to lose her!

Value is Not the Same Thing as “Years on the Job” But what about faithful old Bill? It would be so mean to fire him! Bill’s problem is that he hasn’t really done anything to justify his increased wages. Small raises have accumulated on his paycheck like moss on an old river rock, but his real value is still around $12 an hour. However, since Bill has been working at the company for so many years, he probably “feels” like he’s worth $20 an hour. Never mind the fact that he couldn’t get paid $20 an hour at a different company, he’s “put in his time,” so he’s worth $20 an hour, right? Now, I’m not trying to understate the value of experience and wisdom.

Good employees learn and grow over time, so they provide more value for their employer. As a reward, they get raises. The problem is, that those raises are often based on meeting minimum standards for specified periods of time—not the value an employee brings to the table. As a result—when push comes to shove and a company needs to actually evaluate the worth of an employee— “years on the job” mean far less to the business than added value.

Businesses Pay for Value To be honest, many employees are confused about what their salaries pay for. When people first enter the workforce as teenagers, they usually start with an hourly wage. The equation is simple: The more you work, the more money you get. Unfortunately, after a couple of years, many people begin to translate time into money and begin to think, “I’ve put in a lot of time at this job, so it stands to reason that I should be making a lot of money! I need a raise!” Allow me to burst that bubble. Value isn’t a function of time. There are 24 hours in a day whether a company pays for them or not—it’s what you do with those hours that counts.

Employees are Business Assets Even for hourly employees; businesses aren’t paying for time—they’re paying for value. To put it simply, an employee is a company asset and compensation is an investment in that asset. Let me explain what I mean. If I were to invest $5,000 in a new asset for my business—say an online marketing account—you might think that it would have to make $5000 in sales to justify the expense.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work that way. I won’t get too deep into the math of contribution margin, but in short, since my business expenses aren’t just limited to what I spend on marketing, it turns out that the account would have to make me at least 3 times my investment ($15,000) just to break even. If the asset started producing 4 or 5 times more money than I put into it, then it would really be profitable. In fact, I’d be willing to invest more if I knew my payoff would be that good. The same goes for employees.

If I’m going to invest in people, I need to know that having them around will make my company at least 3 what I’m paying them. The more revenue an employee drives for my business, the greater their value and the more I’m happy to pay to have them as an asset. An employee who produces less value, however, loses me money, and—unless they can become more productive—I can’t afford to keep them in the long run.

How to Increase Your Value Now, I think we’ve looked at things like a ruthless businessman for long enough to show why companies care about the value their employees bring to the table. In most real businesses with real, warmhearted people (like I try to be), the same principles are still at play, but the focus is more on encouraging employees to become more valuable than on eliminating dead weight.

In general, this encouragement comes in the form of salary. The more value an employee brings to the table, the more they deserve to be paid. The question then becomes, how do employees increase their value? There are three basic steps: 1) ensure that you’re meeting the basic expectations of your job, 2) you identify areas where you can add more value, and 3) create and execute a plan to exceed expectations!

Step 1: Meeting Expectations Before you start trying to expand your horizons, it’s a good idea to make sure that you’re at least fulfilling the minimum requirements of your role. Of course, it can sometimes be hard to figure out what those requirements are. A recent Gallup poll revealed that up to half of employees don’t really understand what is expected of them at work. Many companies have very little in the way of formal job descriptions.

Others have long lists of tasks and expectations around hiring time, but when you start the job, you find that half the stuff on the list you never do and half the stuff you do isn’t on the list. So, if you’re not what your job expectations really are, the easiest way to get that question answered is to talk to your manager. Have a discussion about what workplace success looks like. You might even ask how your position adds value to the company. This gives you a target for increasing your value later on. If in this discussion, you discover work expectations that you weren’t aware of or that you haven’t been meeting, your first priority should be to start meeting those expectations.

As Gallup’s poll also suggests, you may also find that some managers are just as confused about your role as you are. If this describes your supervisors, then a sit-down conversation is especially important. Defining together what your core responsibilities are will help them to know when you are exceeding expectations.

Step 2: Find Areas to Excel As part of your conversation, you should also determine a list of projects which could add extra value to the company that falls within the scope of your job. It’s important to choose these projects in conjunction with your manager because you need to be sure that when you go above and beyond, it’s in areas that your company finds important. What’s more, you want your extra efforts to be recognized for what they are. It’s helpful at this stage to come up with a way to document your performance. Remember Shelly—how she increased customer satisfaction by 10% and got 30% more referrals than average? These numbers make her value pretty undeniable, but they wouldn’t exist if she or her managers weren’t keeping track of them. If you work in an area like sales, it’s pretty easy to document your performance with hard figures, but for many other jobs, performance is less easy to quantify. Documentation is still important in these cases, but it may look a little different.

Step 3: Make a Plan and Execute It Finally, you need to put everything you’ve learned into action. If your goal is to increase your compensation at work, you can start by deciding how much more you would like to be making. Take your current job expectations and salary as the baseline for what you’re worth to the company. Then realize that for every $1 you hope to get in increased pay, you need to bring in $3-5 to the business for your raise to make sense. Pick from your “above and beyond” list some projects that would add this kind of value to the company. Make a plan to complete these goals in addition to your regular tasks and present the plan to your manager. Trust me, this will go over A LOT better than the old, “I’m getting married so I need a raise” conversation. Your manager may not agree with every detail of your plan, but you will definitely come off as a motivated employee who really gets it. And, even if your managers don’t buy in right away, it will be a great opportunity to discuss their priorities again and work together to come up with a plan that accomplishes things that really matter.

Don’t skip this important conversation. I’d hate to get a comment on this article saying, “I wasted six months doing what you said only to find out that nobody cared about my contribution.” If you haven’t figured it out by now, communication with your superiors is going to be a critical part of this whole process. Unfortunately, business plans are rarely static and you may have to chase a moving target, but if you’re willing to be flexible, you should be able to keep moving forward toward your goals.

Reaching Your Goals Now, I know you’re probably thinking, “This all sounds great, Jacob, but it also sounds a little too ideal. It would never work at my business.” Maybe not. I can’t predict every circumstance and there’s a chance that yours is an exception. But isn’t it worth a try? The relationship between employee value and compensation holds just as true in “big ruthless corporations” as it does in more supportive ones.

For example, one of my employees recently related to me his experience at a prior company. This was one of those stingier jobs and had a high turnover rate for entry-level employees. However, he applied the principles I’ve described. He developed a number of specialized skills and got deeply involved in some really important projects. The miserly company was happy to be getting more out of him for the same pay…until the day he started looking at taking his skills elsewhere. His value was so great by then that the company would be set back months or years if he left, so when he suggested that he would need a 40% pay increase to stay, they felt like it was a worthwhile investment.

Despite the money-grubbing attitude of this company, he was providing so much value that he had become an asset they couldn’t afford to lose. As a result, he was able to negotiate a much better situation for himself.

Conclusion The moral of the story? If you feel that you deserve a raise, don’t get drunk and holler about it every Friday night. Take inventory of your worth, talk with your managers and start working to become a more valuable asset. Jacob Baadsgaard is the Founder & CEO of Disruptive Advertising and a passionate entrepreneur on a mission to help businesses achieve online marketing success. 

The post A CEO Reveals How to Increase Your Value as an Employee appeared first on Résumé Writing and Career Services.

An introduction to work burnout symptoms
Work burnout can jeopardize your health, social life, and career. Identifying its symptoms and working to proactively combat it is essential. Doing so can help you to minimize or avoid over-taxation due to work and protect yourself. Learn about burnout and discover preventative techniques below.

What are work burnout symptoms? 
Work burnout symptoms are the physiological and behavioral manifestations of a professional’s inability to handle job demands. They are caused by occupational burnout, which is characterized by exhaustion and a lack of motivation in a worker. This condition results from a prolonged period of stress triggered by a person’s workplace characteristics and work ethic. Work burnout symptoms can occur no matter your experience level, position, or industry. Learning about these manifestations of burnout offers several advantages:

• It can help you to maintain your job performance. Burnout prevents workers from handling their job duties effectively. Knowing its symptoms can help you to take immediate action if you see them in yourself. If you’re suffering from burnout, taking preventative action in a timely manner can help you address the causes of your condition before it reduces your work performance.
• It can help your career. Work burnout can hurt your career in several ways, such as by causing problems in your professional relationships. Learning about the symptoms of job burnout can help your career because you can take action to minimize or avoid these negative impacts.
• It can protect your health. As occupational burnout is triggered by a long period of stress, it can have several harmful impacts on your health. Learning to recognize the warning signs of burnout when they occur can safeguard your emotional and physical health in the future.
• It can help you to improve your job performance. Learning about these symptoms can help you to improve your performance at work. This is due to the fact that with this knowledge, you will be motivated to develop habits that prevent burnout, and these healthy behaviors will improve your efficacy at work. For example, getting enough sleep each day is a necessary behavior to avoid burnout; doing so will also improve your performance because you will have more energy to contribute to your job duties.
• It helps you to avoid burnout. If you’re not currently experiencing burnout, learning about its symptoms can help you to act proactively and avoid it.

How to recognize burnout symptoms at work
Here are the common warning signs of burnout that you should be aware of:

Exhaustion
The most obvious and widespread sign of work burnout is tiredness. If you have experienced the following, you’re likely to be experiencing burnout:

• You feel tired in the morning before you start working.
• At work, you feel tired all the time, even when you’re working on a simple task.
• Your energy reserves always seem insufficient to handle your job demands.

Lack of enthusiasm for job duties
Ideally, thinking of your job should ready you to start contributing and thriving! If you’re frequently feeling unenthusiastic about your job, occupational burnout could be the cause.

Negative emotions related to your occupation
Usually, your job should inspire positive feelings, such as excitement when you get a new task or motivation to get a promotion. However, if you’re experiencing several of the following feelings regularly about work, you’re likely to be suffering from burnout:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Dissatisfaction
• Sadness
• Indifference
• Fear
• Jealousy
• Frustration
• Anger

Problems in your ability to think effectively
Workplace stressors can cause chronic stress, which affects cognitive function — your brain’s ability to interpret the various factors in your environment and understand them. Here are the indicators of reduced functionality in this area:

• Often, you find it difficult to concentrate at work.
• You regularly forget important things at work.
• You find it difficult to solve problems, including simple ones.
• You find it difficult to understand what is said by others.
• Tuning out of conversations and meetings has become a habit.

Failure to engage in self-care
Taking care of yourself is an essential behavior you must develop, for it enables you to protect yourself. When you’re suffering from work burnout, the exhaustion, negative emotions, and cognitive issues it causes detract from essential self-care routines. Here are indicators of that you’ve been neglecting self-care:

• You regularly fail to get seven hours of sleep each day.
• You do not schedule time off work for rejuvenation activities, like having a spa day.
• You do not set aside time to rest, even on the weekend.
• You are reducing activities in your self-care routines, such as moisturizing your skin after a shower, to make more time for work.
• You have started eating fewer plant products, such as vegetables and fruits, each day and start eating more processed foods.
• You do not make an effort to spend time in natural spaces, such as a tree-filled park or your own backyard.
• You do not choose to talk to others about things that are not related to your job.
• You avoid making friends or spending time with the ones you have.
• When you achieve something at work, you do not treat yourself to a reward or take time to celebrate.

Interpersonal problems
Interpersonal issues are another symptom of work burnout. Essentially, the exhaustion, negative emotions, cognitive issues, and lack of self-care caused by burnout impact your relationships, derailing them. You can identify this symptom in the following situations:

• You have more conflicts with your subordinates, colleagues, or supervisors at work.
• You have more conflicts with your family members or friends.
• You tune out of conversations with the people in your life.

Obsessing about work
To be successful in any occupation, you need to be committed to it. However, there is a fine — but definite — line between commitment and obsession. In your career, you’re the only person who can keep yourself from crossing this line. Here is how obsessing about work manifests itself:

• After you come home, you dwell on what went wrong or what could have gone better at work for hours.
• You think of work during your time off, such as when you’re jogging, getting a massage, or getting a manicure.
• You think of work while you’re doing your chores, like doing the laundry or mopping the floors.
• You frequently imagine depressing work situations such as getting fired, blowing things out of proportion, and forgetting all the stellar contributions you have made in your job.

Feeling dissatisfied with your life
When you’re suffering from work burnout, it’s normal to feel dissatisfied with different aspects of your life, including ones that are totally unrelated to your job. For example, you may feel a lack of satisfaction with your house or your family in addition to your job.

Reduction in work performance
When affected by occupational burnout, underperformance is inevitable. If you’re underperforming in tasks you used to excel in, this can be a symptom of burnout from work.

A health issue
Over time, work burnout causes health problems. If you’re experiencing a new health condition, such as depression or obesity, in addition to more than four other symptoms on this list, you’re likely to be suffering from burnout.

Actionable methods to prevent work burnout 
Use these preventative methods to avoid work burnout:

Develop a strategy for tuning out of work when you’re not working
You need a strategy for punching out completely when you finish work for the day. For example, write down a slogan for yourself, which you tell yourself when you finish work each business day. It should say something like, “I’m going to enjoy my time off work.” Repeat your slogan each time work pops into your head like an uninvited guest in your party.

Identify workplace stressors and address the fixable ones
The stress you feel at work can be caused by one thing, such as a lack of a resource, or by several different things. Resolve the stressors you can fix with the following steps:

1. During your time off, sit comfortably with writing materials.
2. Think about the specific things that make you feel negative about work.
3. Separate the things you can resolve from those you cannot.
4. Develop rational strategies to address the fixable stressors.
5. Check whether your strategies could hurt your career.
6. Avoid or change the strategies that could do so.
7. Implement strategies to resolve workplace stressors.

Handle your stress effectively
Use the following steps to handle your stress effectively:

1. Excuse yourself from a stressful situation at work to spend three minutes in private. Begin this time by focusing on your breathing.
2. Identify all the resources you need to breathe easily, like physical health and breathable air. Be grateful for these resources that have been given to you. Avoid thinking about anything else.
3. Next, compare the situation you just left to your act of breathing, which is possible because of all the complex resources that are constantly supplied to you.
4. Reframe your work situation more realistically — contextualizing and understanding its overall importance by comparing it with your act of breathing.
5. Return to the work situation, ready to handle it calmly.

Invest in self-care
Develop self-care routines that help you to maintain your emotional and physical health. To do so, try different activities that can improve your well-being until you find ones that work for you. Now, you know how to recognize work burnout symptoms. Leverage the techniques you learned to protect yourself effectively in the future.

The post Work Burnout Symptoms & Preventative Techniques appeared first on Résumé Writing and Career Services.

{Click here to read the original article on Glassdoor.}

What Do Job Titles Signify?
A job title is a very helpful tool in the professional world. Your job title provides a concise encapsulation of your position as an employee. A job title, depending on the job, can actually express not only your level in the overall organization of your business but also the responsibilities that are required of you in that position.

What is a retention bonus?
A retention bonus, also known as a retention package, retention pay, or stay bonus, is a one-time lump sum a company or organization pays an employee as an incentive to remain with the company for a specified amount of time. The amount offered within a retention bonus package varies but is usually based on a percentage of the employee’s salary, their role within the company, and the time they will remain. Larger companies use retention bonuses to retain key employees and continue to benefit from their talent and experience. Organizations typically offer retention bonuses during a company transition to help maintain a solid working foundation within the company and ensure that leadership guides employees through the change.

Reasons companies offer retention bonuses
Companies may benefit from offering retention pay in the following ways:

• To establish reliability. Bonuses help keep reliable employees happy and loyal to the company for many years.
• To boost morale. Extra pay shows employees their work is valued and they feel motivated to perform well.
• To create loyal workers. Workers who are justly compensated for their time and expertise gain respect for the company and are invested in seeing it succeed.
• To provide consistency. An outsider, such as a customer, who consistently sees the same employees views the company as consistent and reliable.
• To reward performance. Although retention bonuses aren’t based on employee performance, employees who are fairly compensated have higher job satisfaction and are more likely to take pride in a job well done.
• To keep highly skilled workers. A bonus is an investment in experience. Experienced workers are often more confident, are more consistently productive, and have honed their skills throughout the years.

How does a retention bonus work?
Employee performance is usually not a determining factor in a retention bonus. Rather, a retention package is a monetary incentive offered to keep an employee and their talent at the company for an agreed amount of time. Both the employee and a supervisor or a qualified company representative sign the written terms of the agreement. The retention bonus contract states the amount of the bonus offered, a determined time period the employee agrees to remain with the company, and how the company will pay the funds. Typically, the bonus is paid in one large sum or spread out in smaller amounts throughout the duration of the contract.

How to decide if you should accept a retention bonus
If the company you work for has offered you a retention bonus, you are a valued employee and management has noted your hard work. Your contributions and both hard and soft skills are considered valuable assets and the organizational leadership determined that losing you as an employee would negatively affect the overall company productivity and profit. Carefully consider the following factors when determining whether to sign a retention agreement or begin negotiating.

1. The reasons a bonus is offered
Companies offer bonuses for different reasons. Consider the determining factors behind your offer. The company might offer a retention bonus to secure quality employees during a time of transition or to ensure continued success and keep talented employees from going to work for a competing organization. Evaluate your thoughts about the justifications behind the offer and consider whether you agree with the company’s motivating factors or if you find the tactic questionable. It is important to evaluate these factors in order to make the best decision and work with a company you trust.

2. Your opinion of the company and your experience
Review whether your own values and priorities still match those of the company you work with. Consider your experience with the organization so far and the leadership styles you’ve encountered. Positive company culture is important to job satisfaction.

3. The current job market within your industry
Research current job openings that match the qualifications and responsibilities you currently hold. You can begin by searching based on your specific job title. Determine the status of the job market and how easily you would find a position with pay and responsibilities comparable to your current position. Knowing your available options and whether your current salary is fair will inform your judgment in deciding if a retention bonus is right for you.

4. Your tax responsibility
Retention bonuses are considered taxable income. However, because they are supplemental wages, your tax responsibility may differ from that of your annual salary. Consider the tax rate when contemplating if you should accept a retention bonus. A tax professional can answer your questions regarding things like aggregate tax or percentage tax. It may be financially beneficial to request a raise over a bonus.

5. Your career path
The retention agreement will show the amount of time you will commit to the company. Think about how the decision to remain will impact your career path and ability to move up. If upward mobility is important to you, understand whether there are opportunities for you to do so within the company and how a role shift will affect your agreement.

Tips for salary negotiation
When deciding if a retention bonus will work for you, you may ask for more funds or negotiate for a shorter amount of time to commit to the company. Use the list below for help with your salary negotiations and to understand your stay bonus plan.

1. Request a copy of the contract to review.
You will want to review the terms and conditions of the agreement when you are clear-headed and relaxed. An office setting, with work obligations looming, may not be conducive to understanding the details. Ask to take home an unofficial copy. Although some companies may not allow it for privacy purposes, they may give you other options.

2. Pay close attention to the language used.
Retention bonuses are often large sums, and companies may use vague language within the contract. If there is a shift in management or another unforeseen event, you want to be sure that you and the promised incentive are protected from policy loopholes. Look for phrases such as, “actively employed” and “sole discretion.” Read the clauses carefully and ask that the contract includes specific details. Check that concrete language is used throughout and that the company clearly defines terms like “termination causes” and “conditions I cannot control.” You may also want to look at asking the company to agree to keep your role relevant during the specified retention period (or negotiate a severance package) should there be a restructuring.

3. Take your time.
Because you are potentially committing one or more years to working with a company, take your time to review the conditions and clauses. Communicate with the human resources manager or your supervisor and let them know when you will be ready to discuss the terms and conditions.

4. Consider declining.
Although monetary incentives are attractive, if you were already considering leaving the company because of a lack of culture fit or job insecurity, a quick lump sum may not be enough to satisfy you in the long term. Be sure to weigh your options carefully and be ready and able to commit to the role and job environment for the negotiated time period.

5. Request a meeting.
When you are ready, request a meeting to sit down and discuss the terms with a supervisor or individual authorized to make changes. Know what your conditions are and clearly express your needs politely.

6. Propose adjusting the time period.
You may wish to negotiate a shorter time frame, especially if there are few opportunities for advancement.

7. Contemplate asking for a raise instead.
Based on your tax rate, pay scale, and the actual amount of the offer, you may want to consider requesting a raise in salary instead. Consult with a tax professional, but it may not cost the company extra money and could decrease your income tax responsibility.

8. Be flexible and patient.
Most companies and managers are willing to make adjustments, but they may need time to consider your proposal and possibly to check with others to see if they are acceptable. Remain respectful and understanding and be aware of your options. A shorter retention period may not be workable, but perhaps they can offer extra vacation time. Negotiation is a process.

Being well-informed when discussing your agreement and stay bonus can help you feel more confident when deciding if you should accept a retention bonus. Do your research to know if remaining loyal to your current company is the right decision for your personal and professional life.

The post Know What a Retention Bonus Is to Expertly Negotiate appeared first on Résumé Writing and Career Services.

{This article originally appeared on Monster}

Hit some kind of milestone? A resume update is in order.

Since you’ve been gainfully employed for a good stretch of time (score!), an updated resume might seem low on your to-do list. We get it: It’s no longer a priority. But if you don’t update a resume promptly and let it go stale, you put yourself at a disadvantage.

“You never know when you may get laid off or when a job opportunity might present itself out of the blue,” says Dawn Bugni, a professional resume writer in Atkinson, North Carolina.

For many people, “updating their resume feels like going to the dentist—they avoid it at all costs,” says Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter, executive resume writer and owner of Dallas-based coaching firm Career Trend. Granted, a constantly updated resume isn’t realistic, but there are benchmarks in your career when your resume needs a tune-up.

5 Times to Update a Resume

1. When you start a new job
The best resumes highlight quantifiable achievements—not job responsibilities. But when you’re a new employee, you don’t have any real accomplishments yet. Instead of copying and pasting snippets from the job posting onto your resume, tell the story of why you were hired, says executive resume writer Louise Kursmark, co-author of Modernize Your Resume. Got recruited? Say so.

Now is also the time to update your career summary section. Coming off the job search circuit, you should tweak this part of your resume while your value proposition is fresh in your mind, says Robin Reshwan, professional resume writer and founder of Collegial Services, a consulting and staffing firm in the San Francisco area.

2. When you get promoted
Take the opportunity to celebrate, but don’t forget to update your resume, which should always include your current position. Don’t just slap on your new job title though; explain why you earned the promotion (e.g., “promoted for outstanding performance to spearhead new project”), and “don’t be afraid to brag,” says Bugni.

3. When you complete a big project
Did you close a major transaction? Wrap-up development on a new product? These accomplishments need to be reflected on your resume. “Any time you finish a successful project, make sure it goes directly onto your resume,” says Barrett-Poindexter. Citing quantifiable results is crucial (e.g., “implemented new accounting system that saved the company $50,000 in annual operating costs”). Include such details as how many people worked on the team, what your role entailed, and the hurdles you crossed, says Barrett-Poindexter.

4. When you get laid off
Yes, it stinks to have to update a resume when you just lost a job, but do it anyway. Getting fired is one thing (in which case, you’ll need to do more than update your resume); getting laid off as part of downsizing is a different story. “Unemployment isn’t a black mark if it’s a result of the company’s performance,” says Tiffani Murray, an HR professional and resume writer at Atlanta-based resume service Personality On a Page.

Part of bouncing back, though, involves working on an updated resume. And rather than try to hide the fact that you’re unemployed—a strategy that could put off prospective hiring managers—include in your summary section why you were terminated (e.g., “laid off as part of a 20% reduction in staff”).

Additionally, you’ll want to update your work experience to reflect what it is you’re currently doing. Yet, putting that you’re now a “job seeker” isn’t very appealing to prospective hiring managers. The better move: Join a professional association and take on a volunteer position, such as an events coordinator, that you can add to your resume.

“Showing that you’re actively involved with an industry organization clears up any assumption that you’re just sitting there twiddling your thumbs while you look for a job,” says Bugni.

5. When you acquire new skills
Whether it’s an accreditation, certification, or new proficiency (e.g., learning a second language), skills strengthen your resume, so keep yours current. Industry-specific credentials can also serve as keywords to help your resume pass through application tracking systems, says Kursmark.

Do a quarterly assessment of your resume and remove any outdated skills or obsolete software, advises Reshwan. Look at job postings in your field to determine what skills are in demand.

The post 5 Times in Your Life You Should Update Your Resume appeared first on Résumé Writing and Career Services.

Does the following sound like something you’ve said?

I want to change jobs or industries but I don’t want to take a cut in pay. I want to move to a different part of the country – or world – but I refuse to pay for relocation. I want to improve my circumstances, but I don’t want it to be uncomfortable, or hard. I know I’m smart, have proven myself, and have a lot to offer, so changing my job, and my life, shouldn’t be that difficult.

If so, you may want to recalibrate your expectations and plot a new map for your career change journey.
While major career and life shifts sometimes happen unintentionally and with little perceived effort or investment, the likelihood of this happening, and with the right results, is small. In fact, most times what appears as luck is actually a mix of opportunity intersecting with preparedness.

Rather than getting yourself all in a dither regarding the exact “how” to untangle your current unhappy situation, consider the actionable baby steps you can take, promptly, and just start. In other words, accept the fact that you may not find a perfect route with the perfect salary at the perfect company, but instead, you may need to make a move closer to that ‘lighted path,’ before you understand what the next move is, then the next, and the next.

Doing so, you will ultimately find your way to that virtual ‘light at the end of the tunnel.” Following are three such action steps you can do this week to gain prompt traction!

1. Avoid Paralysis Analysis By Applying to a Few Opportunities, Now. If you feel stuck in toxicity at work, then do something that feels tangible. For example, if you want a job at a specific company, send a resume there. Even getting a rejection letter (or in some cases, no response) is better than doing nothing. In other words, the energy vibe you will feel – the palpable traction – will be invigorating mentally, emotionally, and even physically. The act of composing a cover letter and focusing yourself on an action that may potentially resolve your work discord is empowering.

2. Begin Reducing Your Expense Overhead. While your kneejerk reaction to taking a potential cut in pay at a new job or to pay for your own relocation expenses may be to say that there is “no way” based on your current obligations, think again. Often, there are hidden life expenses and bills you can trim to create a leaner lifestyle. For example, are you spending $200+ on cable service? Cancel it. Invest in a digital antenna and liberate yourself from the grip of monthly payments, or watch whatever is on local television and rent from Netflix at a much lower rate than cable.

3. Start Rebuilding Your Resume. Done right, this process will take weeks, maybe even a month or two, but start phase one today. This is a small step toward a large result. Go to the library or shop your Kindle bookstore for a resource on resume writing. Resume Magic by Susan Whitcomb is perhaps one of the most robust resume-teaching guides on the market. Invest in it, and start diving in. Or, hire a resume professional to strategize as your career-marketing agent. Whatever you decide, do something, today.

By taking the leap today, without the net of expectations, you may immediately begin reaping the benefits leading to a lifestyle in synchronicity with your personal lifestyle preferences.

The post 3 Ways to Plot a New Career Change appeared first on Résumé Writing and Career Services.