Forum - Ask the Hiring Manager

QUESTION:

When career counselors and publications indicate that recent graduates should have "realistic expectations," what does that mean? What sort of salaries are reasonable? Scope of responsibility?

From: Jon Dunn, University of Denver


ANSWER FROM BRIAN KRUEGER:

Hi Jon -

"Realistic expectations" is a totally subjective term dependent upon the individual and the career being chosen. That being said, average salaries are typically dictated by the larger companies that set the standard. Our company typically offers 4-year graduates with little or no experience that will be entering our Programmer training program a starting salary of $28-32K per year.  However, some engineers have been known to make up to $40K per year with other companies where demand is particularly high. Starting salaries over that are unusual and are NOT the norm. On the low end, social workers can often have difficulty finding a position much above $20K.

There are many variables--demand for a particular career and/or industry, location, cost of living, benefits being offered, etc.

One of the best ways to find your approximate value in the field is to conduct information interviews (which you asked about in question #4 below). The caution to using this approach (as explained more fully in my book) is NOT to use it as a ruse toward getting an interview. Information interviewing can be used to interview people in your chosen career and/or industry to gather more information. That's the correct use of information interviewing. But don't use it to pop the "Boy-this-company-really-sounds-great-do-you-have-a-job-fo-me?" question. It usually is best utilized while you are in your early years of college, rather than right up against the end of your final year.

Brian Krueger
Author of College Grad Job Hunter

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