What is your salary? That probably sounds a bit intrusive. But have you actually stopped to think about this number?
During the interview process we focus so much on this number because at the end of the day it is our bottom line. Our salary will ultimately pay our bills, keep the lights on and feed our families.
So what is your real salary? You are probably wondering what I mean by that. If your salary is $100,000 then you surely are getting $100,000 right?
Not exactly. Let me tell you about a discovery I personally made recently.
The Unexpected Discovery
A few months back I received a pay adjustment raise. Essentially, I was given a raise to make my salary equal to my market value. Once this pay increase went into effect I took a look at my next payslip and noticed something very odd.
I looked at my gross pay and multiplied it by the amount of pay periods in one year. The number should equal my new salary right? Well, actually it was off by around $10,000.
I did the math again and saw the same result. Then, I went back and looked at the letter that I received from HR indicating my pay raise and realized that it wasn’t just bad math from my end. I was indeed short $10,000.
After that, I calculated my pre-raise income using the payslips prior to me receiving the raise. I came short of my actual salary every time. This didn’t make any sense.
Digging through payslips line by line for sometime, I realized something that companies call “pay package”. This is the amount of money that companies give employees which includes our salary but also things like insurance, 401k match, etc. When you add up everything they are contributing it will equal the salary number that you are accustomed to.
Sneaky right. It almost sounds like companies are cheating the game by the way they negotiate your salary. It’s really smart from their end because most people will not realize this.
Match Your Value Package To Their Pay Package
A person’s value package is based on their education, social/professional network, skills, experiences and personality. Many people think that in order to land a certain job they only need a certain type of education or a specific type of work experience.
This is far from the truth. A person’s value is a culmination of all of the factors described above. Your life experiences, successes and failures define your character. Your social/professional network and personality define your determination. Your skills and education/work experience define your ambition.
When interviewing candidates for job positions, companies are actually looking for individuals who shine with these 3 traits. But to help filter through the amount of applications they receive they use education and work experiences to weed out applicants. Is that fair? Certainly not. But it is also out of our hands.
What is in our hands is how we play the game. Remember this when walking into your next interview or when filling out the job application and sell it!
For some people robust benefits are more important in the pay package versus more money hitting their bank account through payslips. Others want to see more money in their pocket. Just as how employers evaluate job applicants we must also properly evaluate our employers. Companies are businesses and they will try to benefit themselves at every turn. We must look out for our best interests. This means matching their pay package to our value package.