Researching Salary Expectations for a Career Change
KRYSTAL HICKS, FOUNDER,
CAREER STRATEGIST,
JOBTALK, LLC
Editor鈥檚 Note: In a guest blog, Krystal Hicks, founder of JOBTALK, shares her insights on navigating career changes in today鈥檚 job market. JOBTALK is an accessible and inclusive career counseling and employer branding consulting practice.
When I launched my career counseling practice, , I quickly noticed that most people reaching out for help were not just looking to change companies 鈥 they needed help changing careers. Regardless of if it was a major industry change or a desire to go to learn a completely different skill set, I saw more and more 30-somethings trying to make the leap. With 91% of millennials expecting to every three years, salary changes and expectations are important areas to consider. If you鈥檙e a 30-something reading this and can relate, or even if you鈥檙e a more seasoned professional, below are a few tips for researching salary expectations that can help you jump-start and navigate a career change.
Do Your Research
When you鈥檙e thinking of making the leap from one career to another, the same early-career advice applies: research, research, research. With a career change may also come a salary change. How can you determine what an appropriate salary change looks like? Research!
The beauty of where we are today (versus 10-20 years ago) is that we have way more tools at our disposal to help us validate that this is a financially feasible move for us to make. Be sure to look up projected salary bands for different roles in your new sector or profession and see what you might expect for pay. I hate being a dream crusher, but if you can鈥檛 survive living off $35K a year, you want to know that before you go and invest time, energy, and possibly a lot of money on this new career path.
A few resources I highly recommend checking out include:
Salary.com & PayScale.com
and are excellent resources for market and salary data. In addition, PayScale offers a 鈥溾 tool as well as a 鈥渃ost-of-living calculator鈥 in the event you鈥檙e considering relocating. (Because trust me 鈥 if you鈥檙e looking to move from Nashua, NH, to Seattle, WA, it鈥檚 helpful to know in advance that if you鈥檝e been making a $50K-salary in Nashua, you鈥檙e going to need to earn $60,341 in Seattle to maintain the same standard of living because the cost of housing is 46.4% higher than in New Hampshire.)
Glassdoor.com
In addition to salary information, provides anonymous employee reviews on how top employers in your new space treat their people and what may be expected of you in the job/field. This is what I call the biggest 鈥渞egrettable recon鈥 people 诲辞苍鈥檛 do and then wish they had before making the jump.
is by far the most important resource you鈥檒l use during this transition, and it starts with researching people who are in your future roles and industries right now. What do their profiles tell you about their background, their day-to-day tasks, and what skills they鈥檝e honed to not just do their job 鈥 but do it well? You also want to start expanding your network to include not only these people, but also related companies and groups. This ensures your newsfeed will begin to reflect everything these companies and groups are posting and discussing, including jobs. By becoming a fly on the wall of your new industry, you鈥檒l gain a better understanding of what trends or disruptors this field is experiencing or anticipating 鈥 long before you commit to joining it.
Conclusion
If you鈥檙e considering a career transition, you鈥檙e not alone. I鈥檒l turn 36 this year, and when I reflected and counted how many 鈥渞eal jobs鈥 I鈥檝e had since I graduated from college 15 years ago, I was surprised to find that I鈥檓 in my 6th full-time position. I鈥檓 working for myself now, but still 鈥 6 employers in 15 years? It sounds like a lot, but according to a 2020 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) , the median tenure for employees now is only about 4 years.