How Much Should You Be Paid?
Where to Find Salary Information
Kate Lorenz, CareerBuilder.co.uk editor
It's the last great taboo. The S word. Yes, nobody talks about salary in polite conversation. Sometimes, however, it pays to know what kind of money comes with a certain kind of job. Once you understand what a particular role offers, you'll be better armed for the inevitable (unless you're in the public sector) salary negotiations that you'll be faced with at your next interview.
You should, of course, bear a few factors in mind. Any information you find is likely to be an approximation. It will also probably not take into account where you are in the country -- a banker in London and a banker in Stornoway are unlikely to have comparable incomes.
Other factors could be your qualifications, skills and work experience and the size of the company -- a web-development job at ICL will command a distinctly different salary to a similar role in a small web-design agency.
Supply and demand also come into the equation. When a skill is in short supply, your skills might attract higher reward. Of course, when the market is flooded, you might not be so lucky.
Of course, salary isn't everything. It's important to take into account the whole package, including any bonus or commission, a car, training or flexible hours.
For those with an eye for the ballpark figure, here's just a sample of the Internet resources available to you should you want to see if you're getting a fair day's pay for your fair day's work.
The IT industry
Salary Services Ltd (SSL) provides IT salary information. Each quarter, SSL works with Computer Weekly magazine to glean comprehensive and authoritative information on IT salaries in the UK. The survey covers the complete span of salaries nationwide for over 60 job functions, with regional variations. The site includes a handy salary-checker. [www.salaryservices.co.uk]
Public sector ICT
Now in its seventh year, the Society of Information Technology Management survey provides comprehensive information on salaries of ICT staff in 11 job levels, and by type of authority, job type, geographical location, gender and age. [www.socitm.gov.uk]
Office for National Statistics
The Monthly Wages and Salary Survey (MWSS), conducted by the Office for National Statistics, covers around 8,400 British businesses and 11 million employees. It measures commission, bonuses, overtime and pay-award arrears as well as pay. The data are used for the Average Earnings Index (AEI), which the Treasury uses to measure pay growth and the Bank of England uses to set interest rates. [www.statistics.gov.uk]
Designers
Design Week's salary survey finds that few designers' salaries have outpaced inflation, while those for new management roles seem to have weakened significantly. [www.designweek.co.uk]
Marketing
Marketing Week magazine found that, after several years of disappointing performances in relation to inflation, last year saw a significant jump in marketing incomes. Across the board, 1,471 survey respondents reported higher salaries.[www.marketingweek.co.uk]
Recruiters
Recruiters can find out just how much they are worth through the Recruitment and Employment Confederation's National Salary and Benefits Survey, now available online.[www.rec.uk.com]
PayWizard
The premise here is simple: Most people in the UK don't know how much other people earn. PayWizard aims to change all that by collating salary information nationwide. The site enables you to compare your pay with that of others doing a similar job, without you having to do anything unseemly like ask the person sitting next to you. [www.paywizard.co.uk]
Of course, if none of that works for you, there's always good old word-of-mouth. If you're talking to colleagues about an internal vacancy, though, bear in mind that the information could fall into the speculation category. Still, at least we'll be a step nearer breaking down some of those taboos.
Kate Lorenz is the article and advice editor for CareerBuilder.co.uk. She's an expert in job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.
Last Updated: 24/09/2007 - 3:50 PM
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