Know your worth

The first step to being able to sell your personal brand or what you have to offer is to know your worth. Currently, it has been about a year since I have graduated from college and am now grappling with balancing the responsibilities of my adult life. I think one of the first lessons that you learn out of college is exactly how you can package yourself and your brand to attain a job. Job-hunting is really a process of trial and error. It involves fine-tuning your resumes, cover letters, and expanding your networking skills to effectively communicate your personal brand and what you have to offer out of college. The next important component of this process is to understand your value and never sell yourself short.

Knowing Your Worth in Job and Internship Search

It is easy to sell yourself short if you do not do the research to discover exactly how much value is placed in your skills. If research is not done to discover how much companies invest in your skills it is easy to accept an offer lower than what you deserve. Tools that are beneficial in discovering your worth are as simple as Google or even glassdoor.com. If you are on the hunt for a job or internship position in a specific skill set or field you will begin to recognize a pattern in the entry-level positions and titles that you are seeking. Simply, search the position or title that occurs frequently in your search and discover the highest hourly rate or salary for the specific positions. Next, you need to look at your personal finances and figure out exactly how much you need to live the life that you want to live. Write down a list of your expenses, budget for how much you want to save and figure out your magic number.

This magic number will help you to determine what jobs are worth your time and effort to live the life that you aspire to live. Once you get a general idea of your range and your magic number then you can do further research. Glassdoor is not the only resource but it is a great resource I recommend to get an estimate on how much a specific company is offering for a position or internship. Job applications will ask for salary expectations and it is important to go into the process knowing your salary expectations. In this instance, it is important to keep in mind a number higher than your magic number within the range the company offers for the position to leave room for negotiation.