As you ready yourself for your last semester or last year of college, you may be worrying about supporting yourself after college. In 2019, when the job market was tight, college graduates said they would work for any company that hired them, according to a survey by Fast Company. In 2022, the market has drastically changed. You now have more choices for your career after college, and among those choices are the benefits you can ask for.
According to a recent LinkedIn study, one benefit rose dramatically from nowhere on the 2019 list to second in priority in 2022: a flexible work environment. What are your must-haves? They might include:
- Career development
- An easy commute or travel allowance
- Work-life balance, including wellness and mental health benefits
- Student debt assistance and/or assistance with post-grad education.
One “benefit” you can always negotiate is salary. Some experts say that you can negotiate up about 5% from the initial offer, but not always. If you cannot negotiate the salary you want, then you might try negotiating for other items on your “must-have” list—all of the benefits listed above, including flexible scheduling, may be negotiable.
Two pieces of information are essential for any negotiation:
- Knowing the normal salary for your position in your industry in your geographic location
- Knowing your value and communicating it.
Your value consists of the skills, education, experience, and perspective you bring to the company. To communicate your value, you first need to research your preferred companies and industry thoroughly so that you know what it is important. What are typical company or industry goals, values, gaps in talent, recent initiatives that succeeded or failed, and so on? What do you offer in helping to expedite those goals, values, gaps, and initiatives?
Once you have your research in hand, your resume is the initial tool for communicating value. Your resume should align, not only with your own must-have list, but with the must-haves of the company and industry. The closer you come to fitting their criteria, the better chance you have to negotiate a fit with your own criteria.
Is your resume communicating your value? Does your resume align with both your ideal benefits and the needs of the companies and industries where you are applying? If you are not sure, now is the time to ask for help with your career strategy. Robin’s Resumes® offers a free initial consult. We have helped many college grads on their path to the right job and we can help you.