Glassdoor Blog » Tim Besse

College Students Face Summer Job Gap: Unconventional Tips To Landing A Summer Pay Check

Tim Besse — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:35:24 +0000

For college students, summer jobs are often important sources of experience and income, but as universities let out for summer break, students are facing one of the toughest job markets in recent history.

While the latest unemployment figures are encouraging, with layoffs down and 431,000 jobs reported to have been added in May, unemployment is still hovering around the 10 percent range. For younger workers, ages 16-24, the situation is much worse. According to a recent report of the Joint Economic Committee the unemployment rate for young workers ages 16-24 was 19.6% in April 2010 — the highest unemployment rate for this age group since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking unemployment data in 1947. As a result, younger workers make up a disproportionate share of the unemployed: while 16-24 year olds comprise 13 percent of the labor force, they now account for 26 percent of the unemployed.

This summer’s lean job market for students is further compounded by the fact many overqualified workers are willing to take lower-paying jobs, and many companies have tightened up their professional internship programs as a cost saving measure. For the internships that do exist, most slots have been secured by April or May.

What should students do when entry-level jobs and professional internships are scarce? It’s important to buck tradition and get creative with a whole lot of tenacity, enthusiasm, and most of all – flexibility.

Here are some suggestions:

Consider a hybrid approach: While one summer dream job would be ideal, it may not be practical in today’s market. Consider weaving together two to three jobs to gain valuable resume-worthy experience and pay the bills. Reach out to local companies with positions and departments in your fields and let them know about your interests and flexibility on hours and pay. Perhaps you don’t work 9 to 5 every day, but work half days Monday, Wednesday, and Friday – maybe for less than you want or even for free. Then, supplement your income by taking a part-time job at a retailer, waiting tables, or as a valet. I know many people who have done this over the years (including me) and it’s paid off. This way you can get the professional experience on your resume to help distinguish you from the competition, and also get the all-important paycheck to cover your bills and living expenses.

Do some good. If professional internships aren’t materializing, look to volunteering for charitable causes and donating your expertise. You can help the organization at the same time you’re padding your resume. Employers down the road will be impressed with your community commitment and the tangible contributions you made. Plus, it sure beats sitting around for three months. For example, the Red Cross is looking for people to do data entry or help in their warehouses.

Follow the tourists: It might not be where you’d spend your down time, but it might be where you’ll find a pay check and/or tips. There are still jobs in areas that see increased demand in the summer, for example, car rental companies, hotels and amusement parks are more active in the summer months as more people take off time for a little R&R. Consider which companies in your area probably need a little extra help this summer when you start your job hunt. Here are a few possibilities:

YMCA is looking for lifeguards and camp counselors.
Enterprise is actively looking for management trainees at locations across the country.
Hyatt is hiring a range of interns for various departments.
Disney and Six Flags are still filling jobs for the summer season.
And Macys and Dillards have job openings at a number of their retail stores.

Other types of companies to consider include: vacation resorts, restaurants, park and recreation groups, summer schools, and grocery chains. If you need to pack a bag to find employment in a new town, pack along a few friends and share rent and other living expenses. This is a great way to gain important job experience while also creating memorable life experiences.

Be your own boss: You’re younger and likely more tech savvy than previous generations, so put that talent to use. See if you can make a few extra bucks doing some online or computer work for family or friends, or show your entrepreneurial spirit by starting a summer gardening, dog walking or child care service. Word-of-mouth is one of the greatest lead generators so even if you start small, you can grow your business over the course of the summer.

And while it can pay to be a little unconventional this summer, don’t lose sight of proven wisdom required for any job market or career stage:

Build or expand your network. Whether it’s your alumni association, or friends of friends…or even friends of your parents’ friends, personal relationships are helpful to get your foot in the door or find the right person in the hiring department. The rest is up to you!

Get in the know. School may be out, but you still need to do your homework. With the fierce competition, companies want to know you have initiative and drive. Make sure you’re plugged in to recent company news, and read company and interview reviews from employees and job candidates on Glassdoor.com. Also, be sure to check out comparable pay at the company or nearby competitors so you have a current picture of what’s fair salary.

There’s no denying it’s tough out there, but keep your eyes on your career prize. There are summer jobs for college students, but landing one – or three – might require a shift in thinking. Regardless, this summer is bound to provide an invaluable lesson for your future career path.

Keep us posted on how your summer job search goes and be sure to share any successful tactics.

College Students Face Summer Job Gap: Unconventional Tips To Landing A Summer Pay Check is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Engineering Pay Gap? Glassdoor Reveals Many Women Engineers Earn Less than Men

Tim Besse — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 08:00:44 +0000

Many women engineers¹ earn less than their male counterparts and the pay gap widens as years of experience increases, according to a recent analysis of more than 4,700 salary reports submitted anonymously on Glassdoor.com by people in the engineering field, of which 70% are male and 30% are female. The analysis revealed that women engineers earn 96.7% of what men earn early in their careers (0-3 years experience), and earn 89.1% of what their male counterparts earn when both genders have more than 10 years experience. This means that the average compensation for a male engineer with less than three years of experience is $70,533 while women with the same experience earn less ($68,237). For those with 10 or more years, men make an average of $111,877 while women typically make $99,733. That can easily equate to hundreds of thousands of dollars throughout a career.

Bonus Gap is Bigger

The analysis also broke out bonuses from total pay and discovered that the gap is wider for bonus pay outs. The most significant gap is seen for those with between four to six years of experience when women’s bonuses are almost half (51.41%) of their male counterparts and for those with more than 10 years of experience when women typically make 57.62% of the bonuses paid to men.

The Glassdoor results seem to confirm the 2007 Behind the Pay Gap study by the AAUW that also found a pay gap that starts at the entry level and expands as the careers progress. As the AAUW reports women, one year after having graduated college, earn 80 percent as much as their male counterparts but after 10 years of experience, women earn 69 percent when compared to males with the same amount of experience. The AAUW figures looks at a cross section of industries where career choice may influence pay whereas Glassdoor has isolated engineering jobs specifically.

Location plays a part in engineering pay inequities

The AAUW also reported variances in gender pay when looked at by location. Based on Glassdoor data, the average pay gap for women engineers also varies by metropolitan area:

Glassdoor Report: Gender pay gap in top 5 cities with the most female engineers
	City	Male Engineer Annual Pay	Female Engineer Annual Pay	Female Pay as % of Male
1	New York	$103,398	$95,881	92.7%
2	San Diego	$96,569	$85,030	88.1%
3	San Jose	$118,040	$102,799	86.9%
4	Austin	$95,287	$82,800	86.9%
5	Seattle	$102,566	$79,596	77.6%

When looking at the top 5 cities with the most female engineers, we found that female engineers fared best in New York, where they earned on average 92.7% of their male counterparts. The largest pay gap was seen in Seattle where female engineers typically earn just 77.6% of their male counterparts.

Employers with high percentage of female engineers

The analysis also looked at which companies represented on Glassdoor.com employ the highest percentage of female engineers, which is not a number typically reported on company career websites. We found familiar names such as Northrop Grumman , Dell, GE Healthcare, Apple had the highest reported % of female engineer salaries on Glassdoor.

Closing the Gap – Everyone can Help

While this analysis doesn’t give us insight into other factors that could be at play within companies and markets that might account for the gap, it does raise important issues and questions that women engineers can use to have conversations with their supervisors and human resource representatives. This type of disparity is why transparency around compensation is so vital, especially in light of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, signed by President Obama on January 29, 2009. The Ledbetter Act only gives remedy to discovered acts of inequity. The challenge, of course, is first being able to determine whether or not inequity exists. This is extremely difficult today and why contributing anonymously on Glassdoor can help bring gaps to light and ensure pay – if all things (education, experience, performance) are equal — is more equitable around the globe. Stay tuned for tips from Glassdoor.com career expert and former HR executive on how to raise inequity concerns.

In the meantime, we’d love to hear from male and female engineers and managers –or any professional — about whether you think gender pay gaps exist in your organization.

¹Engineers include a variety of different jobs working in the field of engineering, including software engineers, hardware engineers, engineering managers, etc.

Engineering Pay Gap? Glassdoor Reveals Many Women Engineers Earn Less than Men is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Black Friday may be extra hard on Wal-Mart employees…

Tim Besse — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:33:12 +0000

Editor’s Note: Sadly, this post was prophetic – it was written before we received the very sad news this morning that a Wal-Mart employee was trampled to death as people rushed into a Long Island Wal-Mart on Black Friday. Glassdoor extends its deepest sympathies to those that were injured or died, and their families, in this senseless violence. [11/28/2008 10:20am PST]

Black Friday, the traditional start of the holiday shopping season which falls the day after thanksgiving, may be particularly hectic for Wal-Mart employees this year. That’s because high jobless rates and record low consumer confidence will cause holiday shoppers to seek out deep discounts in order to stretch their holiday budget further. Wal-Mart, known for its low prices, is a natural place for discount seeking shoppers to turn. This added influx of holiday shoppers may be bad news for Wal-Mart employees, who are already “Dissatisfied” with the overall work experience at Wal-Mart, which rates lowest among employees of major retailers on Glassdoor.com

We compared employer ratings of frontline sales associates at major retail chains and found Wal-Mart to be at the bottom of the list of places to work, with overall scores of “Dissatisfied”. Other retailers, Best Buy and Nordstrom topped the list with overall scores from their sales associates of “Satisfied”.

Retail Chain	Sales Associate’s overall employer rating:
Best Buy	3.7	“Satisfied”
Nordstrom	3.7	“Satisfied”
Circuit City	3.0	“Neutral”
Target	2.7	“Neutral”
Wal-Mart	2.3	“Dissatisfied”

Looking a little deeper, we find that Wal-Mart sales associate’s rate Wal-Mart particularly low for Employee Moral and Fairness and respect:

Sales Associate’s category ratings of their employers

So what’s to make of all this? Well, if you find yourself holiday shopping at Wal-Mart this year, please try to be extra kind to the sales associates – chances are they are they may be having a bad day.

Black Friday may be extra hard on Wal-Mart employees… is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Employees remain positive but layoff talk is on the rise

Tim Besse — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 01:14:05 +0000

I’m sure I don’t need tell you that the economy is performing REALLY badly these days. U.S. jobless rates are at a 14-year high and consumer confidence numbers are at an all time low. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 37.2% year to date, and personally I can’t bring myself to look at my 401(k) statement. All of this economic turmoil prompted us to analyze company reviews & ratings on Glassdoor to find out what effect the economy was having on how employees review and rate their companies.

Company reviews remain balanced
Since our launch, employees have shared a pretty balanced view of their employers. On average, 42.4% of reviews are positive, 32.2% are negative, and 25.2% are neutral. When we compare our positive review percentage to the Consumer Confidence Index, we see that majority of reviews have remained positive and constructive, even in October, when the Consumer Confidence Index plummeted to an all time low of 38 (1980=100). Frankly, that surprised us. We hypothesized that when the economy slowed, employer ratings on Glassdoor.com would fall, but they haven’t. That’s the good news.

Layoff talk is on the rise
Now, the bad news. We searched company reviews on Glassdoor.com for various forms of the word “layoff” and found that the percentage of reviews that mention “layoff” has increased sharply, particularly with employees at AOL/Time Warner, Sprint Nextel and Alcatel-Lucent. In fact, the percentage of reviews mentioning layoff has grown six out of the last eight months, and has increased 64.2% from a low of 2.8% in April to a high of 4.6% in November.

Rank	Company	% of reviews that mention “Layoff”
1	AOL/Time Warner	34.70%
2	Sprint Nextel	24.00%
3	Alcatel-Lucent	23.90%
4	Avaya	23.50%
5	Nortel Networks	22.20%
6	Ford Motor	20.00%
7	Sun Microsystems	18.90%
8	Washington Mutual	15.60%
9	Pfizer	14.50%
10	Hewlett-Packard	14.30%

So overall, our analysis has revealed that as the economy worsens, a majority of employees have remained positive about their employers but are expressing more and more concern about losing their jobs. So if you are looking to move around in your career or start your career, keep a close eye on what the Glassdoor community is telling you. We will keep watching these trends and keep you posted on any developments.

Employees remain positive but layoff talk is on the rise is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

October’s Review of the Month

Tim Besse — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 18:36:20 +0000

It’s been tough to report good news in the financial services industry recently, but today a former employee from Bank of America, one of the world’s largest banking institutions, received some good news – $500 worth of good news to be precise. This former Bank of America Credit Analyst has been selected as the winner of the Glassdoor’s October “Review of the Month”. This review came to our attention because it was voted by several Glassdoor members as ‘helpful’. So without further ado – here are some of the specifics that make this review a worthwhile read (especially for those in the financial services industry).

This Credit Analyst’s review stresses the impact that location, management and banking division have on the shape of one’s career experience at Bank of America, so be sure to research those areas before joining the bank (read the full review here):

I can’t stress how much your experience at the bank will be VERY dependent on what city you live in, what division you work in, and who your manager is. Some managers are highly incompetent, and poor motivators, others are great motivators, great leaders, and inspire you to work hard. So when you interview, assess your manager very well.

And if you are debating a career in the financial industry now and are worried about job security, the reviewer suggests you might consider a safer industry and would also be wise to negotiate for your severance package up front if you can (not always the most planned or expected form of compensation).

In this environment, banking jobs are hard to come by, and there is a lot of stress and worry about being downsized, so a safer industry may be more appealing right now. If you go, try to negotiate severance up front.

Lastly, the reviewer points out to management that they need to do a little more to keep the best people from leaving.

Take a hard look at what you offer displaced employees…In my time at the bank, I’ve seen a lot of talented people leave for negligible amounts of money. The bank would be a better place if they were able to keep some of these people.

Thanks for the good review – we hope that other Glassdoor community members continue to benefit from this insight.

Keep the reviews coming – you might be our next $500 Review of the Month winner! Post your review and salary now!

October’s Review of the Month is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

No Escaping Politics…

Tim Besse — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:26:46 +0000

It goes without saying that there is a lot riding on the upcoming presidential election, so for a little while longer, there will be no escaping the endless barrage of politics. But what about escaping politics of a different kind, the kind that are not tied to the election cycle but affect you just the same? I’m talking about “office politics”, and if you have ever worked for a company that suffers from it, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

We decided to uncover the companies on Glassdoor.com that seem to be suffering the most from office politics. We searched more than 100,000 company reviews and counted the number of times employees used the words “politics” or “political” when describing their workplace, and then sorted by the companies where those words appeared the most. So we present to you the top 5 companies that received the most mentions of the “P” words.

5 Worst Companies for Office Politics

Rank	Company	% of reviews mentioning ‘politics’ or ‘political’
1	Salesforce.com	29%
2	Fidelity Investments	22%
3	Yahoo!	16%
4	Johnson & Johnson	15%
5	Procter & Gamble	15%

At the top of the list is Salesforce, with 29% of Salesforce reviews contain the ‘P’ word compared to the average of 6.5%. That means Salesforce employees are 4.5 times more likely to use the word “Politics” when describing their company than employees at other companies. So if you don’t like office politics, you would be wise to do your homework by researching company reviews and salaries, as well as asking good questions during your interview before joining any of the aforementioned companies.

Since Salesorce made the top of the list, are you curious to know what’s going on over there? Well, it seems that a common complaint is that internal politics factor too much into the promotion process. Here are a few review excerpts from salesforce employees:

Advancement really depends on political postering and dealing with that takes away from the fun of the actual work. – Senior Business Analyst in San Francisco

Internal promotion has become political and long-winded. – Sales in San Francisco

Politics play a huge role in your career path. If your not part of the “club” then your path is going to be a long one, even with success. – AE in San Francisco

A very young, aggressive, smart and energized workforce has its downside: intense politics. If you are not in the right place or plugged in with the right crowd, it’s hard to get ahead – Senior Program Manager in San Francisco

Most promotions are based on political savvy instead of your contribution to the company. – Manager, Sales Strategy in San Francisco

Clearly the above employees find the politics at salesforce a downside of working there, but different strokes for different folks. Some people (political people) thrive in a political environment. As one salesforce employee puts it:

If you love a political workplace, then Salesforce.com is for you

No Escaping Politics… is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Dunder Mifflin Salaries Revealed by Glassdoor.com

Tim Besse — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 03:20:28 +0000

As huge fans of NBC’s The Office, we’re anxiously awaiting this season’s premiere. Call us geeks but we thought it might be fun to see what the self-proclaimed “World’s Best Boss” and the rest of his fictional Scranton-based team would earn if Dunder Mifflin existed in the real world.

Here’s how they’d stack up according to real salaries posted on Glassdoor for similar job titles at Dunder Mifflin-like companies. Take a look:

salaries for Dunder Mifflin

It gets pretty interesting once salary transparency gets thrown into the mix. So, what do you think your “office” salary chart would look like? Find out by posting an anonymous salary and review for your company at Glassdoor.com.

Dunder Mifflin Salaries Revealed by Glassdoor.com is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Related posts:Life Imitates Art? Office Depot, Staples and Dunder Mifflin Citi Salaries Up; Bonuses Down QUIZ: How Much is Your Office Like ‘The Office’?

Dunder Mifflin Salaries Revealed by Glassdoor.com is a post from: Glassdoor Blog

Mac Geniuses vs. Geek Squad CIAs

Tim Besse — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 19:58:43 +0000

Recently a friend asked me if I knew someone who could help them fix their laptop. Immediately what popped into my head were all of the Apple Store “Mac Geniuses” and Best Buy “Geek Squad Central Intelligence Agents” that have been posting reviews and salaries on Glassdoor. What are “Geek Squad Agents” and “Geniuses”? Well, every Best Buy has a counter staffed with Geek Squad “Central Intelligence Agents” (or CIA’s for short) that provide computer support services to customers. Likewise, in every Apple Store you will find a “Genius Bar” staffed with “Mac Geniuses” that are specially trained and certified to help you with Apple hardware and software. The Geek Squad and the Mac Geniuses have been very active on Glassdoor, so I asked Paul (He’s our data manager) to help me dig a little deeper into these two jobs. We’ve created a comparison of how these two seemingly similar jobs compare from an outsiders perspective. Let’s get started…

Mac Genius Uniform vs. Geek Squad Uniform

At a glance, one of the most striking differences between Geniuses and the Geeks is how they dress:

Mac Genius Uniform vs Geek Squad Uniform

The Geniuses get to dress a bit more “hip,” sporting jeans, a black apple t-shirt, and sneakers. The primary accessory that goes with this outfit is an ipod, which many Genius’s wear dangling from their neck. In stark contrast, the Geek Squad CIAs sports a more formal “Agent Uniform”. It consists of a short sleeve white collared shirt, a “Breakaway tie” (which means clip-on), black slacks (or skirt for the female agents), shiny black shoes, and a belt. Not sure about you, but if I had to choose one of these outfits to wear to work, it wouldn’t be a competition.

Mac Genius Pay vs. CIA Pay

Looking at Glassdoor’s pay profiles for each of these jobs reveals that on average Mac Geniuses get paid nearly 60% more than the in-store Geek Squad CIA Agents:

Mac Genius Pay vs Geek Squad CIA Pay

Another interesting difference is that Apple Mac Genius’s reported working 40 hours per week on average, compared to just 30 hours on average reported by the CIA’s. (For all the Geek Squad Agents reading this, we compared CIA’s to Mac Genius, treating Senior CIA’s as a separate job, and thus excluding them from this analysis. Click here to see pay for Geek Squad, Senior CIA)

Mac Genius Job Satisfaction vs. CIA Job Satisfaction

Although Mac Geniuses enjoy higher pay and a more palatable dress than Geek Squad CIAs, they rate Apple only slightly higher than CIAs rate Best Buy:

Mac Genius Satisfaction vs Geek Sqaud CIA Satisfaction

In most categories, Apple Mac Geniuses are slightly more satisfied than the Geeks. When it comes to CEOs, however, 84% of the Geniuses approve of Apple CEO Steve Jobs; compared to just 45% of the CIAs who approve of Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson.

What to make of all this?

The Mac Geniuses get paid more, and they have a more hip and casual working environment, so we both expected the Geniuses’ ratings for Apple to be much higher than the Geeks’ ratings for Best Buy. There’s the key benefit of employee discounts, which apply to a broader range of products at Best Buy so maybe that comes into play. Although, you’ll see Best Buy CIAs have slightly higher opinion about work-life balance, which for many people is a valuable trade off. Or, maybe there’s a lot more satisfaction to be had from wearing the “breakaway tie” than one would think. What do you think?

Mac Geniuses vs. Geek Squad CIAs is a post from: Glassdoor Blog