Resumes & Salary Requirements

[TN_Vixen]

We are currently looking to hire an Admin. Asst/Cust. Serv. Rep in our company. It is amazing to me how much these people want to be paid starting out!! Some woman just emailed me her resume and wanted $45-55k! You have GOT to be kidding me? For an Administrative Asst?

Also, you have to consider that I live in TN, so the cost of living is much lower than it would be say, in Chicago.

What would you consider to pay an employee for this position?

 

[miles]

Can't say for sure without knowing the job requirements and how much experience you need. I would guess midpoint around $30 - 32K. Check your email

 

[R Nitelight]

TN_Vixen

Serving you would be reward enough.....

 

[TN_Vixen]

miles

I think $30k is too high. I was thinking somewhere around $22-$25k.

I checked email.. nothing there, whassup?


Nitelight: Are you putting in your application to be my slave?

 

[miles]

For those bucks you will get an entry level type with little or no experience. Are they an admin or an inside CSR? If they are just a phone drone, low 20's.

Rotsa ruck.

 

[R Nitelight]

TN_Vixen

I would be honored.
Sadly, a slave can only serve one Mistress.
Mine's in TX.

 

[TN_Vixen]

For those bucks you will get an entry level type with little or no experience. Are they an admin or an inside CSR? If they are just a phone drone, low 20's.

Rotsa ruck.

Actually they would be assisting me as well as being an outside CSR.

 

[Gaucho]

Also, you have to consider that I live in TN, so the cost of living is much lower than it would be say, in Chicago.

What would you consider to pay an employee for this position?

Miles has got it right. "Administrative Asst." is an umbrella that can cover a multitude of sins. What exactly would the job duties for this person be? Having just been through an extensive job search in this part of the country, I can tell you that even in Vermont, the salary range for an Administrative Asst can run from the low $20K to the high $30K, depending on just what this person will be expected to do once they're hired.

I can tell you that for $20K, you're not going to get much. Since no one can really live on that kind of money, you'll wind up with a) someone with little or no experience who, if they have anything on the ball won't be around long anyway, or b) the 2nd half of a two-income family, in which case they might just pleasantly surprise you.

And as for the relative cost of living, there are a number of people who work in big cities like Chicago but don't actually liive in them and you might be surprised to find that the cost of living in their town isn't a whole lot different than what the average is in a medium to big city in TN.

 

[miles]

TN_Vixen

If you want a top-notch person they are most likely already working and won't make a change for a couple of grand. You get what you pay for. $25K is around $12 an hour.

 

[Guest]

 

[lilfrk]

I'm moving to TN. OMG $25k for a secretary? I wipe asses for $9.50 an hour and I have for 10 years. Do I get weekends and holidays off? I can type with the best of them and I know phone etiquette. Do I get the job? I want a job like that geez.

Good luck finding what you want.

 

[TN_Vixen]

Re: TN_Vixen

If you want a top-notch person they are most likely already working and won't make a change for a couple of grand. You get what you pay for. $25K is around $12 an hour.

See? Mistress Honey & lilfrk both think that asking more than $25k is too much!!

There are a lot of perks working with this company. Quarterly bonuses being one of them, so the base salary doesn't necessarily equate to their total annual salary.

 

[PacificBlue]

Interesting Topic...

I am an Administrative Assistant searching for work, so I think I'm fairly in tune with what's being offered here. In this part of the country, the PacificNorthwest, anything with CSR in the title is going to knock the salary down to the low 20's. You can't live on it here though, so you've just resigned yourself to a poverty type lifestyle unless you take on a second job or have roommates.

The 24-28k seems to be the average for some skill level (4+ years) and a college degree. The positions that pay 30k+ are fewer and harder to find and are generally classified as Executive Assistants or Administrative Specialists/Coordinators.

I'm currently interviewing with a company whose starting salary is less than what I would like but the advancement opportunities, company perks, and benefits are very good. Trust me, I will never again complain about paying $28-30 a month for health insurance when right now I have to pay the full premium of $300 a month for the same coverage I had while working. At the time I was stupid and looked at it as money I was loosing from my take-home check. Wrong, wrong, wrong. I'm willing to adjust my budget and possibly even work a second nighttime job for the opportunity if it comes to that.

I do think the $44-55k is a little out of the ballpark for this type of position unless it's supporting an Executive member of the firm and requires a high level of skill. I have a difficult time judging salary based on job descriptions at times because sometimes they are so vastly different depending on the type of organization. The same type of job in a nonprofit organization is going to pay a lot less than in a private corporation.

 

[miles]

Like I said, without a true job description and requirements it's hard to say. What % of time will be spent on admin duties? Customer Service? Sales? It sounds like this position is a sales/customer support person, which is clerical. You can get salary demographics by job type at salary.com. It's fairly accurate.

 

[*bratcat*]

10 years ago...

 

[TN_Vixen]

Gaucho & Blue

Thanks for your input. I'm standing still at $24K base salary +bonus. I really don't care too much about experience, but I must have someone with whom I can work and who has a lot of self-confidence and drive... and someone who is sharp enough to quickly grasp the training. I believe that compensation can be negotiated over time so they will not feel the need to move onto another job if they are working out.

I feel much better about hiring someone for a mid-20's salary than I did this morning. Damn near every resume had $28+ requirements.

 

[Cheyenne]

I feel much better about hiring someone for a mid-20's salary than I did this morning. Damn near every resume had $28+ requirements.

We pay our receptionist more than $24k per year and she just answers phones (although it is a job where I'd last about 1/2 hour. We get a lot of calls.) Adm assistants are in the $30's. Exec assistants are in the low $40's. All of them in the upper $30's and low $40's have many years of experience. Clerk level people who do a lot of grunt work: copying, repetitive paper work, etc. are in the mid-$20's. All jobs are eligible for 10% annual bonus, also.

One question- if almost all the resumes are asking for $28K plus, how do you feel better about finding someone for $24K?

 

[morninggirl5]

Tn_Vixen,

I don't remember where in Tn you're from, I'm thinking North East TN. Where are the people from that are asking for $28K? I still have family and friends living there and I know that $24K is reasonable for the area.

(I know it's more than a teacher, policeman, or firefighter would make.)

 

[HARDKOREBJ]

JOB REQ.

it doesn`t seem fair that someone like me works like a dog and gets 8k a year.i have seen people get hurt real bad.they do it because its all they know.

 

[Cheyenne]

Re: JOB REQ.

it doesn`t seem fair that someone like me works like a dog and gets 8k a year.i have seen people get hurt real bad.they do it because its all they know.

??? $8,000 per year is below minimum wage for a full time job.

 

[miles]

Cheyenne

This is a fairly prevalent m.o. among some employers. Regardless of the salary ranges for similar jobs in the market, they will only pay x dollars. Sometimes it's due to budget restraints. Whatever the reason, the law of supply and demand is no different in the labor market. Top performers earn the highest salaries. Whatever is left over earns midpoint and below.

You may get something for nothing, but the second a better opportunity comes along, something will leave you with nothing.

 

[HARDKOREBJ]

IT IS UNFAIR

there are no laws against what a employer can pay you.i asked many times they say not in our budget.its the only job that i know of.i don`t have much of an education.i do odd jobs just to keep up.

 

[Cheyenne]

Re: IT IS UNFAIR

there are no laws against what a employer can pay you.i asked many times they say not in our budget.its the only job that i know of.i don`t have much of an education.i do odd jobs just to keep up.

But there ARE laws! I don't know what job you do, but there aren't that many that are exempt from minimum wage laws I don't think.

 

[TN_Vixen]

We pay our receptionist more than $24k per year and she just answers phones (although it is a job where I'd last about 1/2 hour. We get a lot of calls.) Adm assistants are in the $30's. Exec assistants are in the low $40's. All of them in the upper $30's and low $40's have many years of experience. Clerk level people who do a lot of grunt work: copying, repetitive paper work, etc. are in the mid-$20's. All jobs are eligible for 10% annual bonus, also.

One question- if almost all the resumes are asking for $28K plus, how do you feel better about finding someone for $24K?

Chey, we aren't a big company. I've worked places where they've paid the receptionist over $24k too, but this is a small company where the potential to increase your income will be based upon your level of production with quarterly bonuses reflecting your progress.

Most of the people who had emailed their resumes had quite extensive experience in either sales or adminstrative work. Like I said earlier, I don't care too much about the person having experience so I wouldn't pay $28-$35k to a person with little to no experience.

The East TN area workforce is quite different than even Nashville or Memphis. Few administrative assistants are paid more than $25k starting out. I would attribute it to having quite a bit of people to choose from for this particular position. It's a buyer's market!

 

[Kymberley]

I manage circulation for a specific region here in St. Louis, and I make $40K plus awesome benefits. Our Admin assts and CSR managers make only about $30K. If you are looking for more of a manager, you would have to consider the amount of experience they have supervising others. In the CSR departments, where phone service is a major part of the job, the positions are turning over so quickly that they would need to be able to train efficiently and realize that soon, they will be retraining a new person to fill that seat.