We’re gift wrapping to benefit Employment For Seniors!

The Dawson IT recruiting team will be gift wrapping purchases made at Barnes & Noble at Lennox Town Center, 1739 Olentangy River Road, from 5-9 p.m. Wednesday, December 16.

Your packages are in capable hands! Dawson IT team gift wrapping at Barnes & Noble from 5-9 p.m. Wednesday, December 16.

Donations made for the gift wrapping will benefit the services of Employment For Seniors, a nonprofit referral organization which helps adults age 50+ find employment. Contributions will be used to help purchase computers for the organization’s volunteer career counselors to utilize when working with clients.

“The equipment we now use was donated to us seven years ago because it was too old. Needless to say, we’ve worked those machines till the life is almost gone,” said Dr. Carol A. Ventresca, executive director of EFS.

With a wide selection of books, videos, calendars and music as well as games and toys, Barnes & Noble has something for everyone on your holiday shopping list, said Catherine Reynolds, IT division manager, and the Dawson IT team is well qualified and up to the task of gift wrapping.

Recruiter Jessica Owens’ first job was gift wrapping packages at an upscale shop in Chicago. She specializes in crisp lines and precision paper alignment. “I’ve never met a ream of paper I couldn’t handle,” Owens said.

Jennifer De Tillio, another member of the team, is the master taper. “The secret is strategically placed adhesives at the folds,” she said. “But not too much, or otherwise the recipient will become frustrated while trying to open the gift.”

Reynolds is the resident bow expert who once won a blue ribbon in gift wrapping at the Franklin County Fair. “Peel and stick bows are for amateurs,” Reynolds said.

This is the second year that Dawson IT has gift wrapped for charity. Elizabeth Lupfer, senior manager of web technologies & interactive media, had her packages wrapped by the Dawson team last year.

“As a reformed sloppy gift wrapper, I never understood the meaning of a perfectly wrapped present until I saw the look of wonder on my daughter’s face last year,” Lupfer said. “They are an OCD person’s dream come true. And that’s precision detail you can find just anywhere!”

Dawson IT, a division of Dawson Resources, is a full service information technology search and staffing firm based in Columbus. Other capabilities include office, engineering and accounting/finance placements. More information about Employment For Seniors can be found at http://employseniors.org.

Follow Dawson IT on Twitter!  @CatRey @ITJobsColumbus @JenDT

Changing Jobs? Take a Compensation Inventory

I am often surprised when negotiating an offer on someone’s behalf about how little he know about his total compensation. What about you? If you are like most people, you probably know your hourly rate or top-line income before taxes.  Some people can recite it to the penny.  But what about the other value hidden in your pay stub?  Things like health insurance costs, retirement contributions and how your paid time off works.

For working candidates, you must review your pay stub and understand your deductions so that you can negotiate an offer that will meet your needs.

How terrible would it be to make a job change thinking you had received an eight percent raise, only to find out on your first paycheck that the increased cost of health insurance wiped out your gain?

And, in some cases, the net result of a lateral to small increase in compensation can actually increase your pay if your out-of-pocket benefits costs decrease.

For these reasons, I encourage you to take a Compensation Inventory before negotiating a new offer. To help, I have put together a few questions to ask in the main benefits categories:

Health Insurance

Find out:  What is the cost of your current health insurance? What is your deductible, copay, prescription costs? Are certain treatments that are important to you covered or not covered?

Health insurance coverage typically starts right away or the first of the month following hire. However, if there is a 90 day wait, you will have to make provisions for interim coverage. If you are currently working, perhaps you can negotiate a signing bonus to cover your COBRA payments.  Make sure when comparing costs that you are looking at pay frequency as well.  There is a difference in total cost for deductions from semi-monthly (24 pay periods/year) vs. biweekly (26 pay periods/year), for example.

Occasionally, I’ve had candidates inquire about coverage for specific treatments that are important to them. In these situations, the company HR person either provided me with the coverage detail or put the candidate in touch with their benefits administrator.  Sensitive questions of this nature should be asked only after an offer is made and before it is accepted.

Retirement Plan

Find out:  What is your current plan? Are your contributions matched? What is the vesting schedule?

You will want to find out eligibility requirements for your new retirement plan.  Sometimes you may have to wait up to 12 months to contribute to a new plan.  If this is the case, you may want to make arrangements to contribute to a traditional or Roth IRA in the interim.  If you are fortunate to go to a company with an immediate vesting schedule on employer contributions, this is like an extra boost to income. A three percent profit sharing contribution on a $60,000 income is $1,800. This is a terrific benefit with real value, especially if it vests quickly. Keep in mind that employee retirement plans have to be fair to all; a company cannot change it just for one person.

Paid Time Off

Find out: How is your PTO allocated currently? How many holidays do you have?

Some companies break PTO into specific categories of Vacation, Sick and Personal Leave.  Others combine it altogether into one category of Paid Time Off. Do some research to find out how much time you have off currently so that you can compare it to the new company.  A caveat:  some companies start all employees the same when it comes to PTO while there is room to negotiate with others. Some companies allow you to “buy” extra days of PTO.

Holidays typically aren’t negotiable as they are the same for all employees, but it is good to know which are observed. Most companies offer at least six standard holidays: New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas Day. If you are fortunate, you may get the day after Thanksgiving; and if you are really, really fortunate: MLK Day and/or Good Friday. If Columbus Day or Veteran’s Day is a vacation day for you, then you either work for a bank or the state and it’s unlikely you’ll get them off in your new job… unless you go to work for another bank. Or another state.

Bonuses & Overtime

Find out:  Did you receive a bonus last year? How much?

Some candidates tell me that they were eligible for a 10 percent bonus the year before, but they didn’t receive it due to market conditions. This isn’t really a strong point of negotiation.  Employers are more likely to be interested in W-2 of actual income earned. Don’t be surprised if you are ever asked to verify your past income in the form of your W-2. For a new position, you’ll want to know if there an annual or quarterly bonus.  If so, what are the criteria?  Was it given last year?

Regarding overtime, most professional positions are salaried exempt from it.  However, some consulting companies pay straight time for hours worked in excess of 40 per week. If you are going to work for a company like this, consider the opportunity for overtime income an additional incentive.

Dental, Vision, Life Insurance and Short & Long-Term Disability

Find out: Do you have these benefits currently?  What is the coverage and what is your cost?

You always can purchase these benefits separately, but it may be more cost effective in an employer plan. It is good to know if they are available.

Flexible Spending Account

The benefit of FSAs is that you can deduct medical, dental and vision related expenses pre-tax.   Without an FSA, there is no tax relief for these expenses.  In addition, you can save $1,500 in taxes for qualified childcare expenses if you are in a 30 percent tax bracket.  If you can use and manage your FSA, it’s more money in your pocket each month.

IN CONCLUSION

Chances are, if you are changing jobs, the benefits won’t align perfectly from one company to the next.

But not all career moves may be money motivated.  Smaller companies, for example, may not be able to offer the same level of benefits that more mature, established companies can offer. In these cases, the value in changing job comes from something other than what is found on a pay stub; perhaps it is the opportunity to build something new or to work in a more forward-thinking company culture.

No matter your reason, going through this exercise will prevent surprises and will give you the ability to negotiate on certain points that are important to you… monetarily or otherwise.

So get out that calculator and start crunching. Happy negotiating!