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Reviewing Offer Letters, How to Pick?

Posted on by Cheryl Rauh

Congratulations on your offers! You have now completed an important step in your professional journey. Whether this is for an internship, part-time, or full-time job, it is important to consider a variety of factors when choosing just one.

Salary

Obviously, salary is the main consideration when reviewing your potential offers. Internships and part-time work will usually be shown at an hourly rate, while full-time occupations will provide a yearly salary. Instead of automatically gravitating towards which offer is the highest, consider other forms of payment you will receive from your job:

  • Commission: A job in sales often includes forms of commission payments to you, the seller. Whatever inventory you take part in helping sell, you can receive a percentage of the profits.
  • Bonuses: These are payments to you on top of your yearly salary. Often bonuses will be based off of your performance in your field and work as an incentive to be the best employee you can be.
  • Benefits: Perks including health insurance, vacation days, and retirement are all important factors that play into your salary without being explicitly shown. Be sure to calculate your yearly benefits and consider how important each one is to you.

The below chart shows a comparison of job options for an individual. See how different benefits can affect the overall value of the offer? While the middle offer has the highest dollar value at the end, there is significantly less leave time than the other positions. Those extra dollars are earned with less time away. At the same time, the leave time has no value unless you use it.

Job Responsibilities

Even if you aim to be in a niche field of work, this is still an important aspect that requires contemplation. Reviewing the job description each company provides you is a great way to learn what their needs are in an employee. Be sure to ensure that this description aligns with your skillset and career goals. Ask your employer if you have any questions about what your day-to-day tasks will look like as well as opportunities for growth and advancement within the company.

Location

Location, location, location is a saying for a reason. Your job may bring you to a new city that brings important cost considerations along with it:

  • Cost of living: NerdWallet is a great resource for students to utilize, and compares equivalent salaries between cities (found here: https://www.nerdwallet.com/cost-of-living-calculator). Monthly costs like rent, groceries, and transportation vary from place to place so your living may look different even on a similar salary.
  • Commute time: How much time will you spend getting to and from work every day? How will you get there? How much will this cost on a daily basis? All of these questions are important to think about when choosing a position. These hidden costs can quickly add up over a year and can eat into your salary.

Company Reputation & Culture

A job takes up a significant portion of your lifetime, so it is vital to make sure this is a place where you feel comfortable and fulfilled. Company reputation can be researched by reviewing the history of the business, their mission statement, and any other reviews from current and former employees and customers. You will be associating your name with this company, so it is important to be proud of who you work for.

Finding a company’s culture may be more challenging than researching their reputation. Determining if the business’ values align with your own is found through your interview process and asking lots of questions. Factors including work-life balance, diversity, and employee engagement are all things to keep an eye out for in this process.

Powercat Can Help

You now have a better idea of how to choose between your potential job offers. Although this is a great general guideline to consider, each decision you face will be unique to you and requires a detailed approach. Here at Powercat Financial, we can walk you through the steps of this process and much more. Schedule a free and confidential appointment today at https://www.k-state.edu/powercatfinancial/ and take the next step in your professional journey!

Xander Say
Peer Counselor I
Powercat Financial
www.k-state.edu/powercatfinancial

Planning for your Post-Graduation Life

Posted on by Cheryl Rauh

Graduation is right around the corner!

Whether you are a freshman just beginning your academic career at K-State or a senior finishing up those last classes before May, thinking about starting your career, moving to the city of your dreams, or all the people you can meet while out in the world can be thrilling. However, have you thought about the details of what your future might look like? How your expenses may change with college life behind you? How your earnings could change with your new degree, or what your budget might look like after graduation? Planning ahead and answering these questions can be crucial when jumping into the world outside of college. This blog post covers some of these concerns and provides resources for further exploration.

 Step 1: determine a realistic starting salary

Before graduating from college and entering the workforce, students apply for all of the jobs that align with their passions in cities or towns that they feel comfortable with living in. One aspect that some students struggle with is knowing what might be a realistic salary for a starting position in their field. A 2022 survey found that most students over-estimate their starting salary by tens of thousands of dollars. This can result in disorientation and stress from that over-estimation.

Screenshot of the post-graduation salary information dashboard.

In order to avoid this, you need to set a realistic sense of your future entry-level salary and the cost of living. There’s good news though! There are tools to help. One of the tools available is the Career Center’s Post-Graduation Statistics, which includes a salary dashboard. This dashboard provides basic statistics collected on entry-level salaries organized by major.

When you use this tool, pay attention to how many reported salaries were used to create the averages. Some majors have very few submissions which can skew the data. If you look up your major and you find it has 20 or less, look for additional salary info through an alternate resource. Want to make sure this tool is accurate for future K-Staters? Report Your Job on the K-State Career Center website!

Other resources you can use to determine possible salary include careeronestop.org, myplan.com, salary.com, or the salary calculator found through jobsearchintelligence.com, which allows you to filter by location and years of experience.

Step 2: calculate the cost of your living expectations

Great job taking the first step for your future financial well-being! The second step that you need to take to prepare for the creation of a post-graduation budget is to figure out where you may want to live in the future and research the cost of living in that area. With this cost-of-living calculator from NerdWallet you are able to take where you currently live and contrast it with where you would like to live in the future.

Screenshot of the NerdWallet cost-of-living calculator tool.

This calculator will help you be more mindful with your budget. A salary of $100,000 could get you far here in Manhattan, Kansas but maybe not so far in New York City, where costs are much higher. Being able to note this difference is the crucial second step in setting a realistic expectation for your future self and setting yourself up for that healthy post-graduation budget.

Step 3: Create a post-graduation budget

Graduation and life after college can cause dynamic shifts in life. Whether it be moving to an entirely new city or having to get used to a whole new schedule, the transition from college life to work life can be huge! The last and final step of prioritizing your future financial well-being and planning for post-graduation is to anticipate likely changes and create of your post-graduation budget.

Another tool provided by Powercat Financial that is helpful with this goal is our Monthly Student Loan Debt Service Calculation sheet. It’s a short sheet that’s easy to fill out and covers the basic expenses such as rent, student loan repayment, and food. Input the salary you’ve been offered or the average starting salary you determined in step one. Then fill in realistic expenses for what you would think your future might look like. Start with familiar expenses like rent and food, then add in things you may never have covered before.

Screenshot of a monthly student loan debt service calculation spreadsheet.

One tricky thing to add is the current expenses that have been covered by a parent or guardian that you may take on when you graduate. Some of these expenses could include streaming services like Netflix, cleaning supplies for the apartment, car insurance, and health benefits. It’s best to brainstorm all of the potential expenses you might have that aren’t a part of the sheet above and add them. Do you want to get a pet? Will you need to travel home for holidays? Lots of your expenses may change. The more detail included in the budget the better!

Step 4: Enjoy life and adjust plans as necessary

Once you have completed step 3, you’ve set a foundation for your future financial well-being. The neat thing is, after you have graduated and can determine real numbers for these expenses, you’ll be able to update the spreadsheet, and your budget will adjust automatically. As more of these real numbers get added, the more attuned your budget will become to your life. Overall managing your expectations and creating a post-graduation budget can not only make life easier, but it can also help avoid lots of needless stress by helping you plan ahead!

Need help mapping your future budget?

If you would like to have some guidance or a peer to help as you draft your budget, Powercat Financial is here for you! We are a free service where your fellow students help with whatever financial questions you may have. Whether it be budgeting or maybe helping you calculate the amount of student loans you need, we would love to help. Our goal is to facilitate the financial well-being of each and every Kansas State University student. Schedule with us today through Navigate!

Jackson Harvey
Peer Counselor I
Powercat Financial
www.k-state.edu/powercatfinancial

Your Guide for Senior Year

Posted on by ekoochel

Senior year, while characterized by fun, maybe too much from time to time, can also be characterized by overwhelming stress regarding finding a job. At times, finding a job may seem impossible, but the good news is K-State is here to help you succeed in this endeavor…and here’s how!

Meet With Your Career Advisor

Meeting with your career advisor is an excellent way to jump start the job hunting process and to help you go the extra mile to set yourself apart from other candidates. Whether you don’t know what type of job you want or you want advice on how to score a job in your favorite city, your career advisor at the Career Center is here to help you. You can set up your free advising appointment by calling the Career Center at 785-532-6506.

On top of this, your college may also offer career advising services. For instance, if you’re majoring in the College of Business Administration, you can meet with a Career Coach by calling 785-532-3982 or by emailing CDBusiness@ksu.edu and receive some specialized advice for your specific major. If you’re outside of the College of Business, I recommend contacting your department and seeing what services are available.

Did I mention it’s all free?

Your Resume

Unless you have already been networking with recruiters, your resume is the first impression that employers will have of you. Making sure your resume is free from error and top of the line can be difficult with only one set of eyes. Having your resume looked at by your parents, roommate, coworker, etc. can help make sure that your resume isn’t tossed out for an “it’s/its” catastophe. It can also be difficult to put your expereinces into words, so having a professional in your industry review your resume can help as well. Asking your professors or your professional mentor to review your resume can also be a great way to make it through this stage of the job hunting process. The Career Center also offers resume critique drop-in times from 12:00-4:00pm Monday through Thursdays.

Interviews

Interviews can be terrifying, but luckily there are some resources that will help reduce this stress and help you obtain your dream job. Many K-State colleges host their own mock interviews conducted by professionals in the industry. You can also set up a mock interview with your career advisor. If you’re tight on time and your interview is around the corner, the Career Center has some awesome tips for acing your interview at http://www.k-state.edu/careercenter/documents/interviewpreparationpresentation.pdf. Further, looking up some common interview questions like those at the Glassdoor (https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/common-interview-questions/) can help you prepare for your interview.

Career Fairs

While the All-University Career fair is in the Fall, K-State offers several in the Spring! The Business Career Fair is coming up on Februray 22nd, as well as Education On-Campus Interviews will be coming up on March 6th. The Design Expo, for opportunities in architecture, product design, graphic design, and more, will also be coming up on on March 10th. For more information on any of these events, please visit http://www.k-state.edu/careercenter/students/events/.

Job Offers

Congrats on the job offer! You did it, but now which job offer do you accept? For some, this can be an easy decision based on location, type of job, start date, or other factors that are important to you. A lot of the time though, it can come down to the compensation. You may miss out on an awesome opportunity by only comparing salary to salary, instead of taking the benefits offered into consideration. Benefits such as health insurance, vacation time, 401(k) plans, and disability insurance can all greatly increase the value of the job offer. You can find lots of great information on how to analyze a job offer by using your free account at www.saltmoney.org. You can also set up an appointment with a Powercat Financial Counselor (www.k-state.edu/powercatfinancial/services) and you and your counselor can work through it together!

Jillian Taylor – Peer Financial Counselor III