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Sizing Up Admin Salaries and Office Skills
Monster member orangeweaverfinch posts: I am seeking to find a permanent, midlevel clerical job immediately. I claim to know Microsoft Word and Microsoft Outlook. I do not claim to know Microsoft Excel. Although I learned Excel six years ago, I don’t remember it, because I never used it on any job. I am tempted to relearn Excel, which would open up many more possibilities insofar as positions I could apply for. However, if I did relearn Excel, I would have to demand a minimum of $17 an hour. I fear that because I have never earned more than $15 an hour, employers might be reluctant to pay me $17 an hour, even with Excel. I fear, therefore, that I could be sentencing myself to many more months of unemployment if I relearn Excel.
I tend to believe that I will find a job more quickly if I stick with the skills I already have, at a wage I have already earned. But I have been diligently job hunting for nearly four months with no results. What do you think? Should I relearn Excel and require $17 an hour or stay with Word and Outlook and ask for $15 an hour?
The Negotiation Expert responds: Offering to relearn a skill you once had isn’t going to help your short-term employability. If I were you, I’d lower my salary expectations to $15 per hour in order to make myself more employable. Also if I were you, I’d say my anticipated salary was negotiable within the $14 to $16 per hour range. That puts the burden on you to show how your current qualifications are a great match for the requirements of jobs for which you’re applying so, hopefully, you’ll end up at $15 per hour.
Since you’re not working, I think you have to be prepared to take the same or even less per hour to get your foot back in the employment door. You can prove what you’re capable of doing after you land a job. Getting a job is the object of the exercise at this point.
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