Are you hoping to take advantage of the job market and slide into a new GIS role this year? If so, there are so many things beyond the salary that you need to consider. I’m all about making sure that you have a good salary and I’m all for positions posting your salary in the job description— because the salary matters. I have actually written all about this. However, often I think that we can focus TOO MUCH on the salary and not focus on some other aspects of a role and ensuring that you are a good fit. When I‘m coaching someone one-on-one I often have found that when they are weighing if they should take on a new GIS role they are looking so much at the salary and forgetting to look at other aspects.
I’m going to outline a few other benefits for you to consider as you think about taking a new role in GIS or Data Science. This accompanies a video that I recently posted over on my YouTube channel.
So if you are interested in getting a list of things that you should consider before taking a new GIS job then you can find it in the list below! You’ll need to enter your email address to get started and you’ll be added to my email list. It is easy to unsubscribe if that’s not your thing and we don’t sell or share your personal information.
[et_bloom_locked optin_id=”optin_4″]
Here’s a list of things that you need to consider before you take a new job!
Salary:
How often do you increase the salary? Is there an annual performance review? When is that? And how long does one need to be with the organization to be eligible for it?
Medical Benefits
-What is the premium (the amount that you pay) each month?
-What is the co-pay for coverage? Example what do you have to pay for visiting your primary care doctor?
-What is the maximum out of pocket expense that you can pay?
-Is counseling covered? What’s the co-pay?
-If you are on a specific medication make sure that you ask to see the formulary on covered medications so you can understand what your out of pocket costs would be.
Retirement Benefits
Retirement benefits, because they are longer term, are often forgotten and not taken into account when you are looking for a job. My husband worked for an organization which if he put in 5% of his salary to his retirement account they would double the match — ie giving him 10% extra. And those are pre-tax dollars.
-Does the company match 401K contributions?
-How long do you have to stay with the company to vest? (Vesting is the amount of time that you have to stay with a company to get the amount that they put in).
Professional Development – Maybe this role doses’t come with a huge pay increase, but there’s a lot that the role can offer you.
-In this role would I be able to attend any conferences? Would I be limited to local conferences or would there be support for attending national conferences?
-What support is there for training in this role? What does an annual training plan look like? Am I able to do training on company time?
-Do you provide support for me getting additional education? Do I get time off of work? How long do I need to stay with the company to not have to pay these back?
-How will you as my boss work to mentor me? I have X goal (to be a GIS manager/ senior analyst etc) how do you support your employees in advancing their careers.
-What does upward movement in the organization look like?
-What’s the work culture. In particular this is a place where you will have to determine what some of your own personal values are and make sure that what matters most to you is aligned with the organizational culture.
-How flexible is the role? How is flexibility defined? Do I need to work 9-5 in the office? If I am a morning person can I start my day earlier? On occasion if I wanted to work 4 x 10 hour days so I could take a Friday off, is that allowed?
-What is the team like?
-How many hours will you be expected to work? How often are you expected to work on weekends?
-How often do you have to respond to “fires”where you will be expected to drop your personal plans?
[/et_bloom_locked]