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Which Job Offer Should You Choose? Here’s a Great Tool To Evaluate Compensation Packages.

What matters most to you when it comes to your job compensation package? How do you decide which job to select if presented with multiple job offers or considering leaving one employer for another? 

Different people have different needs. As a result, pay matters differently to different people. Some employees prefer flexibility over a higher base pay. Others prefer options that will offer more long-term benefits. 

This unique total job compensation calculator, developed by Professor Kevin Hallock, a faculty member and dean in Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, can help guide you in your decision-making. You can compare different job offers and calculate their total rewards below. 

ACCESS THE JOB COMPENSATION CALCULATOR 

Feel free to put this tool to use on an individual level, to analyze your own offers, or within an organizational context, to design and evaluate competitive compensation systems. If you’re a manager or HR leader, you can use this tool to explore various types of rewards within the context of employee preferences and perceptions. Consider your organizational goals. What matters most to the talent you want to attract and retain? What components do they value most? 

This calculator is part of the curriculum in the Compensation Studies Certificate program developed by Cornell’s ILR School. If you’re an HR professional or  business leader, we invite you to learn more about this unique online program.

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Moving Beyond the Gig Economy: The Case for the Independent Worker

Workers in our growing gig economy are stuck in a regulatory grey area where they fit neither the standard legal definition of employee nor that of independent contractor. They don’t work for any specific employer; instead, they perform on-demand tasks for consumers of short duration (i.e., “a gig”), either hired directly or through a third party intermediary. In effect, gig workers work for themselves. The most well-known intermediaries today are online: ride-sharing apps Uber and Lyft, the taxi app Curb, or food delivery service GrubHub. Sign up to be an Uber driver and you can make money on-demand and on your schedule—without the ties that normally bind employees. In between rides, Uber drivers aren’t on call and don’t have to give up other jobs in order to work gigs.

The Trade-Off

Intermediaries’ (Uber, Lyft, GrubHub et al) success rests on workers accepting more gigs more often, since most collect a percentage on each fare or fee. Yet gig workers face a trade-off as they engage more heavily with intermediaries. Since they don’t fit the category of employee, they aren’t protected by anti-discrimination laws and don’t qualify for benefits accorded to that status. They also can’t enter into customer agreements or negotiate their own rates. The result is a quiet violation of the social contract that’s been in place in the U.S. since the early 20th century. Namely, workers are willing to give up their time and some of their freedom in exchange for fair wages, treatment, and equal opportunities.

Enter the Independent Worker

This lack of clarity for workers also hurts the growth of intermediaries like Uber, who is facing federal class action lawsuits from drivers who allege the company is acting like an employer when it penalizes them for turning off the app or not picking up enough rides in a specified time period. Unfortunately, companies have only two options for classifying gig workers and neither fits. The most common sense solution? Differentiate a new, third category of employment: the independent worker. The idea, according to a 2015 discussion paper by The Hamilton Project, is to create an independent worker status that’s neutral compared to employee status—offering gig workers many of the same protections and benefits, while allowing intermediaries to pool workers to lower the costs of purchasing or providing insurance or other benefits without risking the relationship turning into that of employer/employee.

Fast forward into the future of the independent worker by joining eCornell for a live online roundtable discussion on September 18, 2017 with Seth Harris, former Deputy Secretary for the U.S. Department of Labor and co-author of The Hamilton Project paper “A Proposal for Modernizing Labor Laws for Twenty-First-Century Work: The “Independent Worker,” alongside his Cornell University colleagues and experts in employment law. This webcast is included in a subscription to eCornell’s Human Resources WebSeries Channel, bringing Cornell’s expertise live and on-demand to HR professionals.

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eCornell offers Psychology of Leadership certificate

eCornell is offering a new, all-online certificate in the Psychology of Leadership, a program that distills complex leadership behaviors and more than 50 years of empirical research into a concrete set of tools professionals can use to cultivate their ability to influence and lead in all settings.

“Professionals have limited time for development, and it’s not practical for them to try everything to find what works. This new program is the result of a lifetime of work, rendering a broad range of behavioral theories and research down to a set of 15 to 20 core ideas that reap results quickly, across multiple contexts,” said program author Allan Filipowicz, clinical professor of management and organizations at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.

The Psychology of Leadership certificate consists of six interactive online courses that can be completed over three months with three to five hours of study per week in an engaging, small-class setting. Each course unpacks key behaviors like goal setting, managing personal and team performance, emotional intelligence and influencing others. Filipowicz uses worksheets, physical activities and simulations to provide students with a visceral understanding of the concepts.

Students also benefit from Filipowicz’s diverse academic and professional background; he teaches MBA students and global executives, has worked in finance and consulting, and holds advanced degrees in engineering, international affairs, social psychology, business and organizational behavior.

One of 12 Leadership and Strategic Management certificates offered by eCornell, Psychology of Leadership is relevant for professionals regardless of level, industry or sector, and ideal for current leaders seeking to improve personal and team performance. It’s also for organizations to use in developing new leaders and managers, and for anyone who needs to get things done through others. Students who complete this program receive a professional certificate from the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business.

Sarah Thompson is a freelance writer for eCornell.

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Climbing Higher: How Higher Education Can Get You Promoted

If you’re feeling stalled at your company, a certificate could be your best way up the ladder. It was for eCornell graduate John Gleich, who now serves as Director of Supply Chain and Logistics at a biotech company after graduating from our Executive Leadership Program. Here is his first-hand story, which was recently published within USA Today, in a special feature on today’s working adult learners:

Earlier in my career, I kept getting passed over for promotions by people who had MBAs. But I have two kids and commute two hours to work — there was no way I could afford the time to do a full-blown MBA program.

Rookie Gleich Arivale PhotoI decided to try an online certificate program in Executive Leadership because it fit my life and provided me with an Ivy League credential.  While I was a little unsure what to expect with learning online, it turned out to be the best decision I could have made.  The instructors and other students were really dialed in. They always pushed you to the next level, provided unique insights, and answered your questions with real breadth and depth.

One of the best courses I took was on how to influence within an organization and build a network both inside and outside your company. I always thought my career was stalled because I didn’t have the right degree, but I soon realized this was the piece I was missing as a leader. That was a game-changer — I was promoted from manager to Associate Director, to Director within less than a year. Now I run Supply Chain for a biotech startup that’s on track to double its growth next year.

If you’re thinking about an online certificate program, here’s my advice:

  • Pitch the idea to your company as a win-win and see if they are willing to help pay for it. Many organizations would be happy to subsidize all or part of the cost as part of your professional development.
  • The flexibility alone is a great reason to go for it. I was able to spend my commute and business travel time more productively doing coursework — and could even push pause to spend summer vacation with my family.
  • When you’re stuck at the same level for a long time, a certificate program can give you that incremental edge to set yourself apart. It shows your company that you want to go beyond the required training and do something more meaningful that will make a lasting impact. And that can really take you as far as you want to go.
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Leadership Communication – Power Up Your Presence

Professional presence is a combination of how you look, act and speak. Presence helps others around us quickly decide whether they want to work with us or trust us with greater responsibility. Many people are unaware of behaviors they exhibit that detract from their professional presence. This webcast will make you aware of some simple things you can do to power up your presence and improve the opportunities provided to you at work.

In this interactive session, Angela Noble-Grange, Senior Lecturer of Communication at the Johnson School, will help you identify your own shortcomings and outline how you can overcome them to communicate and act with confidence, authority and a powerful presence.

In this fast-paced discussion, you’ll learn:

  • How to correct your communication style to be more effective and get results.
  • To develop your own personal pitch and communication style.
  • How to capture a listener’s attention and elevate your standing as a leader.

 

Here’s a 5-minute excerpt from our recent WebCast with Angela Noble-Grange of the Johnson School at Cornell.

Would you like to see the full-length presentation? Then go here to sign up for your free 30-day trial and view the entire presentation on the Women in Leadership Channel.

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Maximize Your Web Presence with LinkedIn

A thoughtfully managed, carefully crafted Web presence is no longer optional for professional people. It is not merely helpful to have a positive Web reputation; today, most professions and industries expect you to have one. Remember that your Web reputation reflects not only on you, but on the organization you work for.

LinkedIn is the largest online professional network worldwide. Hundreds of millions of professionals around the world maintain a profile on the service. Here’s a few tips on how to make your LinkedIn profile work for you, especially if you’re looking for career advancement or change:

  • Change the vanity URL on your LinkedIn profile to include your name.
  • Use keywords from your target job descriptions and your résumé that are applicable to your skill set. This increases the chance that hiring managers who search for talent on LinkedIn will find you within their target searches.
  • Use the power of your contacts to help build a target list of companies where you want to work, and to locate appropriate contacts at those firms.
  • Join groups on LinkedIn to help expand the reach of your connections. LinkedIn advises that you must have a minimum of 50 connections for this search function to produce favorable results, but a minimum of 100 connections is most beneficial.

The certificate you earned from eCornell looks great listed under the Education section of your LinkedIn profile. Here are the instructions from LinkedIn on how to add an Education section to your profile and populate it:

  1. Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage, then View Profile.
  2. If you have not added to your Education section before, click Add profile section in the introduction section. From the Core dropdown, click Add education.
  3. If you have added to your Education section before, scroll down to that section and click the + (plus) symbol.
  4. Type your education information into each applicable field.
    1. School: Enter Cornell University and select it from the dropdown.
    2. Degree: Enter the word “Certificate,” followed by name of the program that you completed. For example: Certificate, Marketing Strategy.
    3. Field of study: Leave blank.
    4. Start date: This field is optional. If you choose, you can enter the date you began your first course.
    5. End date: Enter the completion date listed on your certificate.
    6. Grade: Leave blank.
    7. Activities and societies: Leave blank.
    8. Description: This field is optional. If you choose, you can enter the certificate description, faculty authors, or course names — whatever you decide is most relevant for those viewing this certificate listing on your profile.
  5. Click Save.

If you have completed multiple eCornell certificate programs, you may choose to enter them all under one Education listing. In that case, enter the following information.

  1. Type your education information into each applicable field.
    1. School: Enter Cornell University and select it from the dropdown.
    2. Degree: Enter the word “Certificates” only.
    3. Field of study: Leave blank.
    4. Start date: Enter the completion date listed on your earliest completed certificate.
    5. End date: Enter the completion date listed on your most recently completed certificate.
    6. Grade: Leave blank.
    7. Activities and societies: Leave blank.
    8. Description: Enter a list of all completed certificate programs. For example:
      1. Marketing Strategy
      2. Data Analytics
  2. Click Save.

As an eCornell student, you are welcome to join eCornell’s Official Group on Linkedin. It is a great way to network with your peers and gather valuable information helpful to your career.

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How to Reach Your Professional Tipping Point

Why are certificates on the rise, and degrees in decline?

The proliferation of professional certificate programs is easily explained: As compared to postsecondary degree programs, online certificate programs are more cost-effective, convenient, and take less time to complete. A certificate program enables you to focus on learning particular skills and techniques that can be applied directly to your job.

Completion of a certificate program typically comes with a hard-copy credential that demonstrates competence and expertise. For most, the attraction is to become more valuable or attractive to an employer.

While degree programs tend to suffer from high attrition, certificate programs boast higher completion rates, often over 90%. In short, certificates are a convenient and affordable way to skill up without incurring huge debt or a costly time investment.

Read More

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Mentorship Redux

Think of the classic mentor/protege relationship. Your mind may conjure up images of the benevolent, caring tutor and the eager, receptive student in a perfect give and take. A friendly, healthy exchange of ideas and wisdom. Sounds idyllic…

But the truth is, this scenario might not be ideal for your professional development. Having a mentor is a privilege that most people, unfortunately, don’t get to enjoy. But given the opportunity, is the best choice a mentor who validates your current assumptions and reinforces the way you already work?

We all know that things that “just feel right” or make us comfortable are often the worst things for us. So don’t settle. Move between mentors if needed. If you’re not challenged, it’s time to move on.

This isn’t to suggest that you should only pursue a mentor who doesn’t feel right or makes you feel uncomfortable. But take a moment and look outside of your comfort zone. Identify someone who can provide cold, hard advice, or steer you toward a path you might not have taken otherwise. You want to sharpen and diversify your skill set.

Consider seeking out someone at work who challenges your sensibilities, upends your idea of how things are supposed to be done—maybe even someone who flat-out frightens you.

Look for a mentor who’ll make you step up your game, who sets you back on your heels—someone who exhibits behaviors that you find professionally admirable, but difficult to imagine in yourself: shrewdness, unflappability, assertiveness. Does anyone in particular come to mind? Float the idea by them and see how they respond. People who scare others away often make the best mentors.

The question for many is “Who do I choose?” or “Where do I turn?” For those who work in mid- to large-sized companies, there are most likely opportunities within for mentoring partnerships. For telecommuters or people who work remotely, you shouldn’t have too much difficulty finding a mentor who’s willing to pair up remotely. It’s more common practice than you’d think.

In fact, many large international companies, such as IBM and Hewlett-Packard, have distance mentoring programs built into their learning and development systems. With hundreds of thousands of employees dispersed across the globe, sharing knowledge resources and leveraging in-house expertise across the company network makes perfect sense. It improves company culture and increases retention and engagement.

For the self-employed or small business owner with few connections, you’ll find no shortage of resources online. The reason mentorships are so desirable is that they aren’t just a winning proposition for the mentee. It’s a two-way street; the mentor has everything to gain as well. Teaching can be incredibly rewarding and there is as much to be gained by the mentor.

The ideal mentor/mentee relationship is one that balances harmony with tension, forces us to be creative, and helps us grow to become something greater than what we’d be otherwise.

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“He scares me to death. That’s why I’ve asked him to be my mentor”

Think of the classic mentor/protege relationship. Your mind may conjure up images of the benevolent, caring tutor and the eager, receptive student in a perfect give and take. A friendly, healthy exchange of ideas and wisdom. Sounds idyllic…

But if you’re looking for a mentor who can provide cold, hard advice and sharpen and diversify your skillset, you might be best served by going outside your comfort zone.
Consider seeking out someone at work who challenges your sensibilities, upends your idea of how things are supposed to be done—maybe even someone who flat-out frightens you.

Look for someone who’ll make you step up your game, who sets you back on your heels—someone who exhibits behaviors that you find professionally admirable, but difficult to imagine in yourself: Shrewdness, unflappability, assertiveness. Does anyone in particular come to mind? Float the idea by them and see how they respond. People who scare others away often make the best mentors.

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A recruiter will spend 6 seconds on your resume. If you’re lucky.

From Flowing Data: During evaluations, eye tracking software was employed, and they found that the recruiters spent about six seconds on a resume looking for six main things: name, current company and title, previous company and title, previous position start and end dates, current position start and end dates, and education. After that, it was a crapshoot.

Beyond these six data points, recruiters did little more than scan for keywords to match the open position, which amounted to a very cursory “pattern matching” activity. Because decisions were based mostly on the six pieces of data listed above, an individual resume’s detail and explanatory copy became filler and had little to no impact on the initial decision making. In fact, the study’s eye tracking technology shows that recruiters spent about 6 seconds on their initial “fit/no fit” decision.

HR pros, Any thoughts on how much time you think spend on each resume? I wonder how accurate or representative this feels to all of you.