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GUEST BLOG: “How MUCH does this position PAY?” by Thomas Vozzella

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HOW MUCH DOES THIS POSITION PAY? by Thomas Vozzella
 
You find a great position. It might even be a position you have dreamed of being offered. Because you are overwhelmed with excitement, as soon as you are offered the position, you say yes without regard to the salary and benefit package. How many have taken a job because of the adrenalin rush of being offered a position. If you say never, you are not being honest with yourself.
 
If you are a Facebook user, you have read numerous disparaging posts by colleagues and friends regarding their position, their supervisor, their budgets, or lack thereof, difficulty with parents, and more.
 
Although this piece is not about Facebook and public postings, it does deserve a quick recommendation by this author: Do not post anything “ever” that would damage your present position, current relationship, and/or future positions. Follow the adage, if you do not have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all – what you say now, may come back to bite you later.
 
Now, back to the topic at hand…this piece is only focused on salary and benefits. It should be noted that the position description is also vital. However, much of that is not negotiable.  
 
When entering into an employment agreement, not including union and/or professional employment policies and recommendations, both salary and benefits, take time before you sign the contract. This isn’t Shark Tank, although it may feel that way. Ask, if offered the position you applied for, for a day or two to consider the position, read over the employment policies, benefits, etc. When you have your follow-up conversation to talk final numbers and benefits, it is important to know all you can about the employment policies. These policies, including but are not limited to, guidelines on vacation time, sick days, personal days, continuing education, prep periods, retirement, etc.
In terms of making the position, aside from artistic reward (which is why you applied for the position in the first place), financially beneficial the following common steps will serve as a guide to negotiate your salary and benefits :
  1. Do not discuss salary until the employer offers you the position -Refrain from mentioning your salary desires in your resume, including past and present. Obviously, if asked for in the ad you are responding to, you will need to supply a salary expectation.
     
  2. “Those who speak first, lose.” Allow the interviewer to make the offer. Remember, the first figure given by the employer is a starting place. The employer has a range in which they can negotiate.
     
  3. Do as much research as you can – Negotiate through knowledge. Research the employer, and the salary range for your position and experience. A useful starting point can be found on the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics website.
     
  4. Let negotiations begin – Know your worth, because of your experience and education. You should strive for the highest salary possible. Yet, be fair, as the employer has a bottom line. You can however, negotiate a salary review date in your contract.
     
  5. There’s more than pay? – Salary, is only one component of the negotiating process. You can also negotiate vacation time, sick days, personal days, continuing education, prep periods, retirement, etc.
Know your field, and your prospective employer. With this knowledge the “world is your oyster”. So, negotiate.

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Comments

  1. Marie’s next-to-the-last sentence is of primary importance for public school music teachers, because our salary and benefits are usually fixed, depending on our education and years teaching.  Before you have an interview and before you accept a job, find out all you can about working conditions and expectations–and I don’t mean study the job description!  Find out who the previous music teacher was, call her up, and ask about all facets of the job.  Go on the district website and find out who the music teachers are at other schools, and call them, too.  Are there string and instrumental teachers who rotate to this school one or two days per week?  They can all give you invaluable information.  Call or visit (in their classrooms, after school) a few of the non-music teachers, and ask how the music schedule coordinates (or doesn’t!) with that of the “regular” teachers. See if you can find some parents of children who are actively involved in music programs.  Ask to see the music room, the equipement, and the auditorium, gym or hall where your performances will be held.
     
    Here’s a list of concerns, based on some of the positive and negative working conditions I’ve seen, heard of, or experienced in my 14 years (K-6) in two states:
     
    1.  Is the music room sound proof?  Are the teachers next door affected by music trasmitted through the walls?  Is there a difference between the transmission of singing and African drumming?  Does the room have windows?  Is it right next to the playground?  Will you share the room with anyone else?
    2.  Will you present concerts in the gym?  How bad are the acoustics?
    3.  Is there an audience behavior policy already in effect for school concerts?  Or do parents and siblings come and go, talk during the performance, and use phones?  If so, will the principal support changing this behavior?
    4.  Will you have a budget for purchasing instruments, music, etc.?
    5.  Will the school allow you to pull out students for special rehearsals?
    6.  Is there a dedicated choir period, AND are all students allowed to join?  OR, do their teachers–or school policy– determine who can participate?
    7.  Are you required to take too many students–for example, does the principal require you to admit to choir all 7th graders who are not in band?
    8.  Who decides when a disruptive student must be removed from music class so that other students can learn?  You?
    9.  Will you be giving instrumental lessons on the stage, while PE classes are being held in the gym on the other side of the curtain?
    10. Can you use lunch recess periods for rehearsals?  Can you switch students to other lunch periods to facilitate your lunch rehearsals?
    11. Does the principal support music in the curriculum, or just tolerate it because it’s district policy?
    12. Are there “late buses” after school, for those who stay for after-school rehearsals?  Is there money for buses for music trips and performances?
    13. What is the school fiscal climate like?  Are there funding reductions and program cuts being considered?
    14. Are you expected to put on a “talent show?”  If so, can make it a real talent show, or must you allow 50 kids to lip-sync to their favorite “artists?”
    15.  Are you expected to teach the “graduating” kindergartners to sing “New York, New York,” or anything else?  Who decides what’s appropriate?
    16.  Will the school and district support you in using sacred music, as allowed by the education laws in most (all?) states?
    17.  What kind of non-musical school duties will you be assigned?  Can you use your duty time instead for rehearsals before and after school and during recess?
    18.  Can the “regular” teachers ask you to teach math fact ditties, etc, as part of your music curriculum?   If so, can you in turn ask them to teach the history of music as part of their curriculum?
    19.  In the next few years, is there any possibility–since you’re only the music teacher–that your room will be taken for something “more important,” and you’ll be placed “on a cart?” 
    20.  If your working conditions are changed in a negative way, how much notice must you give before resigning?
     
    Now you might think that last one is an outrageous and rude thing to ask, sure to make you look bad.  Probably you should be careful how you phrase that question, but I am dead serious about what it represents:  You should present yourself as a serious, competent music teacher, not merely looking for a job, but for a school that is just as serious about music education and opportunities for students as you are.  You should be interviewing the principal and other school officials as they interview you.  I understand the job market may be tough, but what will happen if you take a job that turns out to be unworkable and unsatisfactory–through no fault of your own–and you leave with unsatisfactory evaluations and recommendations?

  2. “Know your field,”  might be quite important.   In some fields, the diversity of pay levels is extraordinarily large, so being mum about expectations may waste both parties’ time. 

  3. When hiring, I routinely ask about salary expectations in order to gauge whether the candidate’s expectations are in line with our pay range. Interviewing and auditioning, especially when there is a committee involved, is extremely time-consuming. You don’t want to get through the whole selection and discussion process and make a final decision, only to find out that your chosen candidate’s expectations are irretrievably out of whack with your budget. It’s okay with me if a candidate provides a broad salary range, which shows both flexibility and knowledge of the going rates.

  4. I’ve been asked many times (in fact, in EVERY interview for a church position I’ve ever had, I think!) in interviews, what I expect to be paid.  I was taken aback the first time because I never thought I would be asked in an interview what I thought I was worth.  This was before I was offered a position, mind you, so there wasn’t any negotiating to be done and no one asked me what my salary expectations were before I got to the interview. That first interview (and I was about 18 or 19 ) was for a children’s church choir postition with the music director/organist and the personnel committee….and……I didn’t get it. After that interview in those days before the internet , I found an AGO booklet and looked at the salary scales and was prepared the next time. I don’t know if not knowing what I should be paid had anything to do with me not getting the job ( I was in school and very young, so who knows!) but I was/am always prepared for that question now! 
     
    But it’s a slippery slope–knowing what you SHOULD be paid and figuring out what the church is ABLE to pay you before you interview or are offered a position and as you suggest, do your research.  I like your last point about those non-monetary perks such as vacations, sick and personal days, continuing education etc……those items could sway me in taking a position even if the pay isn’t great. 
     
    There is such a thing as being happy, fullfilled and comfortable in a position and those things trump salary in the long run.  How many of our brethren do you know have been highly paid and miserable?

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