How much should i ask for?

[Simo]

Hi,
Right now i have a internship as somewhat of a network technician at a multi-million dollar car dealership. Things havent gone as planned though and i got a call back from a company about a Helpdesk job (basic network, computer and browser problems) and the first thing the lady asked me is how much am i asking for?
I told her that as of now im only getting paid 9 dollars an hour. "Oh we'll pay you much more than that" she said. But i couldnt give her a dollar amount on how much i wanted.
suggestions, comments, flames?


edit: i have no certifications.
network + test has been scheduled 2 weeks from now

[11001001]

Ask for what you want. The worst that can happen is they'll say no. Then, you negotiate.
Before going into it, decide what the lowest amount you'll accept is.

[nihil]

OK Simo

I will have to be general, as I am on the other side of the "pond" and our wage structures are doubtless rather different. Here is some advice:

If you are a technical/administrative/managerial type you DO NOT think in terms of $x per hour. You want a salary, like an annual amount. Sure we use per hour rates, but these are the rates that get charged to the customer/client. An hourly rate is only significant if you get paid by the hour.

You use them all the time for contracts, tenders and proposals. But then it is fixed price versus time and materials. And it is to decide what to offer the customer.

Over here you would want $25,000 a year where I am, and $34,000 in London. You are in NY so that would be more like London I would guess.

Now there are a lot of things to take into account.

1. Overtime? do you work it? do you get paid?
2. Shifts and shift allowances.
3. On-call or standby allowances.
4. Other benefits. (Insurance, pension, restaurant, stock options, discounts, sports facilities, automobile allowance, travel allowance etc.)

Holiday (vacation) allowances...............over here you get a minimum of 4 weeks plus national holidays..............that is the law ( and the legal minimum wage for doing ANYTHING is $7/hour)

You need to look at a remuneration (compensation?) package.

just my $.0378

[|3lack|ce]

$34 k /year is on the low end of the spectrum, but it's comparable to what a helpdesk tech would earn. I'd start asking $40 k and negotiate down. the worst they can do is say no.

[Simo]

thanks for the advice. i will wait for them to invite me for an interview so i can ask about a salary based pay.

[©opy®ight]

and the legal minimum wage for doing ANYTHING is $7/hour)

5.25 is the minimum wage here.

[morganlefay]

Monster.ca here in canada gives salary ranges...searchable by position and region...if you are in toronto for instance ...you would make more that say a more rural area.

Do the have a monster job search\resource centre in the US that is comparable???

I used this resource when negotiating my last raise...also gives good descriptions of the various IT positions...ie: tech vs net admin vs management vs database admin etc.

As Nihil said...all depends on the position, responsibilities...and perks

HRDC ( Human Resource Development Canada) has no clue on what an IT position entails...when I was looking for a job a few years ago..they had my description as

"works on computers with power tools"

I was looking for a net admin job.

They really had\have no idea.

Good luck.

MLF