Discussing Salary Potential
A good piece of advice when a prospective student is requesting information on salary potential for a career field they are looking at is having them sit down with the Graduate Placement/Career Services to receive that information. You may also refer them to the website for the Department of Labor Statistics or www.salary.com for further research. As an Admissions Representative, we are not the individuals who compile that data so be leary about what you discuss and be careful not to mislead the individual.
Erin,
The website is a great place to start. Students need to research the perspective area in which they will begin their career. Everyplace is different.
Patty Aronoff
I always direct them to www.bls.gov. Advise them that there are many factors that go into salary but that they can do a little research to see what the average salary would be.
Gerald,
An excellent resource! Students need to be able to research on their own.
occupational handbook from U.S. Department of labor is very good resource.
Susan,
They are reliable.
Katherine,
The new gainful employment ruling will change how we provide information. Thank you for your posting.
For proprietary schools who have Title IV financial aid, salary potential is becoming very definite. We will be posting 'gainful employment' statistics on our websites, with links to federal data for each occupation. National occupational data is available now at www.onetcodeconnector.org/ and in the near future colleges will be posting the salary range for graduates on their websites.
Dale,
Providing the resources to research salary potential is the best bet.
i think you should not decuss the salary with a student you tell where he can go and get the info
You can't go wrong by quoting the labor bureau statistics--any other resource you run into potential trouble.
Jessica,
Excellent advice!
Terry,
Introducing prospective students to verifiable resources is integral to their job prospecting.
Another great resource is the Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics website (Occupational Outlook Handbook) the information there outlines salary as well as typical work environment, preferred education, career advancement paths etc. I use the website to further my own knowledge of the fields our programs prepare graduates to enter.
The most recent US Department of Labor Statistic for an entry level position in their field of interest is the only form of salary potential provided to the student. I do not give them any misleading information. Directing the student to a website that may have differing salary ranges could be a bumpy road. I encourage all students to do additional research on their future careers, but I allow them to do that independently from the information that I provide them. Any other additional questions regarding job placement or income potential are directed to Career Services.
This is a strategy I practice. I usually direct my students to the Department of Labor Statistics at www.bls.gov.
Joshua,
This is the same reason why we involve Career Services and provide salary resources instead of quoting figures.
Tami,
We can only direct them to reliable sources. They must research.
Agreed, it is imperative that students know the cost of the program and are given realistic data about what they should expect to earn straight out of college and also what kind of positions they should expect to be qualified for. The admissions representative isn't often the person who will the best information on these topics which is why it is so important to know who the appropriate career services representatives are and how the student can reach them.
