What is your bottom line?

When looking for a job, one of your first steps should be to determine what your bottom line is - how much money you need to make. That way you can save yourself, and the employers, a lot of time and energy by not applying for jobs that you cannot take.

Sometimes the want ads do not list the salary of the new job. Really try to find out. If you know someone who works at the company, ask them. Check out the company website. See what other area companies pay for the same type of work. If all else fails, call the HR department and ask them.

Determining your bottom line is pretty easy. Make a list of everything you spend money on for a month. This would be all of your bills, groceries, gas, eating out, kids activities, etc. Then list expenses that are upcoming - things such as car ins, prescriptions, upcoming events (birthdays, weddings) etc. With this you can see what your total expenses are. Subtract from this any income you have. That will leave you with the amount that you need each month.

There are a few things to consider when looking at your bottom line....

Travel
How far away is the new position? How much gas is it going to cost to drive there everyday?
Work hours
Can you work 4 days/week? Can you work on-line?
Health Insurance
This is a big one. You could be spending a lot more, or saving a lot more depending on the plan offered by a new company. And I am talking thousands of dollars. Compare the premiums to what you used to pay and look at what is covered. Hopefully you are pleasantly surprised.

When you know your bottom line, you can always be flexible with this. Write a salary range on the application. Maybe the company would pay more for your experience or give a salary increase sooner than usual. Just get things like that in writing.

Hope this helps you!