Employees Can Expect Higher Raises, Says CareerJournal.com

PRINCETON, N.J — Workers in the U.S. can expect a 3.7 percent pay raise in 2005 — the second straight year of increased raises for employees after a three-year decline — according to a report on CareerJournal.com, The Wall Street Journal’s executive career site.

The 2005 expected increase is slightly higher than the 3.6 percent average raise in 2004, according to data compiled by Salary.com. Average salary increases bottomed out at a five-year low of 3.4 percent in 2003, after hitting a five-year high of 4.4 percent in 2001. A 3.7 percent pay raise would mean that an average worker earning $34,000 a year can expect to see an additional $24.19 per week. Those with a salary of $100,000 can expect an increase of $71.15 per week.

“We are in the early stages of an upswing,” says Tony Lee, publisher, CareerJournal.com. “The projected salary increases for this year are a ray of sunshine following several years of salary freezes and layoffs.”

CareerJournal.com offers these tips on how you can earn more as the job market improves:

• Keep track of your successes to present to your boss.
• Document your fair-market value by researching free salary data on sites such as CareerJournal.com.
• Learn the art of salary negotiation-the better you are at negotiating, the better your chances of being successful.
• Ask what needs to happen for you to earn a raise in the future, and try to get a commitment in writing.
• “Having another job offer also is a great tool in negotiating a raise with your current employer, but be prepared to leave if your employer doesn’t meet your terms,” Mr. Lee adds.

Focused Education Is Key to Getting the Best Raises

In the accounting and bookkeeping fields, you need a way to stand out from the crowd to move up to a better job. The training that is taught in the Professional Bookkeeper (PB) program gives you that edge over other applicants. The PB designation proves to employers that you have the real-world skills needed to get right to work with minimal training.

Learn More About the Professional Bookkeeper (PB) Program

You Bet!

Victoria Richardson started her business in January of 2004, and has seen incredibly rapid growth and profit ever since. She only spent the first 6 weeks marketing. Since then, she has had all the clients she can handle. In fact, she tells us that she has had to cut down to “only” 18 clients so that she has the quality time that she wants to spend with her children. Victoria is a stay-at-home mom and Professional Bookkeeper.

USA Today notes that while there are no statistics on the number of work-at-home moms (WAHM), the National Association of Women Business Owners reports that there are more than 10 million female-owned businesses in the USA. Many of those are run by stay-at-home moms who manage their businesses and take care of their children from the comfort of their own homes.

Perhaps you’ve wanted to return home to raise your kids but have worried about losing that stable income. But there’s no need to worry. Accounting is a lucrative profession that can easily be done while taking care of your family. Just ask Victoria.

Victoria Richardson, AAHM (Accounting-at-Home Mom)

At the time Victoria started her own accounting business she had two young children: ages one and two months. She was having ethical conflicts with her employer and had reached a point where she wanted something different.

As she considered her options Victoria said:

. . . my list of wants and needs included: complete flexibility to be able to be with my children when they needed me, if they were sick, or something had come up where they needed to spend time with me. I needed to be making at least $60,000 a year. I needed to be able to have a lot of flexibility, and wanted to work an abbreviated work week. And what I found was that … there was nothing out there that was willing to give me that package. . . . I discovered that the only option that was available for me was to be able to start my own business.

The Professional Bookkeeper Program

But Victoria knew she needed more practical education. She had a bachelor’s degree in business, but didn’t feel she had the confidence to manage the accounts of multiple clients without hands-on training. So she decided to enroll in Universal Accounting Center’s Professional Bookkeeper (PB) Program; it would give her the flexibility she needed to finish the course quickly and at her own pace.

When she was close to completing the course, she decided to quit her full-time job and become an independent contractor. Her ex-employer became her first client, and within 6 weeks she had enough clients that she could stop marketing.

Victoria feels like she has the edge and doesn’t worry about competition.

I know what they want to hear. I know what’s going to make them feel comfortable, and I know what their concerns are. And the Universal Accounting Courses taught . . . a lot of it has to do with . . . it’s semantics . . . it’s the language that you present it in. When I talk to them about increasing their profitability, they listen. It makes sense to them. I can feel confident in helping them discover what problem areas they have, and what ways they can work through that, so it’s not a situation where I feel like, you know, anybody else is coming in and giving them that because, unfortunately, that’s what they’re looking for and they’re not finding it anywhere. I can come in and do it, and I can do it and save them money.

The PB Program not only teaches you practical, day-to-day accounting for the small business, but it also trains you on marketing your unique skill-set. It gives you the edge over the competition so that you can feel confident in your ability to provide a better service for your clients.

More information on the Professional Bookkeeper Program

References

“Job Opening? Work-at-Home Moms Fill the Bill” by Stephanie Armour, USA Today