Research companies' opportunities before investing your time in an unacceptable job option.
Before you send your resume anywhere, you will want to research the company and its available opportunities so you are not investing your time in an unacceptable job option. But how do you decide if you want to interview before you send your resume? The following tips will get you started on the right path.
Referrals
Unless you have personal knowledge of a company and their work environment, word of mouth from your friends and professional acquaintances is probably your best source of information about good companies to work for during your CF and beyond. Ask your classmates about their experiences at extern sites they did work in, ask professors if they know of opportunities that new graduates have found ongoing job satisfaction, and ask coworkers at each of your clinical externships where they would suggest applying if the location you are at with them might not have a spot for you or isn’t the clinical setting you want to work in. People are generally happy to answer questions you have regarding the good, the fair, and the problematic employers in the area if asked.
If you are not in touch with or don’t currently know other SLPs you can ask about specific employers, and use social media sites to find friends, colleagues, program alum, etc. who have worked for the company. Professional platforms are the most likely options since so many people list their current and former employers along with the university they attended.
Researching companies is pretty easy to do these days. A minute spent checking things out before hitting that apply button will pay dividends by sparing you the frustration of a bad experience and the knowledge that you wasted time and resources on an opportunity that wasn’t acceptable.
Company Research
Research the company first by Googling its name. Another great site to use to find out how other employees rate an employer is Glassdoor. Current and former employees rate their interview, onboarding, offer, and work experience on a scale of one to five. Plus, they can offer an explanation of why they gave that rating. You can also check out medical professional rating sites, local BBB, and local professional sites, especially if you will be moving to a new area.
Job Location
Sometimes it's not the company that you want to check out more, rather it’s the location. Evaluating the location can be challenging but a site that may help is: city-data.com. City-data.com compiles information from every government statistical collection entity and multiple private statistical collection entities to provide you with detailed information regarding every city/town in the country including schools, weather, crime, employment, demographics, average wages, housing, commute ranges, cost of living, proximity to desired amenities, and more. The amount of data can be overwhelming and can lose meaning when viewed without a point of reference. You can help overcome this by comparing a comparably sized city you are familiar with to the new location you are researching.
Job Terms
We’ve given you a lot of information to understand the terms employers use and the information they include in their want ads but sometimes you are looking for a little more information to help make the decision to apply easier. Start perusing social media and professional platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook. Company websites also provide valuable information including company history, philosophy, vacancies, company size, structure, and specialties. Reading the job description, terms and conditions carefully will help you understand what exactly is being advertised and the company website might help you assess how well the advertised position suits you.
Compensation
Researching compensation and benefits before the interview can be harder but it isn’t impossible. Many times, you can locate prior or similar ad posts on Indeed.com where salary ranges and benefits are given. In medical settings, this information is only available with a job post and often can’t be found on the company website. Some salaries, including public schools and government positions, are public records and can be found on the company website or in Board minutes.
When these options don’t work, you may be able to get an idea of the salaries in the area through wage compilation sites including ASHA. Be aware of how the data was collected (regional differences in wages and between different clinical settings are significant) and sometimes only average or median wages are given. New graduates will not make wages comparable to the ‘average’ SLP in any given work setting or geographic location because the ‘average’ SLP has 12-15 years of experience. Assume you will be offered the low end of the range for your targeted geographic area.
Before you decide that a particular wage is unworkable, work on an annual budget. Take clinical support and professional development into account as part of the benefits an employer provides.
Conclusion
Deciding what employment terms and work environment you want will eliminate many job posts affording more time on jobs that do attract your interest. Research can save you significantly in time and energy. However, even your best research efforts may not turn up all of the answers you are looking for. When this happens, make a list of questions yet to be answered and make sure that you receive this information during the interview process.
