Customer Reviews

Are You Paid What You're Worth?

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In general, this book provides information of how salary schedules and bonuses are determined. In addition, it describes a rather complicated, subjective process of how to determine what your salary should be, but later states that you cannot walk into your bosses office with this information and ask for a raise. There is some information, albeit very brief, of how to prepare for a job performance review and how to ask for a signing bonus with a potential future company, but most of it is common sense.

If you wish to learn how companies set up salary schedules and the like, read this book. However, if like me, you'd rather learn how to negotiate a better salary and benefits with your current or a future company, I'd recommend reading 'Get More Money on Your Next Job..' by Lee Miller.

Salary negotiation usually makes people nervous, but with this book even the most nervous person can feel educated and confident. O'Malley lays bare the mysterious inner-workings of salary grades and pay ranges. And he throws in the occasional anecdote to give concepts some life. The book's cover statement - "The Book Your Company Doesn't Want You to Read" - is not an idle boast.

This is the best book I have read about compensation, developing a pay structure and understanding how an organization sets pay. It is written to be interesting and understood by normal people with a slight inclination to learning how organizations set pay. Read just pages 30-70 and you learn most of what the book has to offer. To get the raise you need, read that section and then also research actual pay statistics for free on the web or if you are really serious, even buy premium salary reports that give the same numbers HR people use to evaluate "market pay" from salary sections of websites like Monster, AOL, Yahoo, Hotjobs, Careerbuilder and Salary.com. There are two numbers you need to know to calculate ranges of market pay: what do recruiters say you would earn by switching jobs (ask a headhunter or cruise above job boards to research) and what do HR managers report to surveys (look on salary sites). Having an opinion on these two numbers and then applying yourself to understanding the processes described in this book will make you a winner in the career long pay negotiation game. Good Job Mr. O'Malley. Buy and read this book.

G. Kent Plunkett, CEO, Salary.com

This is the best book I have read about compensation, developing a pay structure and understanding how an organization sets pay. It is written to be interesting and understood by normal people with a slight inclination to learning how organizations set pay. Read just pages 30-70 and you learn most of what the book has to offer. To get the raise you need, read that section and then also research actual pay statistics for free on the web or if you are really serious, even buy premium salary reports that give the same numbers HR people use to evaluate "market pay" from salary sections of websites like Monster, AOL, Yahoo, Hotjobs, Careerbuilder and Salary.com. There are two numbers you need to know to calculate ranges of market pay: what do recruiters say you would earn by switching jobs (ask a headhunter or cruise above job boards to research) and what do HR managers report to surveys (look on salary sites). Having an opinion on these two numbers and then applying yourself to understanding the processes described in this book will make you a winner in the career long pay negotiation game. Good Job Mr. O'Malley. Buy and read this book.

G. Kent Plunkett, CEO, Salary.com

Now, this book is a permanent part of my business book library. An important book for information and statistics on how company compensation systems work and how to get the best deal.