What is Your College Degree Worth in Today's Market?

According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) salary survey, salaries are going up!

Over the last year, Q-BusinesSolutions and their partners have been tracking salaries specific to college degrees. Following you will see a list of Degree Categories along with the average salary for that degree. The salary information is reflective of a Job Offers on a National Average for a new college grad.

Business Disciplines

Accounting $41,100
Business administration $38,188
Economics/finance $40,906
Marketing/marketing management $35,321
Management Information Systems $42,098

Technology

Computer Science $49,691
Information sciences and systems $43,053

Engineering

Chemical engineering $52,819
Civil engineering $42,053
Mechanical engineering $48,864
Computer engineering $51,572

Liberal Arts

All liberal arts majors $30,152
Political science/government $32,999
English language and literature/letters $31,169
Psychology $27,791

Top jobs for graduates

Entry-Level Management Average salary: $36,193
Sales $35,050
Teaching $30,512
Public accounting $41,294
Design/construction engineering $44,330
Private accounting $40,373
Consulting $46,630
Financial/treasury analysis $43,119
Project engineering $46,402
Software design and development $52,15

Minneapolis Maintains Vibrant Tech Sector

January 2008

Top city for business' has opportunities in healthcare and finance.

When MarketWatch.com set out to discover the "top city for business" last year, it had plenty of nice things to say about Minneapolis-St. Paul, which topped its list. It noted the Twin Cities ranked second in both the concentration of Fortune 1000 and S&P 500 companies: You'll find 32 Fortune 1000 companies and 15 S&P 500 firms in the metropolitan area. They represent a cross-section of industries, making for a diverse local economy. Target, UnitedHealth, 3M, General Mills, Best Buy, Travelers, Northwest Airlines and Ameriprise Financial are just a few examples. Additionally, successful private companies such as Carolson Cos., Cargill, and Andersen - as in Andersen Windows - abound. Even the city's small businesses got MarketWatch's seal of approval. The area is fourth in the nation in small business concentration.

That's all well and good, but the big question is whether any of those companies are hiring IT experts.

The quarterly Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, which covers all industries, says yes. It found that from January to March 2008, 33 percent of the businesses interviewed plan to hire more employees, a moderate hiring pace according to a spokesperson, Michele Lindberg.

At the same time, recruiter Robert Half Technology's IT Hiring Index, which focuses only on IT, indicates 11 percent of Minneapolis-area CIOs plan to hire new staff in the first quarter.

The Twin Cities ranks second in the concentration of both Fortune 1000 and S&P 500 companies.

Q-BusinesSolutions, indicators are less optimistic. The number of job listings for the Twin Cities fell 7 percent in the fourth quarter, which can be at least partly attributed to typical seasonality. Currently, just over 1,300 jobs are listed on Dice.com's website. The Dice salary survey finds that statewide, IT pay averaged $75,124, a hair above the national average, and is up an anemic 1 percent over the past year.

John Schmit, regional manager of IT recruiter Q-BusinesSolutions' Minneapolis office, emphasizes the importance of living in a city with a diverse economy. "I haven't noticed much of a change in the last six months," he says. "We staff across all disciplines of IT and have not experienced a slowdown in any one area."

According to the recently published 2008 Robert Half Technology Salary Guide, the strongest demand for IT expertise in Minneapolis is for database administrators, systems administrators, and LAN/WAN administrators. A quick look at the job listings for a handful of Minneapolis's employers gives some insight as to where tech workers should be looking. Best Buy lists a few dozen IT positions, with a special need for CRM specialists. At Ameriprise, business analysts are needed, and at Target, you'll find about 90 available positions that fall into its "information technology" category at headquarters.

Schmit sees strength in the healthcare and financial industries and, unlike most recruiters, says December was a busy month. "That's a good sign, as it tells us our clients are getting a jump on their projects for 2008," he says

Ask yourself, what do "The Lord of the Rings," "Catcher in the Rye" and your resume have in common?

If you consider them great works of fiction, then it's time to rethink your resume.

A resume isn't a list of exaggerations. It's not a hodgepodge of cut and pasted job descriptions printed out on nice paper. Nor is it a forum to advertise that you're 6 feet 2 inches tall, single, a non-smoker and willing to relocate.

Simply put, a resume is an advertisement that makes the reader act. And if your resume is well-written, the reader should want to interview you.

Get advice on how to create resumes that get interviews -- right from a recruiter himself.

Keep It Simple

Recruiters want resumes that are simple to understand, especially when it comes to the skills needed to perform the job and employment history.

Be sure your resume clearly communicates that you possess the knowledge and experience needed to perform the job in question. Use the job description to tailor your resume to the position. Try to avoid industry jargon and Dilbert-esque words such as "facilitated" or "value-added" when describing your skills and experiences.

Your resume should also include your dates of employment. The absence of dates makes recruiters scrutinize your employment history even more closely.

Features Versus Benefits

Your resume should show how you can benefit an employer -- not just list your features and skills.

Past performance is often an indicator of future performance. Explain how you made a past employer money, saved them money or improved a process or product.

Think about instances where you went above and beyond the call of duty. Look at past performance reviews to refresh your memory. Employers want the best employees, and your resume should reflect your value.

Truth in Advertising

People say that it's the sizzle that sells the steak. That may be true but, when it comes to job searching, you have to have done what you claim on your resume.

Many employers today take steps to ensure that you have the background you claim. They have a wide variety of background checking tools at their disposal.

Background checks can include:

reference checks,
credit checks,
criminal background checks,
past employment verification,
education verification and
social security number traces to verify identity.

If you're dishonest in the hiring process, odds are that you'll be caught. Rather than waste the recruiter's time -- and your time -- be truthful on your resume. It's not only the right thing to do, but the smart thing

Three times during his career, Leslie G. Griffen has asked a prospective employer whether he can walk around the company and talk with employees about how they like their jobs. Twice the employers gave him the go-ahead, which told Griffen they were confident their employees were happy. One employer balked - a sign that this was not a good match.

"Most companies will talk the talk. They'll talk about how important employees are," says Griffen, who is now principal of The Griffen Group, which provides human resources and career coaching and consulting services, in Lee's Summit, Mo. How an employer responds to this request is almost as telling as the answers employees give. "If they pull back in their chair and say, 'You want what?' it's probably an indication that they might not be being straight up with you."

When you're considering taking a new job, it's important to find out how a potential employer treats employees. But getting the answer to that question, along with others that will help you determine if you'll be happy at the company, may take some sleuthing. Here are five questions that will help you decide if the company is a fit - and some unconventional ways to find the answers:

What makes employees join this company and stay here? You can always ask your potential manager this question in an interview. But if you ask the employees you see while walking around the premises, as Griffen did, you'll get a wider variety of answers - and possibly more honest ones.

How are people treated here? You may not even need to ask anyone this - just observe carefully from the time you set foot in the building. When you arrive for your interview, are you kept waiting with no explanation? Does the interviewer interrupt your conversation to take phone calls? "Try to come at different times if you have multiple interviews," advises Gail Ginder, a leadership coach with the Claros Group in Healdsburg, Calif. That way you'll see if the mood around the building changes with the time of day.

What are the unspoken rules? For this and other questions that are best asked of employees, you have two options. One is to use your network to find employees who work at the company but aren't involved in hiring you. The other is to ask your interviewer - but only when it's clear that the interviewer has decided you're the best candidate and is trying to get you to sign on. "When they've decided you're the one, you can ask pretty much anything as long as you ask it well," Ginder says.

What happens when people make mistakes? The answer to this will give you insight into the company's management and culture. You can ask it of an interviewer late in the interview process, or ask employees who aren't involved in hiring. The key is to pose the question without sounding like someone who is planning to make a lot of mistakes. Use humor, Ginder advises. "Say, 'If I were lucky enough to be offered this job, I would never want to make a mistake. But what happens here when people make a mistake?'"

What is a typical week like? The answer to this question can give insight into everything from how long the workdays are to how many after-hours phone calls you can expect. Vic Snyder, senior career counselor at the University of Washington's Center for Career Services in Seattle, suggests that in informal conversations with employees, you pair this question with one about how often employees take their full vacations.

10 Certificate Programs That Can Add Dollar Signs to Your Résumé

By Kathleen Nicholson, Classes USA

How do you train for the next level up on the company ladder, get skills that will match a new promotion, boost your earnings or even change careers without a hefty time commitment?

A short-term certificate program that focuses on specific skills within a profession or trade might just be the answer. Often offered online or part time for working professionals, they can take less than two years to complete and often serve as a springboard into of-the-moment careers that offer top earnings and job security. Here are some of the hottest certificate programs at campuses nationwide:

1. Financial Planning: With a nationwide focus on retirement savings, investing options and other financial issues, certified financial planners are a hot commodity, and schools such as the University of Texas, Austin, are meeting the demand with certificate programs. "About half of the students in the program already work in the field, while the other half are changing careers," says Kenneth Price, director of the school's financial planning certificate program, and a CFP and chartered financial consultant with Austin Asset Management. The University or Texas' program, like that of other schools, is short-term, composed of just seven courses.

"For career switchers who become CFP practitioners, starting salaries can range from $40,000-$50,000," adds Price. Salaries in 2007 for those with a CFP certificate averaged $97,000, according to the College for Financial Planning's Survey of Trends in Financial Planning. Personal financial advisor ranks among the top three best jobs in surveys by Salary.com, CNN and Fast Company magazine.

2. Database Administrator: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, database administrators in May 2006 were earning anywhere from $62,000 to more than $100,000 annually. The University of Denver is among the many institutions at which you can earn a certificate to break into the field in less than a year, says Mike Whitford, enrollment manager. All six courses (24 credits) are offered online in this graduate level program.

"Eighty percent of our students are working professionals. They are interested in becoming database analysts, architects and engineers," says Whitford. While the program is new, one recent graduate scored a job as a database management adviser making $95,000 annually, he says.

3. Oracle: Oracle is the largest vendor of database systems and the second largest independent software company in the world, and Oracle is one of the most sought after certifications at the post secondary level. At Penn State Great Valley campus, you can earn a certificate in an Oracle work-force development program using textbooks and taking just three courses. "This is a learn-it-tonight, use-it-tomorrow kind of program," says Jay Polakoff, program manager of continuing education at Penn State's graduate-level-only satellite campus. "Most students who enroll are already in the IT field and are looking to upgrade their career to go into software development," he says. According to the BLS in 2006, the national average salary for a software engineer was $87,250.

4. Information Security Management: In a post 9/11 world, more and more professionals are needed to manage and safeguard complex technical security for companies and government agencies. Syracuse University is among the many schools with coursework to help meet this societal demand. Syracuse's five-course (15 credit) certificate has been popular since 2003.

"Students can get positions related to information security in industry or government agencies," says Joon Park, Ph.D., director of the Certificate of Advanced Study in Information Security Management at the university. "I expect starting salaries to be $50,000-$80,000 annually," she adds.

5. Negotiation or Leadership and Management: "Certificates [in these areas] can make an executive more marketable, or a CEO gain the knowledge they may not have to lead the company," says Peter Schatschneider of University Alliance, a group of online universities. "Professionals can learn soft skills or hard skills like project management."

The University of Notre Dame's Mendoza School of Business in conjunction with University Alliance offers these two executive certificates each consisting of three eight-week courses. Taught by Notre Dame professors using streaming video lectures, VoIP and interactive chat rooms, e-mail and whiteboards, for many executives it's a chance to learn specific skills that will further their careers. One recent certificate graduate, Richard Multack, used his Notre Dame certificate to get a promotion to chief medical officer for an 80-physician medical group in the suburbs of Chicago.

6. Entrepreneurship: When students at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania asked for courses in entrepreneurship two years ago, a new certificate was created to fulfill their needs. Under the executive education umbrella and Wharton Programs for Working Professionals, many students who take this six-course certificate are working in other industries or are in middle management and want to launch a business or new department, or help others do so.

"Some students have established businesses and want to step it up, branch out globally or add e-commerce," says Wendy B. McGeehan, program director. "We get doctors and lawyers who would like business fundamentals." Course credits can be applied toward an MBA if students choose to further their studies. Additionally, students can put their courses to work in the Wharton Small Business Development office, which assists Philadelphia small business owners who need help growing their businesses.

7. Legal Nurse Consulting: Legal nurse consultants are the liaison between lawyers and the health-care community, often giving testimony in the courtroom during cases related to medical litigation. These professionals even have their own American Association of Legal Nurse Consultants.

With many certificates taking less than one year to earn, such as the University of Delaware's program, becoming certified often brings an excellent return on investment. There, registered nurses with three years of experience can earn a certificate in this emerging field in just 36 Saturdays. Graduates often end up going into business for themselves, and with experience can earn up to $150 per hour.

8. Forensic Nursing:

"There is such a curiosity about this area now," says Jennifer Campbell, program coordinator of the University of California at Riverside's online program in forensic nursing, which focuses on providing services to victims of violence. The 10-course program, which can be completed in a year, requires an LVN (licensed vocational nurse), LPN, RN or paramedic background.

"Most of the graduates use the applications in their current jobs or create a niche in the hospitals they work in," says Campbell. Some become sexual assault nurse examiners working in emergency rooms, or crime-scene and death investigators working in medical examiners offices. Kaplan University, which also offers the one-year program, cites salary ranges from the International Association of Forensic Nurses at $55 to $300 per hour.

9. Commercial Real Estate: Nicholas Anderson completed his commercial real-estate certificate (eight courses) at Boston University in one year taking classes three nights a week. "I didn't switch careers after I finished," explains the commercial real-estate debt-products underwriter at Bank of America. "For me, it was a chance to differentiate myself for graduate school, and to keep building my network of other young real-estate professionals."

About half of Anderson's classmates were people looking to break into the real-estate industry, who needed an introduction to basic skills. According to Salary.com, commercial real-estate managers earn an average of $120,000 to $162,000 annually. Boston also offers a certificate in real-estate finance and property management.

10. Computer Forensics: "The industry is clamoring for techs right now because there are many people in the next 10 years who will be retiring from the field," says Deb Geoghan, computer and information science coordinator for Bucks County Community College in Newtown, Pa. "There will be a greater need for programmers, database managers, and networking and security specialists in the next decade, but one of the hot commodity predictions is in computer forensics." A new 32-credit certificate at BCCC in computer forensics includes a former FBI agent as an instructor. The program presents an examination of computer science, criminal justice and computer forensics – recovering deleted files – and jobs can be found working in regional computer forensics labs or in homeland security. Because it's a fairly new and fast-growing field, the job outlook is favorable, as is the possibility of a hefty salary.

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Six Common Interview Mistakes

1. Confusing an Interview with an Interrogation.

Most candidates expect to be interrogated. An interrogation occurs when one person asks all the questions and the other gives the answers. An interview is a business conversation in which both people ask and respond to questions. Candidates who expect to be interrogated avoid asking questions, leaving the interviewer in the role of reluctant interrogator.

2. Making a So-Called Weakness Seem Positive.

Interviewers frequently ask candidates, What are your weaknesses?" Conventional interview wisdom dictates that you highlight a weakness like "I'm a perfectionist," and turn it into a positive. Interviewers are not impressed, because they've probably heard the same answer a hundred times. If you are asked this question, highlight a skill that you wish to improve upon and describe what you are doing to enhance your skill in this area. Interviewers don't care what your weaknesses are. They want to see how you handle the question and what your answer indicates about you.

3. Failing to Ask Questions.

Every interview concludes with the interviewer asking if you have any questions. The worst thing to say is that you have no questions. Having no questions prepared indicates you are not interested and not prepared. Interviewers are more impressed by the questions you ask than the selling points you try to make. Before each interview, make a list of five questions you will ask. "I think a good question is, ‘Can you tell me about your career?'" says Kent Kirch, director of global recruiting at Deloitte. "Everybody likes to talk about themselves, so you're probably pretty safe asking that question."

4. Researching the Company But Not Yourself.

Candidates intellectually prepare by researching the company. Most job seekers do not research themselves by taking inventory of their experience, knowledge and skills. Formulating a list of accomplishments prepares you to immediately respond to any question about your experience. You must be prepared to discuss any part of your background. Creating your talent inventory refreshes your memory and helps you immediately remember experiences you would otherwise have forgotten during the interview.

5. Leaving Your Cell Phone On.

We may live in a wired, always-available society, but a ringing cell phone is not appropriate for an interview. Turn it off before you enter the company.

6. Waiting for a Call.

Time is your enemy after the interview. After you send a thank-you email and note to every interviewer, follow up a couple of days later with either a question or additional information. Try to contact the person who can hire you, and assume that everyone you met with has some say in the process. Additional information can be details about your talents, a recent competitor's press release or industry trends. Your intention is to keep everyone's memory of you fresh.

Sources include www.qbusinessolutions.com & www.monster.com