Story Comments

Yes, salary.com does provide salary rages for free---you just have to know where to look for it.

However, as an HR professional with experience in compensation, I would advise anyone to not put a tremendous amount of stock in salary.com's or BLS' compensation data. Salary.com will give you a decent ballpark (within 20 to 30 thousand dollars), but don't assume that the job title and comp you're looking at on either website will match the position for which you're applying. I've never known it to be even close.

Why? A book can be written on the subject.

Just take the info with a grain of salt, and be open to negotiate a bit if you feel you can do better. And don't assume every HR professional/employer is going to low-ball you. I've never done that. Like a lot of HR folks, it does me no good to bring a person in below where he or she can earn elsewhere in the market because I know that person will just leave when they have the first opportunity to do ...(Read more of this comment)so. (Show less of this comment)

The site your article qoutes as giving free salary surveys based on job title and location offers no such free service.

Posted by: LiveGreenleaf on Twitter

RT @smartmoney Job Seekers: How to Negotiate a Higher Offer http://bit.ly/oihN2