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Post by socguest on Jul 25, 2011 14:39:03 GMT -5
I'm looking at applying to non-academic jobs at research institutes, places like PRB, Urban Institute, etc, doing data analysis and writing reports. Several of the applications ask for salary requirements. Any experience or suggestions about how to best ballpark salaries for these jobs?
The jobs are generally 1) MA with 3-5 yrs experience or 2) PhD. I will have my PhD by September. PRB & Urban Institute and several others are in DC so I'd expect them to be higher paying than something in the Midwest, for example, but not sure where to start exactly.
I'd appreciate any thoughts or advice on this. Thanks!
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yep
Junior Member
Posts: 64
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Post by yep on Jul 25, 2011 14:47:43 GMT -5
I'd ballpark this at about $50K to $75, depending. It's easier not to answer this question ("negotiable"), or to answer it with a range, to give you negotiation space.
If they're looking to weed out people who they shouldn't even interview as they are too expensive, you might try to calculate your salary requirements based on cost of living plus loan payments plus savings? That's how I figured out that I can't take any jobs that are going to pay less than $53,000, +/- depending on the city. That way you'll have a better sense of what you could take, at minimum, and help you make a better decision.
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Post by range on Jul 25, 2011 18:49:28 GMT -5
I would peg a PhD entry level DC job at a place like Urban to a GS-11 government salary, which is about $63k/year with the DC cost of living adjustment.
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Post by socguest on Jul 26, 2011 14:34:07 GMT -5
thanks range, I hadn't thought to try to equate it with the GS levels. Makes a lot of sense and gives a more concrete value to start from.
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Post by nonedu on Aug 14, 2011 19:33:41 GMT -5
I'd actually recommend going higher. I am in this same boat and lowballed my requested salary and then had no bargaining power! I'd go closer to GS14 - for sure min. should be $75k - $90k.
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Post by littlehigh on Aug 14, 2011 20:20:33 GMT -5
I wouldn't go with the GS14 range, as a PhD qualifies you for a GS12. GS14 is typically early management level or advanced analysts, so unless you already have years of related experience or some type of veteran's preference/boost, a PhD will get you GS12, maybe 13.
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Post by Friend of Friends on Aug 17, 2011 10:17:37 GMT -5
People I know who have gotten these jobs in DC have generally started in the 80-90K range. DC is a very expensive place to live, and these places generally pay substantially better than assistant professorships at the better schools in the area. The person I know who got the most was a Harvard PhD who did quant work and completed a 2 year post-doc at another top-notch program before he started. I think he started at 95K.
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Post by postdoc on Aug 17, 2011 10:58:15 GMT -5
I am currently in a non-academic research postdoc with a government agency and my salary is in the mid 80s (includes health insurance) with PhD in hand. It is not based in DC (but on the same cost of living scale) so I would imagine the salary should be about the same if you are looking at a government research position. Good luck!
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