SelectOne Blog

The women’s suffrage of the roaring 1920s is not as distant a memory as it may seem.

Today we celebrate Equal Pay Day - a date that symbolizes how far into the year women must work in order to “catch up” to men’s earnings from the previous year, in addition to raising awareness around the gender pay gap in your community.

Pay Parity in New York

If you look at median pay, there is an annual wage gap of $6,799 across 81% of New York’s Congressional Districts.

• A woman who holds a full-time, year-round job makes on average, $44,781.
• A man who holds a full-time, year-round job makes on average, $51,580.

For women of color who hold full-time, year-round jobs – the gap is even larger:

• African American women are paid $0.66 cents to the dollar.
• Latina women are paid $0.56 cents to the dollar.
• Asian women are paid $0.80 cents to the dollar.

We’ve all listened to people give advice on how to successfully follow through on our New Year Resolutions for the workplace…start earlier, create attainable goals, be positive, strategize more, etc.  These are all great tips, but how about taking a different approach because let’s be honest it’s been a month since the new year started and those resolutions really haven’t stuck. Have they? Rather than making “resolutions”, let’s start setting aspirations.  So, what exactly does this mean?

Accounting is a fast-growing field, and competition is stiff as both college graduates and experienced professionals apply to in-demand jobs. Your resume will get you in the door with a prospective employer, but it’s the interview that sets one qualified applicant apart from the next. If you’ve landed an accounting interview for your dream accounting job, follow these 10 tips to wow the hiring manager and seal the deal.

With a rapidly expanding tech sector, low cost of living and diverse overall economy, the Midwest will be one of the fastest growing job markets in the new year. The Midwest’s automotive and manufacturing markets are also on an uptick, and like the rest of the country, the region is seeing an explosion of new jobs in healthcare and insurance. If you’re looking for employment in the Heartland, consider the following in-demand, high-salary jobs.

Accounting has been an in-demand field for the last few years, and salaries for accountants will continue to rise in the new year. Increases will range from 3 to 4.3 percent for beginner accountants, while industry vets may realize an average bump of up to 6 percent.

Growing demand doesn’t mean accountants face an easy job market, however. Employers are screening heavily for important skills, including technical proficiency, IT acumen and leadership talent. From staff accountant to auditor to controller, they’re also looking to fill a number of key roles. The following are a few of the most in-demand accounting positions for 2017.

It’s that time of year again where you get to read a lot of blogs that start with ‘It’s that time of year again.’  So here is mine. I thought it would be appropriate to add to your resolutions that you most likely won’t accomplish. Here is a list of the must have resolutions for the accountants of the world that hopefully aren’t so difficult that you’re kissing them goodbye halfway through February.

The job market has always been difficult to predict after Thanksgiving and this past year has been no different. Traditionally, contract positions that commenced in October/November start wrapping up, people use vacation time that they’ve been saving all year, decision makers’ attendance is spotty, people tend to slow their pace down, and let’s not forget about office holiday parties.

Mick Jagger and The Stones had it right – you can’t always get what you want.  The same is true for both job seekers and hiring companies.  From the job seeker’s perspective, it’s rare to find everything you are looking for all rolled into one ideal job at your ideal company.  And often hiring companies perceive the search process as an a la carte ordering process, whereby they can select a multitude of ideal attributes and the dream candidate will suddenly appear.  

Keep following Mick's lyrics, and they’ll steer you right – but if you try sometimes you might find you get what you need.

Like it or not, compensation is still the primary factor in attracting and keeping the best employees.

Yes, there are other factors that influence an employees level of job satisfaction, but compensation continues to be the primary factor in an employee’s decision to leave a company. A recent Survey by Career Builder, found sixty-six percent of respondents who were dissatisfied with their jobs cited salary as the number one reason why.

Unfortunately, many companies in Western New York (particularly smaller to mid-size companies that don’t frequently hire large volumes of employees) may not know they have issues with their salary structure until it’s too late. A recent survey in Buffalo Business First asked respondents if they believed their salary is keeping up with inflation, and seventy-six percent responded, “No.” This is a simmering problem for many companies and without a proactive approach, the problem may boil over resulting in losing talented employees. Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to be proactive and keep your employees from being disillusioned over their compensation.

As I sit in my parent’s living room, watching 13 Going on 30, marking up my fall calendar with personal and professional obligations, one reoccurring trend is my financial stability.

I recently graduated with my Masters and with that comes a bill, a big bill. Between my 9-5 job and networking events, I am also coaching JV field hockey, and planning babysitting dates all to pad my pockets and gain new experience.

To no surprise, I am not the only recent grad experiencing such emptiness in their pockets. A Bureau Labor of Statistics survey revealed the main reasons for people holding more than one job (aka moonlighting) is as follows:

• To earn extra money – 35.4%
• To meet expenses or pay off debt – 27.8%
• Pure enjoyment of a second job – 17.4%
• To build a business or gain experience – 4.6%
• Other reasons – 12.5%