What is the appropriate beginning?
Every year thousands upon thousands of college graduates enter the professional world eager to start working. However an important dilemma faces most, what is a reasonable starting salary? With the workforce dynamics consistently changing, and organizations starting to experience in a shortage in skilled labor, new college graduates face a multitude of factors upon entering the employment world. How does a graduate measure his or her worth in the marketplace? The following paper analyzes the various components and complications of compensation packages for new graduates.
Recently numerous national reports have been emphasizing the increases in starting salaries for college graduates. According to a spring 2007 survey conducted by National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), starting salaries for spring 2007 graduates continue to rise (p.1). These starting salaries reflect the rising demand for new graduates. This is a trend that has been witnessed by several new graduates. Deshundra Jefferson (2006) reported how computer science majors and engineering majors from the class of 2004 witnessed a 4.1% and 0.3% increase respectively (Jefferson, 2006, p. 1). Law graduates can expect to see starting packages in the ranges of $180,000 to $200,000 from top law firms in some cities (Bower, 2007, p. 15). A survey of starting salaries in the U.K. also reported an increase of 2.9% to a median of £23,136 (People Management, 2007, p. 11). Salary increases is a trend that is evident across the board and there are numerous factors leading up to these attractive packages.
One particular profession that has seen reaped the benefits of increasing salaries is the lawyers’ pool. Freeman (1975) emphasized how lawyers’ salary i ...