Unrealistic Salaries
It’s natural to be curious whether you could make more money at a new job, but if the money seems too good to be true, it probably is. Some salaries listed online are flat-out lies. Others aren’t lies but are so exaggerated that they may as well be. In either case, you should be cautious. Well-run companies don’t have to attract employees with promises of huge money. Read the examples below to learn more about what makes a salary unrealistic.
Understanding Commissions: If you work on commission, you make money when you sell a product or complete a task, no matter how long it takes. This would be great if everything worked out perfectly: you could work as fast as possible, make good money, and have free time to spare. But you can’t count on things working out perfectly. You might try to make a sale all week, but if it doesn’t work out, you won’t make a cent.
So when jobs that pay by commission talk about money, you have to be careful. You’ll often see the phrase “earn up to…”. Keep in mind that is the most you could possibly make. Ask yourself, how many people make the most available? How much does the average person make? And can workers get by on a low monthly commission? Being paid on commission by itself isn’t a red flag, but a company that doesn’t offer realistic expectations for the commission is.
Hourly Earnings and Actual Earnings: On the other hand, some jobs will offer very high hourly pay. You may be thrilled to see this if you’re used to working 40 hours a week, but you can’t always assume you’ll work full time. Some jobs that make high hourly wages work at odd or unpredictable hours, which makes it difficult to work other jobs in your spare time. If your employer exaggerates or is vague about the difference between your hourly earnings and your actual earnings, it’s probably because you’re going to make less than you first expected.