Search Associates Salary Scale

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freetofly2022
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu May 26, 2022 10:58 am

Search Associates Salary Scale

Post by freetofly2022 »

Please help make sense the Search Associates as I have no idea what Search Associates is trying to say.

The school lists the following:

Teachers with a BA and 4 years
$38000

Teachers with a MA and 8 years
$47000

What does this mean? Does this mean that Masters with 8 years experience starts at 47000? Does this mean that 47K is the ceiling? Does it mean that if you have 8 years its 47K.. and beyond that is probably a 2% increase per year. Please help me understand the Search Associates salary scale.


Thank you.
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Response

Post by PsyGuy »

What it SHOULD Mean: That by some calculation there is a value within the ISs salary scale that an IT with a Bachelors/First degree and 4 years of allowable experience might receive a contracted salary rate of $38K for some definition of a year. Likewise a value of $47K exists by some calculation for an IT with a Masters degree and 8 years experience under the same criteria and conditions.

What it ACTUALLY Means: NOTHING, NOT A THING.
1) Those values are entirely self reported by the IS, and there is no verification process to validate them.
2) There is no enforcement mechanism that those values are current.
3) There are no criteria for consistency.
4) You can not extrapolate anything beyond those values nor can you calculate an incremental value for points between or beyond them.
5) Many ISs have salary caps for incoming staff. The MA+8 may very well exist on the salary scale but the IS may have a cap of 5 years, meaning you cant get that salary (MA+8) walking in.
6) Some ISs have a salary scale but all ITs enter at step 1 and the scale may only have a few steps (such as 5)
7) Typically step is number of years and band is degree, and those form a matrix. Each year you typically go up 1 step for 1 year of experience, but at some ISs each step represents two years (or rarely some other value) so youre only getting a salary increase every two ears, typically at contract renewal. Some ISs might not even use a matrix. They may have ranks (like at Uni) and all staff of the same rank (such as "Faculty", and "Senior Faculty" have the same salary amount regardless of years or degrees. Or Degree is just a stipend that adds a fixed amount per year (or contract term).
8) The reported value may be pre or post tax which may differ between ISs.
9) The reported value may include allowances, or only some allowances or no allowances.
10) Some ISs define a year differently. It might be 10 months, it might be 12 months, or 11 months or 13 months. An IS also might retain a portion of the salary (such as through the summer) making it dependent on your return or renewal. So during a two year contract you get 12 months pay, but the last two months are held until you return after summer and your second year if you dont renew you only get 10 months. The summer months being considered a bonus you forfeit by not renewing.

At best those values can allow you to compare coin between ISs in the same region. If Acme AS has markers of BA+4=25K and MA+8=35K and IS Genovia has BA+4=30K and MA+8=45K than IS Genovia likely has better overall comp than Acme AS (but maybe not! Acme AS could be listing salary only and IS Genovia is adding the value of the OSH package and salary).

The ceiling could be anything. The MA+8 could be a value thats only theoretical but doesnt exist on the salary scale at all. An IS might have 5, 10, 15, 20 steps or some other number.

You cant calculate increments or extrapolations. You can, but they may be meaningless. ISs can review their salary scale annually with or without ownership consultation and approval. It may be a flat formula or a referenced coefficient based on inflation or currency conversion values or purchasing power. Increases might be zero for a given year. They may only be updated or reviewed every X number of years. They may go down if some financial exigency occurs or if something happens with the value the currency is trading at.
sciteach
Posts: 258
Joined: Sat Dec 13, 2014 7:49 am

Re: Search Associates Salary Scale

Post by sciteach »

These are also arbitrary numbers put in by the schools - not Search Associates.

As such, you can only take them with a grain of salt.

I've seen some schools include include every possible allowance (including PD????) into the amount which makes it look way better than it is. I've also seen schools use the base salary after tax to weed out teachers who are mainly on the lookout for coin (these schools normally occur in places people want to live and they have no trouble getting applicants).

So what does this mean? The numbers don't mean much really until you get the final contract with pay scale. If it's a school in Mexico or Crete that states 18000 USD a year - I'd notice that....
PsyGuy
Posts: 10789
Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 9:51 am
Location: Northern Europe

Discussion

Post by PsyGuy »

SA could try to make the system more robust and informative (savings potential is an even bigger quagmire than salary markers), but all they can really do at best is provide guidelines. All of that comes at cost and resources for enforcement that SA isnt going to do, with the added detriment that they may loose clients (ISs) over it. Their service is getting contracts signed, not managing an informational database.

What an IT will get in many cases is little more than a quote on what their salary and OSH package will be (though even then the OSH package can be a bit muddy). Many ISs with closed/private salary scales will not provide the salary scale even if asked. If its a deal breaker for the IT, they will more than likely just move on to the next or another IT.
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