Can you guess the salary?

[Sandy]

Just a reality check and a bit of fun:

Position: manage 32 staff and 27 contracts for budget reponsibility of $7.25 billion. Contracts provide health insurance, including and health care services and speciality services (such as disease management) covering about 750,000 lives for poor and ill individuals. Responsible for negotiating and developing per member per month contract fees, ensuring quality of care, addressing comsumer compliants, etc. Services must comply with state and federal laws. Also reponsible for development of new and innovative systems of care. Travel and overtime required (yes it says that)

What do you think the salary should be? On Tuesday, I will provide what the salary range actually is.

[dex]

I'm assuming a US government position - $125,000.

[FinanceDude]

Government Job: $100,000

Private Industry: $750,000

[justin]

Govt - $90k, plus travel reimbursement.

Private - $150k

[youbet]

The salary should be at an appropriate level to attract highly qualified people eager to take on the job. The candidate should be selected through competitive interviewing.

I have no idea what the absolute value of the salary should be. There must be data for jobs with similar roles/responsibilities and requiring similar skill sets available to use as a starting point.

The real "reality check" is how much $$$ it takes to attract qualified applicants, not a listing of the job responsibilities.

Before I RE'd, I was dramatically underpaid at Megacorp! My job required lots of all the positive employee attributes you could ever think of and the assumption of tremendous responsibility. I should have received 10X my salary! But damn, I never got it because it seemed like there was always a long line of other folks who could do the job and who were waiting for me to slip up so they could get it!

[CCdaCE]

The president of the US makes $200k. Right? I'm guessing in that ballpark.

-CC

[Sam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by CCdaCE The president of the US makes $200k. Right?

Right. But his expense is at least 100 times that. I wonder if/when and on what our president actually spends his own money?

[ats5g]

fyi - the pres makes $400,000 now.

Too see what fed employees make, see 2007 Salary Tables and Related Information.

[wabmester]

Does anybody take a government job for the salary? I thought it was all about fat pensions, double dipping after retirement, free healthcare, and potentially lucrative consulting gigs.

[FinanceDude]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wab Does anybody take a government job for the salary? I thought it was all about fat pensions, double dipping after retirement, free healthcare, and potentially lucrative consulting gigs.

[Lusitan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wab Does anybody take a government job for the salary? I thought it was all about fat pensions, double dipping after retirement, free healthcare, and potentially lucrative consulting gigs.

Don't forget never having to worry about being laid off for underproducing and being completely insulated from the competitive dog-eat-dog real world economy.

[SLC Tortfeasor]

I'm thinking if government, $95K. If private sector, $500K. I'm probably way off.

[tryan]

NOT ENOUGH

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam Right. But his expense is at least 100 times that. I wonder if/when and on what our president actually spends his own money?

I'm guessing most of them forget what their credit cards looked like.

Remember Bush Sr. being amazed when he saw the bar code scanner at the supermarket?

[MasterBlaster]

What is being left out is the location (city, state) where such employment exists.

If the job exists on the coasts in on of the "popular" cities then I'd add a delta - maybe 50% from some of the numbers given above.

If the job exists in the midwest, south then I'd subtract a delta maybe 20-25%

[bssc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cute Fuzzy Bunny I'm guessing most of them forget what their credit cards looked like. Remember Bush Sr. being amazed when he saw the bar code scanner at the supermarket?

Yes. Clinton tried using his credit card once but it had expired.

[CCdaCE]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ats5g fyi - the pres makes $400,000 now. Too see what fed employees make, see 2007 Salary Tables and Related Information.

Alright, we'll split the difference then. Let's guess $300k. Probably too high.

-CC

[dex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cute Fuzzy Bunny Remember Bush Sr. being amazed when he saw the bar code scanner at the supermarket?

It wasn't that he was amazed at a bar code reader.
It was that the bar code reader was able to correctly read a partical bar code.

[Sandy]

Salary range: 52,900-75,900. Generally the state (Florida) pays new hires within 10% of the base, although for this a mid-range salary is likely. :P

Thanks for the replies.

NOT ENOUGH
[/quote]
You got that right!

Quote:

Originally Posted by wab Does anybody take a government job for the salary? I thought it was all about fat pensions, double dipping after retirement, free healthcare, and potentially lucrative consulting gigs.

[quote=tryan ]

Bingo! There is a consulting firm in town, they have about 10 small offices around the country, and primarily serve state health care programs. Good $$, but they only hire people who have survived the agency work.

This position doesn’t allow any w*rk/life balance and doesn’t pay enough to foster FIRE. (unless you want to go on the road for the above mentioned consultants after your indentured time.) The woman who had the job just had a baby. Guess she decided not to return.

Finally, with this salary, you don’t get the best or most qualified. You hire young and inexperienced. Generally the agency can find staff who are reasonably competent, but in over their heads. You need a strong knowledgeable manager to make this work. Without that, the contractors have the upper hand - better understanding of the finances and better skilled negotiators. We have seen many contracts that favored the contractor’s bottom line to the clear detriment of prudent use of state resources and quality of care. Low taxes = low salary = you get what you pay for.

[cute fuzzy bunny]

...and then we wonder why politicians do a poor job much of the time... :P