How can I determine my worth in USD?
February 6, 2018 2:01 AM   Subscribe

I've been looking at applying for a position with a non-profit based in NYC. One of the parts of the application is nominating a desired salary - how do I translate my Australian salary to a US Salary?

The position is an Associate Director of Education. It's a position that requires 7-10 years experience and a Bachelors degree with Masters preferred. It involves hiring and supervising staff and volunteers, producing programs, writing grants, managing relationships and managing projects.

Positions like this in Australia usually have a salary package range of $95-125K depending on the organisation and seniority - I'm currently on the upper end of this scale. I don't want to low ball this, but don't want to overshoot it either. Some forums have suggested AUD x exchange rate = USD - but I'm not sure how right that is.

Any guidance as to what this role is worth in USD would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.
posted by anonymous to Work & Money (7 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Based on a few international cost of living calculators (google that phrase) for Sydney and Melbourne the cost of living in nyc is anywhere between 7%-25% higher. So id suggest: aussie salary + cost of living increase + exchange rate (+optional raise for changing jobs - promotion thru attrition)

Example:
So if you made 120k and live in sydney it's 120k +7% =128.5k --> usd =$101k then add a raise you deserve.

I used similar efforts for an international move and lived at very much the same level in the foreign country as i had at home financially speaking.
posted by chasles at 3:31 AM on February 6, 2018


I should add that i would consider that a MINIMUM. Websites like glass ceiling and others can help with what others with similar titles make etc.
posted by chasles at 3:33 AM on February 6, 2018


Nonprofits in the US are required to make some of their tax information (form 990) available to the public. You can look it up with 990 Finder to find out details of their funding and (often) the salaries of their "highly compensated employees" (that term is defined in such a way that some organizations don't have any highly compensated employees and don't have to list salaries, but usually it will include a few of the highest positions in the org). This might help you calibrate your salary request.
posted by ourobouros at 5:39 AM on February 6, 2018 [1 favorite]


In most US states, salaries of government employees are a matter of public record. This usually includes employees of city and state universities. You could search for something like "New York public employee salaries" to find a database or list of databases. Those databases are often searchable by job title, so you can find what public-sector agency and state university employees with a similar job description are receiving. Public universities (CUNY would probably be most relevant to you) sometimes maintain similar lists themselves, accessible through their websites.
posted by penguinicity at 5:41 AM on February 6, 2018 [1 favorite]


Have you checked glassdoor for a similar position at this company?

Nonprofit titles are hyper local and don't mean a ton. However, in my experience, NYC non profit titles are highly inflated and Associate Director < Director < Senior Director < VP / managing director < C level. So it might make sense to stalk other employees at this organization to get a sense for the amount of title inflation at this org. I would have put a typical Associate Director in a NYC nonprofit around $70k but would only require bachelor's degree + ~5 years of experience. So this might be a higher Associate Director... maybe in the 80-90k range.

The 990 is also good advice - it kind of helps you identify organizations that pay low salaries as a matter of course!
posted by yonglin at 6:13 AM on February 6, 2018 [1 favorite]


A CUNY Higher Education Officer, which is a position that heads an administrative center and supervises staff, and is eligible for a sort of administrative tenure, makes in the range of $100,000-$120,000 USD. A Higher Education Assistant, the rank just below and which also often supervises smaller staffs and is eligible for admin tenure, makes between $60,000-$90,000 USD. Obviously depends on longevity, achieving said tenure and a bunch of other factors, but those are the rough ranges.

CUNY is also rather in a perpetual budget crisis, so grain of salt and all that.
posted by Liesl at 6:20 AM on February 6, 2018 [1 favorite]


You should ideally be comparing (AU salary + benefits) to (US salary + benefits) - in particular health insurance, but also pension. Earning a comparable salary but being out of pocket $1k/mo for insurance is a net loss to you.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 4:55 PM on February 6, 2018


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