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Right now, I'm reading Dynamite Salary Negotiations and there's an interesting tidbit I thought I'd share with everyone.  They suggested that when you put down your last salary, you add in all the extra "compensation" for your insurance and your 401k match and all that other junk into your salary.  Some people might interpret this as lying, but I've seen several applications where they ask you your last level of compensation, so I feel like this would be totally truthful.  But I do believe now that if asked in an interview, you should be free to say, "At my last position, my compensation was..."

I guess another tidbit I was talking about with someone recently was on the subject of recommendations.  When I quit my first job, I went out to lunch with several coworkers and we all agreed to be each other's recommendations when it came to it.  I actually did end up having to talk to my friend's prospective employer and it was actually kind of scary for that moment, but I'm happy to say that he got the job.  And all five of us from that lunch are no longer with that company, which I'm happy about too.

But a while back, I asked a former supervisor for recommendation letter and he said yes and then didn't do it.  I guess I realize that people are busy and maybe I didn't leave on perfect terms, but I feel like he shouldn't have agreed to do it, you know?  But I've never actually had to be a reference or write a recommendation letter for anyone since that one time, but I hope that I will always be able to take the couple hours or so to do that for someone.  The friend I was discussing this with said, "It's a sad state of humanity when you can't take the time for this."