[CAUT] FW: Univ. of Tenn. Job Opening for Piano Technician

[Michelle Stranges]

A sense of accomplishment.

:D
On Aug 16, 2006, at 12:32 PM, David Ilvedson wrote:

> I would be interested in what some benefit packages really  
> are...?   For instance, what generally does retirement give?   1/2  
> your salary + health insurance?   If you have to work on the cheap,  
> what do you get when your done?
>
> David Ilvedson, RPT
> Pacifica, CA  94044
>
>
> ----- Original message ----------------------------------------
> From: "Horace Greeley" <hgreeley at stanford.edu>
> To: "College and University Technicians" <caut at ptg.org>
> Received: 8/16/2006 7:34:59 AM
> Subject: Re: [CAUT] FW: Univ. of Tenn. Job Opening for Piano  
> Technician
>
>
>
>> Hi, Wim,
>
>> At 06:36 AM 8/16/2006, you wrote:
>
>
>>> Unfortunately, once UT hires someone at $16 ph, giving that person
>>> raises comensurate with his or her growth will be not happen.  
>>> After 5
>>> years, I finally got a "real" raise this year, but not until I  
>>> made a
>>> very strong plea.
>
>> Yup.
>
>> Most of the "strong plea"s I have made over the years have happened
>> along the lines of:  "Well...gee, too bad this doesn't seem to be
>> working...guess it's time for me to move on."  That is a real roll of
>> the dice.  Sometimes you win, sometimes not.  You have to be prepared
>> to move on.
>
>> Also, I think it is important to know for whom you are working.  It
>> really is unreasonable to expect that institutions (however
>> well-meaning they might be) will pay anywhere close to "market" rate
>> in any given market.  That's a pretty broad statement; and much will
>> depend on in which part of the country you are working.  In the SF
>> Bay Area, the official poverty level for a family of four is ~ $52K
>> per year.  Most of the schools in the area use contract tuners at
>> varying rates.  The one exception of which I know is SF State, which
>> historically has split the bulk of the work between two positions.
>
>> The trade-off is, of course, primarily whatever benefit packages are
>> available.  None of these are as good as they once were; but they are
>> often better than nothing.  I have only late in life learned to pay
>> myself first, so, for me, whatever benefits there might be are more
>> important than they might be to someone who has the business side of
>> the act better together.  I know technicians who have come into the
>> profession having either retired from something else and/or having
>> made reasonably good investments, can afford to make the change.
>
>> Underlying all of this, though, is a point which I think Ed Foote has
>> noted to the effect that, if you really have your technical chops
>> together and functioning, your work and reputation will speak for
>> themselves, and you will, over time, have plenty to do...with or
>> without an institution behind you.
>
>> Best.
>
>> Horace