SkyWater Blog

After clearing every hurdle in the long and winding path to your new job, you’ve just gotten the word: they’re making you an offer.  What if the offer is lower than the salary range you expected?

You’ve been lowballed, my friend.

You’re probably shocked and disappointed, wondering if the whole process was just a waste of your time. It wasn’t. All is not lost.

Good employers sometimes make wrongheadedly low offers (even to perfect-fit candidates). If you take specific steps and avoid a few common mistakes, you have a good chance of bumping that offer up into a range that reflects the market value of the job and the value you bring to it.

Let’s start with those two common mistakes and how to avoid them.

As a candidate, you want to perform to the best of your ability when invited to an interview. As the employment market becomes more buoyant you may find yourself involved in a number of interviews in a short space of time. Naturally, you’ll want to ensure you are the preferred candidate on each occasion but what exactly is the optimum timing to achieve this?

We know the typical weekly schedules of hiring managers, being the Minneapolis and Chicago executive recruiters that we are, and we are here with some advice for you to help you choose the best time to schedule a job interview.

As part of the employment changes that were signed into law in the summer of 2023, Minnesota’s new pay history ban went into effect on January 1, 2024. This means that you can not be pressured to share your salary history during the job application or job interview process. That's right; you shouldn't be in the position to answer this question in the first place, according to Minnesota law.

However, it's okay to volunteer this information if you're comfortable doing so.

This month, SkyWater Search Partners celebrated our tenth annual “Walk a Mile for a Smile” event in support of Smile Network International, one of our favorite international charitable organizations.

July 4th, Independence Day, holds a special place in the hearts of those who live in the United States. It is a federal holiday celebrated with patriotic displays, fireworks, barbecues, and more. Whether you consider yourself patriotic or not, there's a good chance you still appreciate the chance to enjoy the summer and recharge for a day. Here are some things to consider as a US Employer.

At SkyWater Search Partners, we believe that vibrant communities are built through strong community partnerships. Each quarter, we honor a top-performing team member with the gift of a substantial financial donation, in their name, to a nonprofit organization of their choosing.

As Minnesotans celebrate Juneteenth as a state holiday for the second year, we would like to pass along this story about Minnesota playwright and activist Rose McGee. McGee’s long-running play, “Kumbayah The Juneteenth Story,” has been bringing the meaning of this holiday to life for communities across our state and several others, through the power of storytelling, music, and sweet potato pie.

Pride Month is a time to celebrate love, diversity, the progress made within the LGBTQ community, and the countless, often unnamed heroes that have brought about that progress. At the center of these celebrations is the Pride Flag, a global symbol of the pride, inclusion, and unity that all members of the community deserve to experience.

MSP Business Journals selects SkyWater Search Partners as one of the 2024 Best Places to Work!

SkyWater Search Partners is honored to be recognized by Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journals (MSPBJ) as a 2024 Best Place to Work. This is the 9th time we have received this distinction. As always, we are delighted to see our continuous investments in talent and our commitment to our values validated so powerfully and publicly.

As an executive recruiter focused on the MedTech and Life Science industries, I often speak to professionals with extensive industry experience looking for a new opportunity. What’s often surprising is how many of them underestimate their LinkedIn profile's role in landing their next role. After nine years of partnering with small to mid-sized health technology companies to find and vet top talent, I want to emphasize the critical role of the LinkedIn profile.