Answering the dreaded salary question

There are a number of salary calculators and online Web sites, but many offer just an aggregated or best-guess figure. A few sites, however, offer more.

One site creating a lot of buzz is Glassdoor.com. It takes a unique approach by asking people to state their salary. That's the key to admission. Posters remain anonymous but are required to give a detailed description about what it's really like to work at a specific company. After entering that information, the site allows visitors to find out what jobs pay at different companies.

For example, in the banking sector, a "credit risk analyst" at HSBC Holdings averages $66,600, according to Glassdoor. That credit risk analyst at Wells Fargo earns $63,016, and $45,600 at Bank of America.

Glassdoor has categories for credit analyst, senior credit analyst, credit risk analyst, senior credit risk analyst and commercial credit analyst. And you can drill even deeper to see whether people received a cash bonus or other perks -- valuable information you can use in your own negotiations.

The anonymous comments are divided into pros and cons about specific employers. For example, one anonymous poster said he's working at a "good company" while a manager at the same company admonished job seekers to "think twice about joining."

Another useful salary site is PayScale.com. A credit risk analyst was paid $68,319 on PayScale at the same three sample companies -- HSBC Holdings, Wells Fargo and Bank of America.

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