Wages and benefits are the primary two things that are looked at when job hunting, however you are going to a small entry level job the benefits may be little to none. The main people, who are lucky enough to have benefits, are the salaried employees or sometimes if you work 30 to 35 hours a week. Unfortunately, most employers don’t have their employees work over a certain number of hours so they cannot get their benefits. When you look for a job, you should try to find one that offers great pay along with some good benefits that you can have. Some corporations are gracious and automatically give you benefits after a certain probational period.
Usually being on a salary doesn’t offer much more pay and really only benefits the employer because they may have you do most of their work that leaves them with more free time. But when choosing between two jobs, you should always look at if they offer health insurance. Many companies will offer health insurance and take a small fee out of your paycheck. Health insurance is an incredible and stress-free thing to have. If you don’t have it you, will be billed for hundreds or thousands of dollars, and if you don’t pay up then it will effect your credit score. This could stop you from getting loans or credit cards if your credit is low enough.
Salaried positions automatically get benefits and being salaried means you get paid a set amount. They will pay you the same if you come early or leave late; which almost never seems worth it because they can keep you 80 hours a week, and you still get paid for 40 hours of work. You often do get paid higher, but sometimes not even enough to matter
It’s really your choice to work yourself up the ladder to get to that salaried position, because even though you get paid a set amount, you get the max benefits, often paid sick days and vacations, etc. Normal employees can work as much as their employer allows them and you can get overtime (40+ hours) which is time and a half though you’d be kidding yourself if you think you could get that every week. Most employers will mostly have you work overtime if they need you. Other than that, they’ll keep you on the lower spectrum of the hourly chart.
In the long run, you should mostly look at the pay of the employer first and then single it out based on benefits. I say this because you’re going to have a hard time finding an employer that offers benefits for people less than full time, and most employers keep their employees less than halftime to keep their employee productivity low. When you get into the interview, question them. Try to understand their needs and let them know what your needs are. Ask them what kind of benefits they provide, and hopefully you can luck out with good benefits and good pay.