salary/ relocation?

i have recently received a job offer from a company outside my local area. this is my first offer since graduating a couple of weeks ago. i’m quite happy except:

  1. the salary offered seems low when i compare it to my peers that have also recently been offered jobs. Is it fair to think I might get a salary that is competitive to that of my peers with similar performance while in school?

  2. no relocation assistance is being offered. this company travelled to my school’s recruitment week to fill the open position. from what i can tell, this company has always hired locally and relocation is something they haven’t had to face before. i have not heard of a company recruiting outside their local area not offering relcoation assistance. is this normal? don’t most companies that travel to recruit offer relocation?

i am truly grateful for the offer but i don’t want to feel the equivalent of buyer’s remorse.

any thoughts would be appreciated. thanks

I know 1 company in the toy industry that wouldn’t pay relocation for entry or near entry level jobs… not sure if they still operate this way but it was one of the top companies.

Its more important to negotiate for the higher salary then for relocation. Your future raises will all be a percentage of your salary. Depending how long you stay there, starting at a compensation that is not competitive will cost you more than you think.

Here are a few salary calculators to see if they are being fair:

http://www.salaryexpert.com/
http://www.monstermoving.monster.com/Find_A_Place/Calculators/SalaryCalc/
http://salary.money.cnn.com/