By Rebecca R. Kahlenberg
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, August 6, 2006; K01

Although Nancy Gibson just started a new job, she already has an idea about when she will take her next vacation.

"Probably during a week in the winter, maybe to the Caribbean," she said. Gibson, a public relations manager at American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, a Rockville nonprofit, accrues 13 hours of paid vacation time per month, totaling about 20 days annually.

Paid vacation time may not be up there with salary or health insurance in importance to job seekers, but it's a significant and attractive workplace benefit. "It's appealing to everyone," said Janet McNichol, human resources director at the speech association.

Because they pay lower salaries, nonprofits tend to offer more vacation time than private companies. "We can't do stock options, so instead we offer more paid time off," McNichol said.

Still, in both the for-profit and nonprofit sectors, new employees typically receive less paid vacation time than workers with more time on the job. According to a 2005 Labor Department survey of employment benefits in U.S. private industry, workers with one year of service were eligible for 8.9 days of paid vacation, on average, compared with 19.3 days for those with 25 years of service. And some workers get no vacation time for the first six months, said Shawn Boyer, chief executive of SnagAJob.com, a part-time and hourly online job site.

Competition for talent is leading some employers to offer more vacation time. "It's hard to attract experienced people if you only give them two weeks," McNichol said.

Even among part-time workers, who in the past have been excluded from receiving vacation and other benefits, "we are starting to see a shift," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for the online job site CareerBuilder.com. She cited Starbucks as a leader in offering benefits to part-timers. "Now smaller companies have to compete with that," she said.

When looking for a job, ask about the amount of vacation time during your interview, "not as the first question but as part of the process," Boyer said.

Inquire whether you can take your vacation all at once or whether you have to spread it out, said Carol Evans, author of "This Is How We Do It: The Working Mothers' Manifesto" (2006, Hudson Street Press) and chief executive of Working Mother Media in New York. "Ask in terms that convey you're a planner, not as though you are asking for anything special," she said.

Don't tell potential employers that you never use your vacation time, Evans added. It won't convince them that you're a hard worker. In fact, it may "make a boss think there's not enough going on in your life and you may not have enough dimension to take a job."

Once you have started a job, alert your employer to your vacation plans, especially if you want time off around popular vacation dates, such as Christmas, New Year's and Thanksgiving, and during the summer. "When it comes to the busy times of year, the earlier you ask for vacation time, the better," Haefner said.

If you let your manager and co-workers know long in advance, they are more likely to accommodate your plans, Evans said. "When you tell an employer in January that you're planning to take time off in August, what can they say to object?" she asked.

Do not make reservations until you have the time approved by your boss. "People wrongly believe that they can attain vacation time by telling an employer, 'I already bought the plane tickets so I need the time off,' " Haefner said.

It's difficult to negotiate for more vacation time in hourly positions or as a new grad, unless you are highly sought after. But in professional positions where you bring much experience to a job, you may have more wiggle room. "If you already have three weeks somewhere else, then that's part of the negotiation, just like salary," Evans said. "Say something like, 'I currently get three weeks and it's important to me to maintain that.' "

As for Gibson, she had a great deal of public relations experience before taking her new job and was looking for a position with good benefits. Of her 20 days of annual paid vacation time, she said: "It's exactly what I would have asked for, it's just that I didn't have to."