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- I feel proud knowing that I always advocate for myself and I know that my employer sees my willingness to ask for more and have uncomfortable conversations as an asset to the organization.
- I feel proud knowing that I always advocate for myself and I know that my employer sees my willingness to ask for more and have uncomfortable conversations as an asset to the organization.
Welcome to The Salary Chronicles, where we’re bringing transparency to negotiation and salaries, one story at a time. We ask women to share their experiences negotiating their salary and what their advice is for others doing the same. We share these stories anonymously so they feel comfortable speaking as openly and as freely as possible.
This week we’re speaking with a woman who has continually made negotiation a part of her career journey.
Title: Marketing Manager
Location: Richmond, VA
Original salary: $30k
Negotiated salary (6 years later): $90k + 12k bonus
Your negotiation story is ongoing. How did you start negotiating?
When I began my career I made a promise to myself that I would never accept a position without negotiating. I’ve held firm to that promise over the years and I’ve negotiated for salary, more responsibilities, and extra time off. While each time I have negotiated my salary, it’s not been a crazy increase, it has added up to a salary I’m incredibly proud of and one that I thought was a someday goal, not an amount I’d be earning so early in my career.
I started my career making $30k working in marketing during the midst of the recession. I had negotiated my salary up from $28k and had negotiated an additional 10 vacation days. After two years I had outgrown the role and was making $40k. After a friend reached out with a job opportunity at the company she was working for, I quickly interviewed and was offered the role at $50k.
When I’m offered a job or a promotion I have a standard response that I use: I thank them for the opportunity, reiterate that I’m excited about it, and then ask for a day (or the weekend) to think about it.
I did the same with this job and then decided to let my current manager know that I had been offered a job and I was likely going to take it. I was honestly doing this out of respect, not because I wanted a counter offer, but she came back matching their salary of $50k and offering new growth opportunities within the company.
I knew I wanted to take the other position so I used this as leverage to negotiate a higher salary. On Monday I called the hiring manager at the new company and let them know that my current job had given me a counter-offer. Was there any room with the salary to make my decision easier?
They came back with an offer of $54k, and I accepted immediately.
You negotiated again (and again) quickly after starting. How did that come about?
Six months into my new role our department restructured, and I was given a new role. Some people might not negotiate during a role change or promotion, but I asked for an increased salary and got a raise to $62k. To do this I highlighted my increased responsibilities and my performance with the company thus far. The responsibilities of the new role were much bigger, and I wasn’t sure if they had fully taken into account the change. When they were presented with the facts they agreed and offered me an $8k raise, which I gladly accepted.
Roughly one year later I was given a promotion to manager and was actively looking to build my team. With the promotion, they increased my salary to $75k, which I was initially happy with. As I began the interview process for my new team member, though, I realized that they were going to offer my new hire $74k. Rather than being frustrated by the situation, I decided to raise the problem and assume that no one had realized we’d be paying an employee as much as we were paying their manager.
I approached my boss to have this conversation and put it very simply: I didn’t feel comfortable making the same as my employee when I had been with the company for two years and was going to be in charge of building a new team. The salaries didn’t match up with the responsibilities of each role.
He agreed and my new salary was updated from $75k to $81k.
My most recent negotiation with the company came as I was nearing the end of my maternity leave with my first child. With childcare costs being so expensive, I decided that I would take the time to stay home while my child was young. I let my director know that I didn’t plan on returning to work and a day later I received a call from the President of Marketing. He wanted to know what they could do to get me to stay. I put it pretty bluntly: I needed to make more than my husband in order to continue working and have him stay home with our new baby. He quickly came back with an offer of $90k base + $12k annual bonus.
That moment felt unbelievable. When I was in college I set myself a salary goal to make $90k, which at the time felt unattainable. Now, just six years into my career I had reached that goal.
What advice do you have for other women?
Always have confidence in your worth and advocate for the work that you do. When I look back I appreciate that my salary growth isn’t from constant job hopping or a one-time huge negotiation. It’s a result of my continued focus on my worth and what I bring to the organization. I feel proud knowing that I always advocate for myself and I know that my employer sees my willingness to ask for more and have uncomfortable conversations as an asset to the organization.
