After graduating from BYU I worked in a research lab at BYU for the summer before I started graduate school. Because I hadn't specifically done hard wage negotiations before some of the paperwork was filled out, a secretary determined that I would be paid $6.50/hour*. This really bothered me. I was a college graduate. I was the pride of the department and they could brag about the quality of their education based on the graduate schools and programs I was accepted to. And yet I was still only worth $6.50 an hour. After a number of pep-talks, I went back to defend myself and my value. They gave in and upped my wage.
When I started graduate school I was in awe--I was making more money than I ever had--a whopping $17,500 per year. To go to school! At some point in the course of my five years of graduate school, things changed. As I became more independent and needed less hand holding, I also realized that my stipend didn't feel as generous as it once had.
So I graduated, and moved up to the postdoc payscale--a considerable jump over the graduate student stipend. But now as I'm looking into "real jobs" I realize that I'm still undervaluing myself. Yesterday I was talking to a recruiter, and she asked about my salary requirements. Fortunately I knew enough to answer that question by turning it back on her and asking what they considered competitive for that type of position. She hemmed and hawed a little about experience and education and the role they play in determining salary. She then acknowledged that I met all of their experience and educational expectations and she gave a salary range. A range that puts my current salary to shame.
Since then I've been thinking about how effectively I've been "trained" into underestimating my worth. And it sort of scares me how much I might have undersold myself. Taking it beyond the job and the salary situation, I wonder--how often do I sell my birthright for a mess of pottage and imagine that I'm getting the better end of the deal?
* I think it was $6.50, but my memory may be off a quarter or two.
4 comments:
Thought you might enjoy checking out the going rates for jobs around the country:
http://salary.hotjobs.com/
My husband refused to let me accept lower paying jobs after I graduated from BYU. I am glad I waited until I found one that paid me for being a professional. Now that I have experienced being a real estate investor, I will never go back to the wages of a social worker. My time is worth more than that. It is interesting how things change. Sonnet, you are worth it!
So have you heard back about the interview/job? You are definitely worth a Ton o' Money!
I think I go in to interview situations with an altogether deferential attitude, and that makes it hard to switch into an aggressive stance for salary negotiations. Basically, it seems immodest and uncomfortable to haggle, and I hate it. That's why the prospect of real estate or car purchases makes me crazy. The idea that THOUSANDS of dollars could be at stake based on me saying the right things at the right times just makes me irritable.
Looking forward to hearing that you landed the salary you deserve.
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