Salary Story: I Asked For The Top Of The Salary Scale — & I Got It

In our series Salary Stories, women with long-term career experience open up about the most intimate details of their jobs: compensation. It’s an honest look at how real people navigate the complicated world of negotiating, raises, promotions and job loss, with the hope it will give young people more insight into how to advocate for themselves — and maybe take a few risks along the way.

Been in the workforce for at least five years and interested in contributing your salary story? Submit your information here.

Age: 34
Location: Portland, Oregon
Current industry and job title: Communications specialist for a labor union
Current salary: $125,000
Number of years employed since school or university: 10
Starting salary: $30,000

Biggest salary jump: From about $62,000 a year to $110,000. After splitting with my longtime partner, I was living alone in a high-cost-of-living city so I started looking for a new job. At the time, I had worked in the labor movement for six years and I knew I was being underpaid and underutilized at the organization I worked for. I had a lot of connections in this field and I used them to get a similar (but much higher-paying) job at another labor union. 

Biggest salary drop: From about $30,000 to $23,000. After one year at my first job out of college, I pivoted to the education field and my salary dropped. I thought I might want to go to grad school to become a teacher, and I wanted to get some experience in classrooms before I made that choice. I had to work part-time as a server to make ends meet.

Biggest negotiation regret: When you work in labor, salary transparency is huge. There are usually scaled “steps” that correspond to your experience level and when I got my first labor job, I just took the step that was offered to me because I didn’t know I could negotiate that. At the time, I thought the salary was a lot of money, and I was just excited to be offered the job. But when I started working for the organization, I realized I had a lot more education and experience than a lot of my colleagues who started at a higher step, and I wish I had asked to be placed higher on the scale.

Best salary advice: Ask for the top of the scale! When my current employer asked me which step on the salary scale I thought I deserved, I said “the top step” and THEY JUST GAVE IT TO ME. I do have a lot of experience in my field but I was not expecting them to just give me the salary I asked for. Now I will never not ask for the highest salary in the range, because the worst that can happen is that they’ll say no and you can negotiate, and the best that can happen is THEY JUST GIVE IT TO YOU.

This was a job at a construction company. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go back to school and get into a teaching program so I took the first job I could get after I graduated college, just so I could earn decent money until I figured it out. I had worked in bars and restaurants for several years prior to this, and I wanted a regular schedule so I could have weekends free for once!

This was a role at a school district, where I worked with students with disabilities in a program that helped them transition from high school into the workforce. It was a significant pay cut for me at the time but I knew I wanted to get experience in this field, and I had the luxury of living with roommates, so my expenses weren’t exorbitant. I did also get engaged and married this year, though. I worked as a server for most of the year so I could save for our wedding, and that probably made up the difference in the pay cut.

This increase came about because my colleagues and I discovered we were being paid far less than other program specialists in the district who did the same work. We got involved with our union and were able to get a $4/hour raise — which didn’t raise my salary as much as it should have because our hours weren’t full time. But the experience did show me how powerful it is to have a union behind you!

After two years in a classroom setting, I decided I couldn’t take the abuse and low pay that come with being an educator. But I still wanted to do good work in a field that made the world a better place. I applied to work at a ton of nonprofits in the area and ended up taking a job at a labor union that represents educators. It was a great fit for me career-wise, and I was thrilled to be making this much money. 

With the cost-of-living adjustments I received every year, I ended up making a salary of $62,000 by the time I left this job.

I had been thinking about looking for a new job for a couple of years but I was very comfortable in my previous position, and I had hopes that I would get promoted if I stayed at that organization long enough. But we went through some management changes in 2021 and my boss quit. Without his support for our department, I knew I had no chance of moving up. 

Since I had worked in the labor movement in my state for almost six years, I knew a lot of people at other organizations, and I was referred to a job at another labor union in the city. This was also the first time any hiring manager asked me how much I wanted to be paid. I asked for the highest salary on the schedule and I got it!

Due to my union contract negotiations this year, I got a pretty big raise at the same organization.

Looking to my next career move, my goal is to eventually do private contract work in the labor and political field. I know the going rate for communications and PR contract work because I have worked with a lot of contractors during my time in this field. I hope to make $175,000 to $200,000 a year, which is very possible, especially during the legislative session every two years.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

I Made Way More Money After Quitting My Job

I Went From $175,000 To $245,000 In One Job Change

I Got A $20,000 Pay Raise By Contracting

from Refinery29 https://ift.tt/g2x061p
via IFTTT