029 Katie Donovan: Salary Negotiation

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:02 — 49.3MB)

Internet radio for savvy professionals –
doing work you love, work that matters.

Our guest today, Katie Donovan, believes that “If you did not negotiate your salary you are under paid.”

She reminds us, “The one thing a job does differently then everything else we do is gives us money.”

Katie is a salary negotiation teacher, coach, blogger, and speaker on equal pay and women’s salary negotiations. She has been quoted in articles on theglasshammer.com, Forbes.com, and Salary.com.

She brings her negotiating experience in the staffing industry and sales to our conversation today.

We’d love to hear from you in terms of your actionable takeaways from this episode.

From the show

The actual most powerful moment financially in any employer employee relationship, is from the moment you’re offered the job to the moment you except it. You will never have that kind of power again about your own pay, until you quite that job.

Every single time you get a new job, without doubt, you should negotiate. The absolute worse that could happen is you will have the same job offer at the same salary . That’s not going to happen most of the time.

Play hiring manager for the moment. If I have a job opening budgeted to pay $50,000. All I need to do to be a good hiring manager is make sure I get the best talent and pay them less than $50,000. That can be $49,500. But I am not going to offer that. I am going to start most likely with around 40,000 maybe $42, 000 because I expect negotiating. I have to be ready for the percentage that will negotiate. I don’t know which you are. It’s a much bigger percentage that won’t. But I just don’t know which you are. So I am assuming you are going to negotiate. Then whatever you don’t negotiate for I can use for other resources. If it happens often enough I have a whole other body I can hire.

The world of the internet has tons of resources. Salary.com, payscale.com, glassdoor.com, are three popular salary research websites.

You can go to any nonprofit trade association. Every industry and every job has a trade association. If you’re an accountant in high tech, you can belong to a accountant nonprofit trade association or a high tech trade association. They do research about salary. They have that available. You can either find them online or call them, they are more than happy to share that, because they will hope that eventually you will become a member. If you’re not sure who your trade association is just do a website search. Put trade association into whatever your job is. You will find it. I am always amazed how minute a grouping can be that has a trade association that is very active.

Other really good resources are recruiters. Go to any staffing firm, call them and say hey I am an administrative assistant, in whatever industry and I am making this, and I maybe am ready for a change. Can I make more? Are there jobs available? It doesn’t mean you have to open your job search. But you will find out if you’re actually in line or you will actually get more resources by going through the recruiter as well.

Once you get one poor salary your never going to get out of that cycle unless you just stop giving your salary history.

So if you don’t understand how your job actually costs the company or helps the revenue of the company and how you in particular have either done above or beyond in saving more money or creating more money, you’re not ready for the conversation about a raise.

My website again equalpaynegotiations.com or you can follow me on twitter @kdb2b that is because I believe when we are doing our salary negotiations we actually are our own business. We have to think that way. So it’s me as an employee as a b to my employer the other b.

Listen to the full interview by clicking player above.

We’d love to hear from you in terms of your actionable takeaways from this episode.

Contact Katie Donovan

Website: equalpaynegotiations.com

Twitter: @kdb2b

Recommended Resources:

Katie’s new app for iPhone and iPad App: Earn More Girl

What do you want?

80% of finding work you love, work that fits you is knowing what you want. If you don’t know or aren’t quite sure – just start with what you think you might want. Take small smart steps and follow your gut. Talk to people who are already doing the work you’re interested in. Connect with them on LinkedIn.

To learn more about the Just Start Program check out our Just Start Page.

New: Appia’s Just Start Acadamy