Salary Talk: Negotiating and Knowing Your Worth

Negotiating can be tough, but it’s the only way to get paid for your worth. On average, women make less than 72 cents for every dollar in tech/engineering. Tech has fallen far behind, even though it’s supposed to be leading the way in progress. 

Let's start at the beginning. It takes confidence to look someone in the eye and ask for more money. But first you need to have the confidence? One of my absolute favorite ways to instill confidence with anyone I work with is mentorship. Personally, I never had a mentor, and unfortunately thats not uncommon. Not only do we get paid 20% but we are also 24% less likely to receive mentorship or advice from our bosses. While you don't need a mentor to make it, it significantly increases your chances in your career to rise the ranks. The more you improve, the more confident you are and having a boss on your side will make that negotiation a lot easier. (via)
 

Did you know, that as a woman you are more likely to take the lower salary just to avoid negotiating? Negotiating is something both men and women have an aversion to, but men are more likely to negotiate harder. Thus, employers give them a higher starting salary to avoid the negotiation - knowing that women are more averse to negotiating they are able to start us at a lower salary and we'll accept it. How do we change this? 

Change the narrative. 

Often times, we either feel pushy or are called pushy and greedy for negotiating higher. Instead of making the conversation about just one part of your package - talk about the whole package. Include salary, equity, and insurance all as one conversation. More than likely you and the employer will have different wants from both ends - making it about the bigger picture turns the conversation from a battle to a collaboration. It will ease both you and your employer and you'll be able to fight for what you're worth! (via)

Prepare and negotiate your worth.

Just the anxiety induced by knowing you have to negotiate your salary can cause you to not want to think about it. But you need to prepare! Know why you deserve more and how to explain that to your future employer. If it's a new job or trying to ask for a raise - think about what you're doing, how much time it takes, and what is your time worth? Research jobs similar to you and see what the average is, don't settle for that, but take that as a starting number. Are you making at least the average? If you have a superior, you're comfortable with - chat with them and get feedback on just what you need to know or say. It all seems scary at first, but I promise when you come in prepared - you're guaranteeing yourself success.

I’m proud to partner with Luna bar to empower women to take #equalpay into their own hands. At TechSesh we’re female-founded, female-run, and female-funded so this is an issue that is really important to me. LUNA Bar will be discounting their bars by 20% and donating 20% to AAUWNational to raise awareness of the gender wage gap women experience in the work place. For more tips on negotiating (always ask for more) the salary you’re worth, go here.

This blog was a partnership with Luna bar.