Negotiating a New Salary--Believing You're Worth It

This post has been included in the Carnival of Debt Reduction: Thanksgiving Edition hosted by Mighty Bargain Hunter. Do stop by and check out the other financially savvy advice. I'm also very pleased that it has been selected by Political Calculations as a one of the best posts of the week for their On the Moneyed Midways feature, where you can see highlights of other financial blog carnivals.

I just came across a cool site, http://www.indeed.com/salary, where you can plug in a zip code and a job title and get an instant report of salaries from recently advertised jobs at that location.

Other than being nosy, this tool is enormously helpful in providing third-party objective data in salary negotiations. For more on why this is important, I highly recommend the negotiating classic Getting To Yes.

When I accepted my new job a few weeks ago, I was working through a retained recruiter. So she was going to get paid no matter who they hired. It was her job to screen applicants and "package" them for the employer. (Packaging in this case meant reformatting my carefully formatted resume into the recruiter's house style and asking me to write a summary of my experience for her to submit.) Part of the screening was to see if the salary was in the ballpark.

I'm sure you all know that as much as you like a recruiter, he or she is being paid by the employer, and everything you tell them goes straight to the employer. They are the employer's "agent."

In my screening call with the recruiter, she asked me how much I was making at my old job. I decided to tell her.

Then I pulled a trick. The hiring company was a not-for-profit organization. Tax returns (Form 990s) for not-for-profit organizations are available, for free, at Guidestar. And 990 forms list the highest-paid employees of an organization--with their salaries.

So, I did what any good negotiator would. I looked up my predecessor's salary. And found that she had been making substantially more than the hiring range they had given me.

So, when I got my job offer, I asked for more. I asked for less than what my predecessor had been making but more than they offered me. The recruiter was a little bent out of shape because she knew they had offered me more than I was making, and she knew I wanted the job, so she thought she was done. It was uncomfortable for a few minutes. I explained that I had a lot of experience, that I'd be expecting a raise in a few months for my existing job, and that I was disappointed that there wasn't more of a bump in salary in their offer. She asked me what I was looking for. I named a number.

I let the silence go. She said she'd ask. There was a time delay. The employer came back with a "split the difference" offer--all brokered through the recruiter. To be honest I was almost ready to say I'd take it. But the recruiter did something strange. She said she would go back and ask for the full amount again. She did. I got it.

Those 10 minutes or so of extreme discomfort with somebody I will probably rarely if ever speak with again went further toward decreasing my debt than a whole year of penny pinching would have.

The Other Side of the Equation--Reducing Debt by Increasing Income

My best friend's dad used to say, "You have to have a horse to get a horse." Well, somebody offered me a new horse Friday.

I already have a job. I've only been there for six months. I like the work, I like the people. I like the owner. I like my boss. Sure, there are politics and frustrations. But where are there not? Really, what's not to like?

The money, that's what. The truth is I am not making enough money at this job to deal with the aftershocks of our financial hard times. In fact, I was making less than I did 10 years ago.

Still, I wasn't looking for a job. I work in a small industry. Everybody knows EVERYBODY.

But a friend of mine left her position, where I have long dreamed of working. They were a former client.

I put off calling the head of the organization for a week or so after I found out she was gone. I couldn't imagine how I would tell my current boss I was leaving.

But then I got it together. I want this job. The cliches clicked. Opportunities like this don't come up every day. My family is depending on me.

So, I interviewed. The recruiter asked me why I was looking for a job after such a short time. I told the truth. I'm not, but I just couldn't pass this by.

And I got an offer. It's a great offer. More money. A really generous 401K match. 100% paid family dental coverage and 90% paid family medical coverage. Option to work at home several days a week. A shorter commute. Shorter working hours. Did I mention a really generous 401K match?

I'm still working out the details, but I'm going to take it. And I'm going to have to tell my manager, his manager, and the owner of my company that I'm leaving.

I want to be honest and say, I'd love to stay here, but I'm financially desperate, and I just can't. But I won't. I'll give them platitudes. I'll thank them for the opportunity. I'll tell them how much I enjoyed working there. I'll ask them to keep in touch. The platitudes, in this case, have the advantage of being true.

And they'll be bitter, angry, in denial, bargain, and eventually accept it. They'll blame effing Polly Poorhouse for everything that goes wrong after I leave.

Change is stressful. Change is necessary. Change is good. Yay.

Polly's Pointers:

* Always be looking for your next job.

* It's not personal, it's business.

* Value yourself, and others will value you as well.

* Be authentic.

Photo by Christina Matheson

Closing Bank Accounts

I closed my consulting business and took a full-time job in March. Well, "closed" is kind of overstating the case. I emailed my past clients and then shut the door on my home office.

The problem: an outstanding business loan and loaded up credit card. I was a DBA or "doing business as" organization--no incorporation, no limited liability. So I am liable for the business debt personally. And that's OK, because I believe if I borrowed it, I should pay it back.

Only, there is no income to pay off that debt, so it has to come from current earnings.

So today I (figuratively) opened the office door and decided to close my business bank accounts. I had two: one for taxes and one for operations. Seemed like a good idea at the time--I'd sweep money into the tax account when I got a check from a client so that I could afford to pay my quarterly estimated tax payments. Except, I kept dipping into the tax account for operational expenses. My bad.

To do:
Close tax account. Check.
Close operations account. Not so fast.

You see it's linked to the business loan, which is, um, not current.

So Monday, it's on the phone to the business loan people to see if we can work something out.