From 2016 until mid way through 2019 I worked for a company that contracted IT work at a fortune 500 finance company. I changed positions within the contract company once, negotiating a 10% raise in the process, but my real power came when the company I was working for lost the contract to another contracting company. The company coming in wanted to keep the same work force in place if possible, so they interviewed us and made offers to keep all but a few of us.
We were initially told we’d be losing our jobs months before offers were made, or any of us know what the possibility was of staying on with the new company. As you can imaging, due to this turmoil several of us dusted off our resumes and started looking around. I actually got an interview for a position within the fortune 500 company whose building I’d been working in for the past 3 years. The interview went well, but I didn’t hear anything back for a few weeks, and then the new contracting company started conducting interviews. Within a few weeks I was offered my same position, with a small raise.
This is where the story gets interesting. I felt I was well underpaid for the work I did and the value I provided. My boss did too. Based on this feeling, I started negotiating my next salary. Over the course of a week, I was able to negotiate going from $41k per year in my position, to $52k with the new contracting company for the same position. I was going to lose a week of vacation, but I loved my job, and the pay raise was well worth staying!
Almost as soon as I’d negotiated this raise to stay on with the new contracting company, I got the call back from my interview with the Fortune 500 that we contracted for. They wanted to hire me on, full benefits, 5 weeks of vacation and $55k/yr. The benefits and vacation were almost worth it by themselves, but I really loved my current position, and was unsure how much I’d like the one they were offering. This is where negotiating my new salary for the contract position really paid off. I let them know that I was offered mid $50s to stay on, and really liked my job. I wouldn’t want to leave it for less than $60k/yr salary. They hung up to check with the business. A day later, they called me back and agreed! Through salary negotiation, and playing one offer off another, I was able to increase my salary by 46%. But really it’s more like 70% due to the awesome benefits like health insurance, paid time off, and tuition reimbursement (I’m finishing my last 4 classes for a degree this year,)and I’m eligible for a yearly bonus! And then when I start taking advantage of the 401k benefits it will be almost an 80% pay increase due to the awesome benefit structure that I won’t get into here. Suffice it to say, I couldn’t have done much better only taking 1 step up.
I’m relaying all of these details in hopes that they encourage you to negotiate your future job offers, whether internal or external. If you don’t do so, you’re simply leaving money on the table, and decreasing future increases, because every future job will be negotiated based on your current salary.
The guys over at paychecksandbalances.com did an awesome podcast on this topic you should check out to help pump yourself up before negotiating! You can find it here – https://paychecksandbalances.com/pb81-dont-leave-money-table-ft-jeanie-anh/
Tell me what you think in the comments below! Or feel free to share tips on salary negotiation.