It's About the Money

I will be very truthful when it comes to negotiating salaries. I am very not good at doing so.

• When I was hired on 2/10/1995 at NDP - my first technical writer job, I was offered $17500 as a starting salary and I countered with $18000, mainly because I like round numbers. I should have asked for more, but I didn't because, in the moment, I was ecstatic to be receiving a job offer at noon on the same day I had come in at 8 for my interview. 
• Note: I have worked as a technical writer 9098 days (24 years, 10 months, 4 weeks, 1 day). I am 33 days (1 month, 2 days) from reaching 25 years in my career. I think I will write more about that fact in the future.
• When I left that job to go to Jordan Systems, I tried to negotiate for a higher salary than I was offered, but was rejected.
• When I left that job to go to Quintrex Data Systems, I tried to negotiate for a higher salary than I was offered, but was rejected.
• When I left that job to go to the Unnamed Hellhole in southern Iowa, I tried to negotiate for a higher salary than I was offered. I was given that higher job offer but was told I would need to wait until my 2 year anniversary before I would see an increase in salary.
• When I received my job offer from Pearson, I was prepared. I knew what salary I wanted. When the salary was revealed, it was $10,000 MORE than the highest salary in my head! Literally, I was speechless and did not attempt to negotiate, which goes against all the conventional wisdom when it comes to negotiating a salary.
• When I received my job offer during the job search of 2016 in March 2016 from the U of Iowa, I was prepared. I knew what salary I wanted. When the salary was revealed, I attempted to negotiate for a higher salary but was told no. Thinking quickly on my feet, I asked about the laptop that was going to be ordered for me and if I could have 3 monitors because, at Pearson, I only had 2 monitors and could not have a third monitor due to the graphics card. That was accepted, which is why, today and every day that I go to work, I have 3 monitors.

All of that salary history to say that I'm not good at negotiating my salary.


That is why I was reading Should I disclose my salary history? in an effort to educate myself about how to advise Alex. He had a phone interview with a company in Des Moines for a 2020 Summer Internship. The question came up about how Alex ought to answer the question, "What is your required hourly salary?" For questions like this, I like reading Ask the Headhunter to get perspectives I would not otherwise have in my brain.