I am valuable! But, can you help me confirm that?
Understanding unsolicited job compensation inquiries
At LEAST once a week a friend, colleague, or family member will ask my advice on something extremely specific. You might think, as an executive recruiter, these people would bounce potential career ideas off me to get their take.
Sure, that happens from time to time.
Or you might think that because I went off and started my own business, some of these people would have entrepreneurial anxieties that I might mollify.
Sure, that happens too, but not that often.
No, friends. The thing I have become, to many of these people, is the compensation guru. See, professionals around the world are taking new jobs every day. They are taking leaps of faith on their own, sometimes following a passion and sometimes following a paycheck. But in all scenarios, the job-changer wants to know if what they are going to be earning is fair. And if not, how they should negotiate…because compensation ain’t about a base salary.
They need education around different forms of equity (grants, options, phantom equity, restricted stock units or ‘RSUs’). They need help deciding if they should counter the offer given to them, and where.
Do I counter with a 180k base, instead of 170, and waive access to an annual bonus? How am I setting myself up for a merit increase in the future? What happens if the company goes bust?
Will my side hustle cover the paycut I am taking at this amazing new company?
In the past week i’ve had compensation conversations with
A New York-based VP Operations baller for a healthtech company
A Denver-based creative marketing wizard;
A remote-based Chief of Staff guru;
An Omaha-based minor league baseball groundskeeper
It’s humbling that people want my advice. Shit, I will just say it flat out feels good. It feels good to be desired right??
On one hand, negotiating compensation is one of my favorite things to do in the world, as I do it pretty regularly and perhaps it makes me an expert. But just because I like it, doesn’t mean I have the oracle of comp data from which everyone should be pulling. A lot of it is common sense and gut, sprinkled in with specific data points.
Truthfully, its about trust. People trust that I have their best interest in mind, so they share this incredibly sensitive piece of information with me in the hopes it might improve their livelihood.
Consider how many of your close friends would actually share how much they earn with you. It’s probably a small number. Yet that off-limits personal data seems to just come to my fingertips without me asking for it. And I reckon that happens because people trust me.
Never mind the fact that negotiating compensation is oh I don’t know, 3% of the work I do. Never mind I usually am trying to recruit a candidate for my client, aka, a company, and while I do want you to get every euro you’re worth….my client is the one paying me, not you.
Because this topic is so taboo, people don’t know who else to turn to. What is it about society that shuns us from talking publicly about what we make?
Pretty simple.
People are scared to be earning too little. For some job seekers, they fear their colleagues may earn more than they. Or that their future employer is low balling them.
For other job seekers, their righteous, millennial entitlement gauge might just unhinge completely! And if my neighbor earns 45k more than me, well that is downright laughable. She has never worked a day in her life!
But advice for a friend? I’ve got no problem sharing ten mins with you. I hope I can help you.