Hello, what's up, and welcome back to another episode of the Straight Shooter
Recruiter Podcast. I'm your host, Emily Durham aka Emily the Recruiter and if
it's your first time listening to the show, welcome, don't forget to subscribe
to it, leave a rating and a review. But my whole goal,
my mo is to help you thrive in your nine to five and beyond.
I've worked in talent acquisition for just over seven years. I'm a writer for
Canadian Business. I've been featured in Forbes, BBC. Like trust me when
I say I know my stuff. And one thing about me, I know
money, Baby, I love money. I wake up thinking of money.
I go to sleep thinking of money. Just kidding, but you know what
I mean. I'm the kind of person who's very realistic in that if I
won the lottery this evening, I would not be showing up to work tomorrow
like I'll be so for real. I am not one of those people who
finds joy in work. Yeah, can you believe it? Which basically means
if I don't feel like I'm being compensated fairly, I'm out, baby.
I'm going to go find a job that's going to pay me. And even
though we are in a very sticky economic and very turbulent at time from an
economic perspective, right now, there are still things we can do to make
sure we're maximizing our earnings from our nine to five jobs or even outside of
it, and things that we can think of when we are in positions to
leave roles. I do want to give a little disclaimer. You might be
in a position right now where it's too risky to leave your current job,
or it's safer to stay in your current role for now and make those decisions,
or you're looking for a job and bills are racking up and it's time
to take the first job you know that becomes available. There is nothing wrong
with that. There is a different set of priorities we have for every stage
in our life, and some of these tips and tricks will help you regardless
of what stage you're in, but some are best safer when we have the
luxury and privilege, frankly, of being picky with the work we have.
So I do just want to start off with that, because I recognize there
is not always going to be a time and a place for being selective with
where we work. So do you want to start off with that? Also,
as a friendly reminder, I feel like I'm doing housekeeping at the beginning
of a wedding. I always keep the link for you to submit your questions
in the description of my episodes, so if you want your question answered,
make sure you submit it in there. And I think that's it a redound
housekeeping because I'm ready to get into this episode, babes. Okay, first
thing we need to do when you think about how you can make the most
money possible is you need to be very realistic about what industry you're working in.
And I know this is not the advice you want to hear, but
straight up, if you are a teacher, you are going to have your
earnings capped. If you work in a government organization, you will have your
earnings capped. The reason for that is that it's highly regulated and not in
the way that benefits employees. It's actually in the way that benefits employers.
So you need to do research on generally what earning potential looks like in your
industry, and if that is not aligned, and you care more about money
than enjoying the work, maybe it's time for a career change. And I
do have episodes on that as well, but I will share a personal antidote.
I always considered a career in education, especially when I first majored in
theater. In my head, like my backup plan after I graduated from university,
essentially was going to be Okay, I major in theater. If I
can't get a job as a working actor or writer, I will go to
teachers college and I will teach. And it wasn't until I started doing research
to understand, like financially, what those implications were that I realized I was
never going to make back the money that I spent on school as an educator.
And that honestly was a big motivator for me, because, like I
said, I enjoy work, but for me personally, I don't work to
live. I don't work to live. I don't live to work. I
work to live. I was like, that didn't feel right coming out of
my mouth. So you really just have to be honest with yourself about what
industries will have the capacity to pay, and maybe it's time for an industry
change. Another example, I was a recruiter at a bank and I almost
doubled my income when I became a recruder at a tech company because different industries
can and will compensate you differently. Okay, So there are two main ways
you can boost your earnings when you think about work, and one is when
you negotiate your way into a company, so when you're getting a new job.
And the other is when you negotiate your way up through a company,
so raises, promotions. All of those good things. Both are important,
and I think the first thing you need to remember is, yes, there
are limitations in terms of industry, so know that information and know the limitations
of your company. But there are also limitations in our mind. And I
actually think this is what holds us back the most. I personally have been
there, and it wasn't until I moved into the career coaching space, moved
into recruiting, when I realized that this is something so many people face.
But we are convinced that we should not be negotiating. We are convinced we
should be happy with the jobs that we have. We are convinced that we
are being compensated fairly, and we are convinced that we can trust our employers.
And although that is great in theory, I've got some bad news for
you. Corporate Corporate, Canada, corporate wherever you live, doesn't give a
shit about you. Okay, I always say this. If I die tomorrow,
they will have my replacement hired by tuesday. We ultimately, as much
as companies care, we are still just people who are productivitying machines and we
are output providers. We are coming because we provide a service to this organization
so that the organization can thrive. Unfortunately, a lot of us have this
emotional tie to the companies that we work too, and we feel bad asking
for a raise, We feel uncomfortable negotiating. Let me tell you something something.
The first thing you need to do is give yourself permission to want more.
And I'm telling you as someone who works in recruiting in multiple industries with
hundreds of clients, I'm telling you it is okay to negotiate. It is
actually encouraged to negotiate. If a company is not going to keep your offer
because you ask for more and they rescind it, that's not a place you
want to work. If they are going to shame you for asking for a
raise, that's not a place you want to work. So give yourself permission
to ask for more and stop feeling guilty because we do not feel guilty for
mega corporations. We just do not. Oh, I needed a sip of
coffee after that, when I got a little bit passionate, didn I all
right? So let's start with negotiating your way into a company. As you
get a job offer, always start off with research. Take a look at
the company, take a look at the industry. How much is their salary
range online? And is that what you're looking for. If the answers no,
don't waste your time, Like, do not waste your time there.
I think the most important thing for you to maximize your job hunting without getting
burnt out while thinking about how much money you can make is before you get
on the phone with a recruiter when they reach out for an interview, ask
the salary range first. Don't waste your time, don't waste their time.
Get that info right away, and if they are unable to provide you a
range, provide them your range. And this is where that research comes in,
because the last thing you want to do is face interview burnout where you're
interviewing with one hundred different companies and you find out seventy of them don't pay
you what you want. You're wasting your time, You're going to get fatigue,
you're going to feel discouraged. So do that research right away. If
you get to the stage where you get a job offer, I don't care
if you are elated with the job offer, you will still ask for more
because what is the worst case scenario? Nothing changes. The worst case scenario
is that they say, sorry, we actually don't have budget to go any
higher than this, and then you get to make a decision. The best
case scenario they say, absolutely, here's another ten thousand dollars and isn't that
nice? Every time you do not negotiate, you leave money on the table.
In fact, over fifty eight percent of people in North America and their
current jobs did not negotiate. Do you know how much money was waiting on
the table for them to take And this is particularly true for communities that haven't
historically been taught to take up space. Think of women, particularly black women.
You know, women overall were statistically less likely to negotiate because we're being
raised and told to be humbled and quiet and all of these things. And
that's a major contributing factor to the wage gap. So we need to take
control of our earnings by being comfortable negotiating. But we need to be data
backed when we do it, otherwise we are wasting our time. So if
you want to increase your earnings, come to the table when it's time to
negotiate. Well, first of all, you're going to email the person you're
chatting with and you're going to say, thank you so much for the offer.
I've really enjoyed this process. Can I grab you on the phone real
quick? Never do it over email like I really mean it, because you
don't want your words to be misconstrued. And then you're going to get the
individual on the phone, thank them again, appreciate your time in this process.
Yeah, data, be nice, be kind, be enthused about the
opportunity. And then I want you to say, based on my research and
my understanding of this role, I'm looking for something closer. To insert the
number, and then stop talking. I don't want you to keep talking.
This is not a sales pitch. It is not a time for you to
convince them that you are good at your job. Guess what, you have
an offer. They already like you, they want to hire you. Stop
over selling. Let them tell you what the next step is. Let them
say, let me go to the team and I'll get back to you.
Let then say I have budget, I have don't And in your mind you
need to have a walk away point because the only way you will increase your
income every time you move jobs is if you have a minimum number you are
willing to accept, and if they cannot meet it, you apply for another
job. And that's a commitment you need to make to yourself because in theory,
and actually not even in theory, like science shows us, data shows
us, the way to increase your earnings the fastest is to move companies.
Okay, so asking for more money when you come into a company can sometimes
feel a little bit easier than asking for more money when you're already at the
company. But this is your friendly reminder that every twelve months you should be
asking for a raise, even if you don't get it, which is totally
fine. It's important that you're asking because the worst case scenario is they say
no and then nothing changes. In the best case scenario, if you get
more money, So why wouldn't you be asking. So what I would say
and highly recommend is when it comes to promotions or when it comes to getting
a raise at the company. You're not going to get that if you don't
have data to back it up. And ultimately, you need to be able
to prove to your employer what you bring to the table, and you can
only do that with data. So you need to keep an ongoing list of
all of your core accomplishments in your position. And it can be big stuff,
small stuff, anything, and a couple of months before your year end
performance review, start sharing this list with your boss. And it's not in
a weird way, but when you have your one on ones, you know,
monthly, weekly, whatever it is, bring it up. Be like,
you know what I'm thinking about my career growth. I'm thinking about my
development. I'd love to share with you some of my accomplishments for the year,
and I'd love to have a conversation about where I can grow. That's
important that you have this chat a few months before your end because you're planning
the seed that I want to grow, I want to learn, I want
to develop. Like it's reminding your boss you have aspirations, and it's giving
your boss an opportunity to tell you that, Hey, an order for you
to get promoted or an order for you to get a raise, I need
to see you do X y Z in this job, so it's actually doing
your growth and development to service and potentially your salary because remember when you already
work at a company, you're not getting a raise unless you're performing, so
having these conversations is important. However, when it comes to your year end,
so this is you know, typically the time you end up having an
opportunity to negotiate for a raise. And yes, I would say try to
stick to your company's cycles of pay only because you're more likely to get money
during that time frame unless you've got another offer. You bring that stuff up,
for sure, but I tend to stick to looking at their year end
just because it's more standard. But what you're going to do is have a
meeting in person with your manager, very similar to how you negotiate, and
you're going to say, i'm loving learning and growing here, I've had an
amazing experience, YadA, YadA, I'm really thinking about how my career develops,
and I wanted to hear if there's an opportunity for us to talk about
promotions or increased incentive, whether it's with titles, compensation, etc. And
then stop talking, keep it open. See what they have to say,
do they have budget, do they have roles? Were they also thinking of
this? And leave it to them? And I know this feels really passive
because it's like, Emily, how am I supposed to double my earnings if
I'm just leaving it up to them. Well, basically, if they come
back and say they can't do anything, that's your sign to leave. It's
really really as simple as that. So when we ask, we are being
equipped with information that can help us decide if this is the place we want
to stay at. Otherwise, you stay at a company for five years,
you haven't gotten a raise in four and suddenly you're pissed you stayed there that
long. But having these ongoing conversations ultimately can really really equip you with the
tools you need to decide if you're going to stay here and ultimately to help
you earn more every single year. Money is personal, Money is exciting.
Money is also so unbelievably overwhelming. So if this episode kind of stressed you
out, I get it, Like, it's normal to feel overwhelmed, it's
normal to feel like this is a lot, because it is. But the
more comfortable you become advocating for yourself, the more you're going to receive because
closed mouths don't get fed. So I really hope this is helpful. Again,
this is another long episode, and this episode was inspired by a few
questions that I got in the questions form, So I'm not answering any additional
questions today because literally this whole episode was breaking down answers to different questions y'all
submitted, So if you do have more questions, send them in. I'll
either directly answer them or have episodes inspired and like taken from them. But
y'all just as like a small life update, not even life update. I
just got the most questionable notification, so I download a hinge again, which
I'm already kind of regretting, because I don't want to meet someone on a
dating app. I want to meet someone in real life. I want to
be at a grocery store and I want a gorgeous man to come up to
me and be like, oh my god, are you buying pomegranates? And
I'll say yes, and he's like, oh my god, I know a
great pomegranate salad recipe. Why don't I take you out for dinner and we
can get married and fall in love. That's what I want. It's not
I don't want to hinge prompt of a man saying do you like pineapple on
pizza? Anyways, So I just got a hinge notification like two seconds ago.
Literally as I recorded the last clip, asked me why this man had
a wedding ring on in every photograph and then his bio was looking for discreet
fun. If I could find your wife, sir, the way I would
send this screenshot to her expeditiously. Lord, people are crazy. Anyways,
that's what's happening in my life, dating life as drives the Sahara dessert.
But that's fine, It's all good. I hope you guys are all doing
well. What a side note, I was just like, I have to
tell somebody this. This is so out of pocket. But anyways, I
cannot thank y'all enough for hanging up with me. You know, I love
you to the moon and back and I will talk to you next Sunday.
Also, don't forget to share this. If you're listening, tag me please,
Okay, I love you. Buy