Working KnowledgeA Monthly Column about Life on the Job |
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By Mary Pergander American Libraries Columnist Mary Pergander is director of the Deerfield (Ill.) Public Library. Send comments or questions to working@ala.org. Column for September 2006 |
Making the Ask
I presented a session at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans on how to get your best possible salary and benefits. Afterward, I received the following message from Matthew David an MLS student who was in the audience:
“My basic problem is that I have never considered negotiating salary before—and I think I have short-changed myself! I have a master's degree in not-for-profit administration and in December I will finish my MLS. I have over eight years of supervisory experience, almost six years of library experience, over two years of corporate customer service experience, and I feel very ready to move into middle management or perhaps become an assistant library director.
“So . . . what am I worth?”
Predict-ability
Have you ever seen the carnival workers who guess the weights of passers-by? They take into account apparent height, body type, and other factors to predict the weight of those people who try to stump them. I sometimes wish I had the ability to predict salaries, and bestow them on persons seeking to get the best possible pay from a potential employer. Unfortunately, there are just too many factors involved.
Given: We live in challenging economic times for many libraries. There are, undeniably, libraries that cannot or will not negotiate with candidates about salaries or benefits. However, we cannot know whether this is the case with our desired employer until we ask for what we want. I call this “Making the Ask.”
The “Real Objective”
Job candidates seem to believe that it is the employer's responsibility to pay the employee as much as the employer can. This is a mistaken belief at best; at worst, it is just wishful thinking.
Instead, recognize and act on the Real Objective:
The employer wants the best person possible for the least (but fair) amount of money it has to pay.
You want the best salary and benefit package possible for work you truly want to do.
In the worst cases, potential employees walk away from jobs they want because the employer does not make the offer the employee wants on the first try. Although employers function in accord with the Real Objective, many are willing to discuss options with candidates. If you are not open to initiating the discussion, you cannot make your needs known and you will not get what you believe you deserve.
How much am I worth?
There are many books, websites, and other resources that carefully describe how to negotiate salary and benefits. Learning these techniques is just doing your homework. What is more subtle, and has perhaps a bigger impact on your success, is doing the inner homework of what you believe you are worth, and building the confidence to ask for it with conviction. This is not bravado, guts, or aggression. It is the quiet assurance in the pit of your stomach that what you want for a salary is an accurate depiction of what you are worth to the employer.
There are library systems and situations in many parts of the country where this might not be possible. I do not wish to appear to make light of or underestimate the real suffering that can occur in these cases. Still, I believe many of us are suffering in cages of our own making, never realizing we have the key to open the door to new earning power if we learn to “Make the Ask.”
(c) Copyright 2006 American Library Association