salary range – Equal Pay Negotiations

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Developing the business arguments for why you deserve the high-end of the salary range is probably the hardest part of salary negotiation. Your business arguments should not be new information at the negotiation. If it is important enough to get you higher pay than it is important enough to help you land the job.

Revisit your resume and ensuring that it supports higher salary offers. Most people believe their resume does this. Unfortunately, most people would be wrong. The focus tends to be on the effort and not on the results. Results are what employers want and what they will pay dividends to get. Many people believe they are showcasing their results but the results are unspecified or are focused on tactics.

This is such an important aspect to salary negotiation that I thought I would revisit it and include some examples from actual resumes.

Resumes with Unspecified Results Examples

Actual Resume: Increase sales through designing branding and loyalty strategy.

Higher Salary Support: Increased sales by $1M through designing branding and loyalty strategy.

Actual Resume: Minimized cost of supply orders by monitoring spending and optimizing order volumes

Higher Salary Support: Decreased cost of supply orders by $100K by monitoring spending and optimizing order volumes.

Resumes Showcasing Tactics Instead of Results Examples

Actual Resume: Increased efficiency in workflow process and shortened delivery times for clients by redesigning work teams

Higher Salary Support: Decreased cost of project delivery by $1K per project by shortening delivery times through improved efficiency in workflow process.

Actual Resume: Developed a multi-category brand licensing strategy

Higher Salary Support: Increased revenue by $1M through the development of a multi-category brand licensing strategy

Learn the Financial Impact of your Work

Are you unable to include the financial impact of your efforts because you do not know what it is? You are not alone. That is a very common challenge. My advice is to not wait until the next time you are updating your resume but to start now and learn the financial impact of all your work. It will make you a better-informed employee for your current boss and an amazing candidate for your future bosses.

The Question That Started My Petition

Kate asked one question that began an odyssey for me.

“What other legislation do you think is necessary to bring about a complete transformation?”

Kate’s question prompted me to think in terms of politics. My father, uncle, grandfather, and great grandfather all who were elected officials would be appalled that I hadn’t thought in such terms before this question. Now that I was thinking of policy, my mind was spinning. Like most of my great ideas, I woke up with the kernel of an idea for a new law. The kernel has been researched, discussed, drafted, and revised over the months. Now, I’m ready to introduce the idea to the world and ask for your support.

Salary Disclosure to Promote Equality Act

The idea has developed into the Salary Disclosure to Promote Equality Act. The petition asks congress to create and pass an act that would:

Requires inclusion of the pay range for all job postings for public and private sector jobs

Removes the requirement for most candidates to be subject to a credit check

Disallows a requirement for applicants to share salary history

Prohibits past employers from sharing a previous employee’s salary history

Allows employees within the same company to share salary information without fear of dismissal

Candidates and employees of both genders are on unequal footing with employers when negotiating pay. The employer knows the salary range for the job and your salary history. Candidates and employees usually do not know the salary range for the job. This act would eliminate this disadvantage for all Americans and better position men and women to negotiate the true value they bring to any job. Ultimately, this will minimize the gender pay gap.