LIM College

by Victoria Stankus

During your senior co-op semester, you will take a course called Leadership & Negotiation. This class will teach you the proper tools you need to negotiate salary, and for most of you, it will be the first time you ever have. This class empowers you, makes you gain confidence, and feel comfortable asking what you believe you deserve.

As I had written in my previous blog, a company had offered me a salary that I was not comfortable with taking right away. I was very nervous negotiating, but I knew that there was no other way to possibly get something that would make me feel that my education and all my internship experience had paid off. Keep in mind, I had people tell me that I shouldn’t, even people that are in my close support loop but I decided to go with my gut and ask for more anyway.

It is quite a feeling that is hard to explain when you are writing the email, waiting for a reply and have the worry that it might not work in the first place and you just lost your shot of having a job where your skills are wanted and needed. It turned out that they came back with a counter offer, and although it was not what I had originally asked for, they met me halfway and I got a more money than I would have if I decided not to try. In fact, if I didn’t negotiate, I might not have had a job right after graduation since I would have not even accepted. If a company wants you, they will pay for you. And that is the truth.

You get a feeling of pride after you negotiate your first salary since about more than half the people who get offers accept the first one and almost all the women who get offers never negotiate. It is time that our generation takes a stand and show our future employers that we know what we are worth and not afraid to ask for it because at the end of the day we are going to prove to them we are worth it and more.