Calculating my professional worth
I’m anxiously waiting to hear back from a job that I really want. I completed the first interview a couple weeks ago and the second interview yesterday. I feel that both went extremely well. I was told that they would be making a decision this afternoon. However, I never directly brought up the issue of salary — argh!
After the first interview, I was a little annoyed that it hadn’t come up but was comfortable with not asking about it. Now that the second interview is completed, I’m wishing I’d been a little more pushy on that issue. I asked about it in the most round about way possible in inquiring about logistics of the position and got back information I wanted about work hours and also some benefit information — but not a salary disclosure.
So, not only am I on pins and needles waiting to hear if I got the job or not, I’m anxious about whether or not it will pay enough. Currently, I’m looking to make $35,000 a year — however, this is an almost completely fictitious number. I’ve no real basis for why I think that would be a good number, it has just been the one I’ve been most attached to since getting out of school. I know that $30,000 is the minimum I would consider, but I wonder if I would take something that low or not. My last job was $22,000 a year — and I’ve since earned a degree and $35,000 in school loan debt.
So, I’m looking through some job postings on monster and in other job banks to see if I can come up with comparable job descriptions and salary listings. This position was simply listed that pay would be based on experience. I am comforted by the fact that at each interview, they have pointed out that I have considerable experience — a assertion that surprises me somewhat since I feel my scattered jobs don’t reflect experience as much as temporariness.
The position is a sort of mix of duties because the office is so small. The primary listing details it as a Grants Manager and Office Manager, but the interview also established that it really needs to lead into overall Operations Manager for the office. I can’t believe that I am actually excited about the idea of having the title of “manager” since I figured that I’d never want to fill such a role, but it relates to managing tasks, not people, at least not at this point.
Well, I see that looking on monster offers a large range of salaries and duties. Basically, they mostly seem to list anything from $30,000 – $50,000 for somewhat comparable positions. However, I must also factor in the reality that the corporate world and business world differs greatly from the non-profit. Looking at idealist.org, I find comparable positions listed from the upper 20s to 40s. Wow, I’m glad I did this — I just saw that the position I am waiting to hear from finally updated that portion of their listing — it currently lists low to mid 30s. So, looks like I just might get my 35K afterall, and maybe, just maybe, after seeing these other listings, I’ll see if I can push up it just a little higher. :)