Advice On Job Opportunity
Quick.
My employer has given me a great reference to a job opportunity that's tailor-made to my precise experiences.
- Writing and designing a biweekly newsletter (in Adobe Pagemaker no less, just like at my old church job).
- Advertising.
- Flyers.
- Updating the website.
- Learning a piece of software and teaching their customers how to use it.
- Operating an offset lithography printing press and bindery.
I'd be able to continue to get evening and weekend work with my current employer. Granted, since this new job is in Lansing I'd have to either move to Lansing or get a place to sleep there on weeknights. I am taking this job, because my current situation is financially untenable, and because it consists of tasks I can actually do.
The question is this: how much money should I ask for? They're an association and warned me on the phone that they can't pay corporate technology wages. My ad agency job paid $25,000 a year. Should I ask for more? Or less?
Comments
tlatoani on Apr. 25, 2007 8:01 PM
Try very hard to get them to quote a price first. If you can't, then go slightly high. Never lowball because you'll have to live with it. My instinct, with no other information, would be to ask for $30K if you last got paid $25K.
If you know what the usual job titles are for the job, you can also check out websites like this:
http://www.salary.com/personal/layoutscripts/psnl_default.asp
One negotiating tip -- people in our culture are taught to think of "let's split the difference" as fair, even when it isn't.
atdt1991 on Apr. 25, 2007 8:02 PM
Please ask for more than that, for the sake of the rest of us. *chuckle* 30k, at the minimum.
dawnwolf on Apr. 25, 2007 8:08 PM
Give them a range of $28 - $32K. You were having trouble making it on $25, so you should at least get yourself a bit of a raise. And yes, for everyone's sake, ask as high as you can.
rmeidaking on Apr. 25, 2007 10:56 PM
They're going to expect you to ask high, so you should do that. Figure out what your cost of living is, really, and go from there. I would probably ask for $32K, and see what happened. There are ways to phrase this in language that says that you're willing to negotiate the number. Good luck!
temujin9 on Apr. 25, 2007 11:16 PM
Don't ask for a number: ask them to make an offer. The protestation that "we can't really afford industry standard wages" is a negotiation trick, and you're fully entitled to use them back.
temujin9 on Apr. 25, 2007 11:26 PM
Also, never ask for less, unless you are quantitatively being asked for less. That sends the bad message that you don't find your own work to be valuable. They can always come back with a smaller number, if you ask for too much; they'll not do the reverse, however.
phecda on Apr. 26, 2007 2:58 PM
I agree with everything that's being said here, and I would also keep in mind that you should look at this as a temporary position, so that you have financial space to look for a well paying job.
You have great experience doing project management (e.g., Penguicon), and yes, this is something you know how to do well, but don't stop looking once you get it. You are much too talented and skilled to be continuously scraping from the bottom of the barrel.
treebones on Apr. 26, 2007 3:32 PM
You will find it hard to live reasonably on less. I suspect, since you have experience, you could ask for more, but I sincerely don't know.
What are they offering for benefits, and what is your current debt load?
treebones on Apr. 26, 2007 3:34 PM
Sorry, I just realized that's probably not a public discussion question.
What I'm getting at is, make a good estimate of what you need not only to survive, but get slightly ahead. Do not treat health insurance as optional, it may not bite you tomorrow, but it will someday. Include a line item for saving at least $100 a month (to build an emergency savings fund). Figure out what you need to gross per month to make that happen. Ask for a little more than that, and let them negotiate you down to the amount you need.
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