Why is helping women make more money important to me?
That’s easy. In my early adulthood and throughout grad school, I didn’t have someone telling me what to do next! We hear always hear about the importance of education and how having multiple degrees will lead to a six-figure salary. But no one tells you how to go from diploma-in-hand to a big paycheck. I help women grow their income because I know how important it is for us as women to make the big bucks and to advocate for ourselves.
The truth is, when women make more money, our communities live better. Our families are better off. We are well protected. When we are making the big bucks, everything is just so much better.
Even if you are not in a place where you think you deserve $200, 000 a year, I know you deserve that because you will make the world a better place by making that much money.
Here are 3 steps I took to cross the $200k mark
First, I decided that I wanted to make at least $200k, period.
Part of that was learning what the market pays for my skillset. If you really dig into it, and you look at benchmarking data, and you do your research on salary. com on glassdoor. com with staffing agencies, you can see what the market pays for a particular job title, a particular skill set, a particular education background.
When I decided that I wanted to make $200k, I quickly learned that to be at the $200k mark, I had to be director level. I knew that I had to be somebody’s HR director, someone’s head of HR, someone’s director of people. The title being at the director level is important.
Another part of that was learning how to then position my strengths, experience and education for that kind of opportunity. So, for an HR director position, for head of human resources position, or even broadening my horizons and doing something either adjacent, it’s really about where your strengths lie and how you can position those strengths for the opportunities that pay that level.
This includes expanding my mindset and going beyond the limitations that I had put on myself. I had to allow myself to dream bigger than I had ever known. That took courage, that took a strong mentorship and it took time. And I don’t want to overlook the fact that maybe the toughest part of crossing the salary mark is getting your mindset in the place where you can receive that much when, you know you deserve to make that much money.
Once I figured this out, the next thing was, I had to speak up for myself.
Once I got clear on what I wanted, how I wanted to get it, I’m like, all right, time to execute. Let me make this ask. So the first ask at the time I was already a director, brand new director at that, but I made the ask based on a bit of a comparative analysis.
Looking at my salary compared to other directors with a similar scope of work, meaning I’m managing the day to day of my department at a global organization that spans several countries. I’m supervising multiple people. I did a bit of a comparative analysis and made the case for having a bigger bonus .
This is slightly different if negotiating a benefits package in a new position
During the interview process, for a new role that was posted at $125k. I negotiated even when they offered me what I asked for. After a bit of back and forth, I got what I wanted – what I deserved. I took the job. And to be clear, when I was holding the offer, I had to evaluate the actual scope of work and the opportunities. I was leaving a job where I was doing a role with a larger mandate, at a larger company. At the new job, they had 20 employees total. I would have no direct reports, and I’d be a HR team of 1. So just different. And as you’re speaking up for yourself, of course, you want to advocate for yourself, but you also have to be critical and open to different opportunities and be very clear on what your must haves are. And at the end of the day, even though I negotiated once we settled on my compensation, I express gratitude while also exuding confidence.
And final tip for crossing this salary threshold, I showcased my brand
When you are flexing your brand or really walking in your truth, it doesn’t necessarily need to be about fancy headshots or certain colors. Your brand is literally all about what you bring to the table. I have been very clear on what my brand is and what I bring to the table.
For my current position and my last job, I got both of these jobs via my LinkedIn. I know exactly why the recruiters reached out to me. They saw my profile that I had the HR experience, but they also saw that I had an affinity for the law and the world of legal professionals. And so it’s no surprise that the 1st nonprofit I ended up that is a criminal justice reform organization. And the 2nd nonprofit I ended up that is a legal services organization.
You get that from my LinkedIn profile. You can see very clearly that I have made my career working in professional services organizations. I showcase my brand throughout the interview process, and I showcase my brand when I’m working in a role. So people know what I am about and what I am not about.
I breakdown these concepts in greater detail on season 4, episode 6 of my podcast Serve It & Own: Leadership Lifestyle podcast. You can listen on Apple podcasts, Spotify or where ever you stream your favorite pods.
