It’s a good job with a non-profit and it will get her back in the workforce at a paying job with benefits (three weeks vacation, an added plus) and the chance to flex her figurative muscles doing the type of work she loves to do.

The only problem with the offer that she got, as with so many offers these days, is that it is woefully short of the amount that it ought to be.

After taxes, a single person couldn’t live too well on it. Part of the problem is that it is a non-profit, and if you don’t know it, most non-profits have a real reason for not paying highly because they lack funds, and a not-so-real reason because they feel they’re doing “good” and paying highly is just too crass. (This is a highly personal viewpoint, backed only by my experiences with clients and people I know who have worked for non-profits, and also prejudiced by the high figures that the Directors of such non-profits tend to receive in salary.)

So, as part of the coaching, I worked to help this client to evolve a strategy that would enable her to ask for more money.

My client would not have felt comfortable if she hadn’t asked for more in salary, and she had no experience in doing so, so if she hadn’t asked she would have carried that resentment around with her for too long a time. She knew it, and I knew it, and we agreed about it.

Now the person who was going to be her boss had already covered the salary issue, asking her at a number of times during the interviewing process whether the amount he had mentioned as the salary was enough. The interviewing process included an interview with another person, a peer at the offered job level, and a sample of my client’s writing and a request for a position paper on how she would handle the job if it were awarded to her (what she’d do first, second, third, etc.). And she had, more or less, without hedging too much, told him that it could do and that she was more interested in the job and what kind of fit there was with her background and abilities.

So that base was covered. As far as the employer was concerned, even though the peer had expressed the thought that my client might not be satisfied, the process was moving forward. He actually raised the amount by $5,000, perhaps without realizing it, perhaps because he seem to want to hire my client. And, it seemed, the salary amount was settled.

My counsel was that it was important to first get the job offer, before any negotiating of salary. Either it had to be in writing, or it had to be a firm offer verbally. Nothing could, or should, be done before that.

“Yes, but he’ll say, ‘We already discussed that’,” my client said, “and he’ll withdraw the offer. I’ve heard of people withdrawing offers after they were made.” My client has the great knack of visualizing the “worst case” scenario, which really tends to elicit great preparation, as long as you don’t let it inhibit you from moving forward.

“I doubt if he’ll withdraw the offer,” I said, “because it’s a hassle to interview new people, and to try and revive their second choice still takes some effort, so I wouldn’t worry about that. But it is exactly the right point – as far his belief that the original amount he mentioned is a settled deal.”

I explained that, once they were committed, it would be harder to withdraw the offer, and perhaps easier to raise the salary. Beforehand, before things were set and his mind made up, it would be easier for him to continue looking.

So things proceeded, through the evaluation of the writing sample and discussion of the position paper. Something new came up, however, which was some discussion of a planned anniversary for the organization and the possibility of holding, and publicizing, an annual event. At one point, he said he might consider finding a coordinator, or meeting coordinator, to help with these events.

“Would you be interested in doing that type of work?” I asked. “It seems to me that it would fit with the PR and outreach work you’re going to do, and it’s possible that ‘job creep’ might just extend to doing that.” In point of fact, the job description, while sketchy, had said as part of her responsibilities my client would “help with the events.”

“Yes,” she said, “I’ve conducted similar events.”

Bingo!

“Then, when you get the offer, after you have it, you can suggest that you’ll provide added value by performing some, or part, of that coordinator’s job. Are you willing to do that?”

“Yes.”

“What do you think a coordinator gets paid for doing that job?”

“I’m not sure, but it’s probably somewhere between $15,000 and $30,000.”

“Would you feel comfortable suggesting that they pay you part of that sum for doing the work?”

“I might…”

We strategized that, once the offer letter, which was being prepared, arrived, she would call back and remind him that she absolutely loved the job and was looking forward to it, but that one thing had come up when she looked at the offer letter. That was that there would be some crossover between planning the events and helping with it, and she wondered if he might consider having her add value by actually doing both jobs. Of course, to be fair, both jobs would require additional compensation, but it would be less expensive overall.

ADDED VALUE! LOWER COSTS! …

We reviewed it, scripted it, and rehearsed it. This was not a question of going up from an established figure, which was the fallback position and not threatening to the would-be employer, but going forward by providing added value at a lower cost than an outside contractor. It had nothing to do with the job, which she professed to love.

And, when the letter came, and she talked with her boss-to-be, she used just the words we’d worked out. He didn’t get upset, nor did he question it. What he said was that he hadn’t thought of it that way, and that it was an interesting idea, and he’d like to think about it some more.

This ended up being something he’d like to put together as a proposal to the chief executive of the non-profit, and he wanted to package it so it would be acceptable.

The amount still isn’t settled. The matter still isn’t settled. But it’s in process, and the strategy we put together has kept the door open. My client starts on Monday, with this matter pending.

What do I do first?

Job outplacement

Part-time work

Finding your dream job