Your dollar value varies with your job choice. Learn how salary range is set and adjusted. Discover how much CASH is part of your benefit programs. When do you get a look at your Total Compensation? “What are you worth” is explored by calculating your value in three major job categories: staying with a job in research, a job in Quality Improvement and a job in the financial sector. You will evaluate 3 desired jobs and determine your worth. Practice negotiation techniques and learn how to test your “value model.” Remember, every 5,000 dollars you fail to earn on day one is a half-million lost over your career!

Day 1: What Are Your Worth?

Day 1: What Are You Worth?

What are you worth? At SciPhD we have been doing workshops for over 9 years and we always ask, “What are your major concerns in leaving academia and transitioning to business (which we define as everything non-academic).” The one answer we seldom get from new PhDs and Postdocs is the simple question “What am I worth?” Just as there is no standardization in job titles such as Scientist II, Associate Scientist or Senior Research Investigator, there is no standardization in compensation in either Base Salary (your take home check) or Total Compensation (your benefits, profit sharing – performance and incentive based dollars). Compensation is complicated and you learn most of it once you are with an organization.

For the purpose of today’s article, we will take the tact of exercising your thinking about what you are “worth” from a career and job choice perspective. For example, you have spent a major part of your life becoming a highly skilled scientific/technical researcher. We will first assume that you want to stay in research with a goal of eventually working as the Laboratory Director: what are you worth over your first 5 years? Then we will assume that you want to stay in research and develop the business competency of Six Sigma with a goal of working as the Director of Quality: what are you worth over your first 5 years? The purpose of this exercise to learn about the many options you have as a PhD as you develop your career.

Starting as a Research Scientist I (entry level for our purpose), your job opportunities are most likely in industry, government, Non-Governmental Organization (NGO’s such as Red Cross) and nonprofits (such as Gates Foundation). Your base salary for the first year on average might range from $85K to $105K for industry and government jobs and in the $70K to $85K range for NGO’s and nonprofits. In your fifth year we will assume you are at midrange for a Scientist II with a base salary in the $130K range for industry and government and approaching $100K for NGO’s and non-profits. Your pay increases and promotions are based on your performance, budgets, and availability of the next higher position with very limited flexibility. You may have to change organizations to find a Laboratory Director position (salary in $150K range).

Let us explore the second job choice of starting in research and developing a second competency in Six Sigma with the goal of working in research and quality improvement. During your job offer negotiations, you negotiated the opportunity to enter the company-sponsored Six Sigma program. Six Sigma is a quality management methodology to help businesses improve current work processes, products, and services through data analytics resulting in eliminating defects and increasing stakeholder value. You will attend training provided by the American Society of Quality (ASQ.org) and progress through the 5 levels of certification in Six Sigma. Your starting salary will be in the same range as a Scientist I. You could spend 30% of your job time learning, supporting, and participating in Six Sigma activities. By your 3rd year, you should be working on the 4th certification level titled the Black Belt. You are now managing Six Sigma projects across the organization and with suppliers. ASQ data indicates that Black Belt certification brings an additional $10K salary differential. By year 5, as a PhD with Six Sigma certifications in process improvement you are highly sought after by both your technical field and the Quality field. You are not limited to working in only research organizations as Six Sigma is industry transparent. Starting salaries for Master Black Belts (5th level certification) start around $150K. Director of Quality averages $199K and that is before we negotiate that PhD!

While we used Six Sigma and Quality in our example, the same basic process applies to many other secondary competencies to your PhD that will be available to you in larger companies. Start thinking about that law degree, or certifications in project management, data analytics, business analysis professional and more. ASQ for example, has 18 different certifications. What am I worth is a great question for you to explore.

Day 2: What Are You Worth,” Questions and Answers With Our Students

These are actual student questions about salary and compensation that we received during our “Get A Job Bootcamp” webinar programs.

What if they ask about your current salary?

Answer:

The salary history question is quickly disappearing from most job applications, especially for entry level professional positions. Previously, the employer would consider your past salary history in making you an offer for that job in the company. The result was a systematically perpetuated compensation inequity with women being compensated at about 70% of men’s compensation despite doing the same job at the same performance level. And there was no catching up for women over their careers.

IN THE LAST FEW YEARS THIS HAS CHANGED. In the USA, the salary history question is quickly being banned one state at a time. Most large companies operating in multiple states have stopped asking. This is part of an effort to get gender and age pay equity in practice. The company is at real legal risk today if inequitable compensation patterns exist. The company has a minimum and a maximum salary range for most jobs. YOU WILL BE ASKED “WHAT IS YOUR SALARY EXPECTATION.” You MUST do your salary research for the job you are seeking. Glassdoor.com, Salary.com, Google, and your network are terrific resources for finding salary data for most large companies.

2. At what point along the job search/application process are salary ranges discussed/disclosed/negotiated?

Answer:

It is not uncommon for interviewers to ask you about your salary expectations during the interview process itself. Generally, this is done to make sure that your expectations are consistent with the salary range of the job. There’s no point in the organization considering a candidate whose salary demands are not in line with the available job. You must do your research and know the salary range that you would expect and be prepared to justify your answer. Know the salaries for the same or similar jobs in the same geographic area. We suggest that you also know the salary range for the next higher position in the job category if possible. Remember, base salary and total compensation can vary by as much as 50% in some professional positions. You will be provided a base salary and total compensation breakout as a final candidate as part of your job offer. Usually actual salary negotiations only start once you have been made that official offer.

3. What should be the ideal response when asked a salary question? Should I state the exact figure I want?

Answer:

If you have a SciPhD Flamingo account, check the Flamingo Resource Card “Prepare For A Specific Job” and watch the video “What Are You Worth- Your Total Compensation”. We recommend doing your research and having a rationale for your salary request. “My research suggests this job offers a range from $85k to $115K. Is that accurate?”. Or “I wasn’t able to find specific salary ranges for this particular job, but similar jobs in this area at two other organizations pay between $85k to $115k. Is that consistent with your organization?” Remember, negotiating salary is not like buying a car. A job has a salary range and where on that range your offer lies is based on your ability to perform. You must have a logical argument for your salary request. If there’s no logic, then you are playing a game and may not win!

Day 3: What Are You Worth?: Salary Negotiations Interview Questions

“What are your salary expectations?” is the interview question that you should expect and have a prepared response ready to present. For help in preparing that response, see Day 2 of this article series on What Are You Worth.

You get the Job Offer:

After completing your interview sessions, the Hiring Manager calls with an offer and you are packing your bags… except you were actually expecting a higher salary, about $10,000 more. You have two ways to increase your compensation: negotiating your Base Salary or negotiating your benefits and perks. The question is: Do you have the negotiating skills to get to an agreement for additional compensation?

In order to prepare for that negotiation, it helps to have thought through the most basic salary negotiation question for you to ask and to ask in a manner that sets a positive context for your discussions.

“Thank you so much for the offer. I have looked carefully at the offer and have some considerations I’d like to share. Is the salary open to negotiation?”

Always acknowledge and show gratitude for the original offer. Be respectful, and assume the offer is made with the best knowledge and understanding that the company has of your talent and your hiring situation. By asking if salary negotiation is possible, you are demonstrating your desire to find a solution that meets both parties’ goals: the company wants to hire you and you want to work for this company at a fair and equitable pay.

If the hiring manager invites your discussion, you should first state that it would be helpful for you to understand how the salary was determined. Listen carefully to the entire presentation on the offer. DO NOT INTERRPUT if you hear something that is “wrong” from your perspective. WAIT! Acting at the first opportunity to “correct the offer” may result in missing and even better opportunity that is later in the discussion.

“Thank you for that explanation. I think I understand your position and would like to explore 2 points if I may and get your feedback.” Acknowledge the work that has gone into their offer. DO NOT LIKE OR DISLIKE THE OFFER AT THIS TIME. Instead, set the agenda for not more than 3 points to discuss. Even if you have 6 points, saying 6 would be overwhelming and could result in the company just giving up on you. If you can discuss 2 or 3 points and make negotiation progress, then you can introduce your other points if they are still relevant.

“In my analysis of this job, I broke the job into technical, operations and team task. In my resume and during the interviews, I gave work experience examples that demonstrated I have done this work at a competent performance level. I do look forward to learning your logistics and project management protocols that support this job. I determined that I was close to the midpoint in the salary range for this job which would be about another 10,000 dollars. Can you help me understand your valuation basis?”

If you can get agreement that you are worth another $10,000 dollars in Base Salary, then your first approach to the salary offer should be to increase your base pay. Base pay will be with you for as long as you work in this company. Your second choice would be for the company to pay you another $10,000 dollars as a sign-on bonus or performance bonus. We will investigate that in Day 5 of What Are You Worth.

Day 4: What Are You Worth- What Else Can We Negotiate Besides Base Salary?

Continuing our compensation discussion from our Day 4 article, what other things can we negotiate besides base salary?

Situation:

Let us take the case that you have a pending job offer with a base pay of 105K. When you did your financial analysis of your spending and savings goals, you came up about $10,000 short in the offered base salary. We will assume that the base pay is not negotiable. What else could be a source for that $10,000 for 2021?

If the base salary is not available to negotiate, that does not mean the negotiation is over. You want to consider if there are negotiation opportunities in the rest of the compensation package: the benefits and other “perks.” Benefits and “perks” will vary considerably with each company and should be analyzed to understand the opportunity to generate cash and investments over time.

Benefits and Perks:

Keep in mind that some of these benefits and perks are individually negotiable and others are governed by Federal, State, Local regulations or Company Policy and must be applied in the same manner to all employees. In general, here are some additional benefits and perks that are negotiable to varying degrees.

A. Benefits that are generally negotiable with a new hire:

– Sign-on Bonus is used to sweeten your job offer, provide cash for unpaid expenses, help in relocating, and assist in other more personal issues. This is a one-time award of dollars. Generally, they range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.

– Performance Bonus is usually a very structured practice in the company. It is a method for the company to award earned profits to employees. For new hires, some companies have flexible performance bonuses during the first year that can be used to award individual performance. You may also be able to shorten the time period of performance, for example 6 months instead of a year, for the award. “Are you open to a 3% performance bonus if I have the lab fully operating within 6 months?” After the first year of employment, performance bonus programs are more tightly controlled and can become the major source of your annual compensation if you take on management responsibilities.

B. Benefits that are generally available to all employees but vary widely in negotiation opportunity by organization:

– Relocation expenses for employees will range from cost plus a per diem to a fixed dollar amount that you manage to complete the relocation. In general, your cost to relocate is covered and there may be some “leftover” dollars. Please check that relocation is included as part of your job offer.

– Paid vacation time, sick days, holiday pay, personal days, bereavement, jury duty, military leave, newborn, and more. Pay attention as to how you can be compensated based on your usage of these type of benefits. Some companies you USE, or you LOSE with no compensation. Some companies award fixed number of days and if not used can be cashed-in at end of year; for example, 14 days that you do not USE could amount to a few thousand dollars.

– Commuter Assistance program could save you commuting expenses.

– 401 (k)/403(b) Plans will usually have a match that the company will provide. The company will match your contribution to some percentage limit such as 6 %. Check on the “vesting” of the company contribution and when can you borrow against your contribution and the company contribution.

– Discounted Stock Purchase Programs will usually allow a 15% discount for you to purchase company stock. Be sure you understand the vesting or holding time required by the company before you can sell any stocks. This can be another source of cash or an investment option.

C. Benefits that are highly regulated with limited negotiation opportunity:

– A highly regulated benefit is the Medical programs for Health and Dental for yourself and family. If health conditions are of concern for you or your family, carefully evaluate and estimate your expenses for the medical benefits provided. Some companies may pay you to go on your spouse’s medical plan and it may be worth it.

Our $10,000 deficit of cash that we are seeking in our Base Salary could also be negotiated in our benefit package. A negotiated $5,000 Sign-on bonus for “expenses” and the 3% Annual Performance Bonus of $3000 will make-up much of the $10,000 we are seeking. In addition, how we utilize other benefits can generate additional cash: we will skip vacation this first year and cash in another $3,000. Your total WORTH in cash and investments may take a year to totally realize. The good news is that the more you learn about your compensation, the more you will find your WORTH!