Compensation As Value

By Elyse Fox, October 2023

Salary negotiation can be one of the more daunting and frustrating things for both job seekers and employees. In many fields, salary negotiation is expected, anticipated, and can in fact have positive net outcomes for the job seeker/employee. However, for those of us working in vocational professions, we seem doomed to fail at this from the start. For teachers, librarians, and many other fields, individuals tend to feel a “calling” towards their work. We are often trained from the get-go to consider our professional growth, learning, and even the way the work makes us feel, as part of the payment for  services  rendered. Considering that most vocational professions are not high paying to begin with, those who do “answer the call” are thus already willing to sacrifice a great deal of future income to work in these fields. Furthermore, many of us spend numerous years working unpaid or low paying internships for experience in lieu of compensation. Not to say that we shouldn’t value the work that we are doing or how it makes us feel, but employers for a long time have continued to perpetuate that “value as compensation attitude”. 

One way to change the culture of vocational professionals is to understand your market worth and negotiate – no matter what! When applying for a job, look around at other similar postings to see what salaries are being advertised. Since advertisements can be misleading, find your state’s listing of posted salaries – this information is public for state and federal employees, and can help to determine what range similar jobs are paying.

For employees, ask for an annual raise, every year, even if you keep getting denied (– no matter what!). This demonstrates to the employer that you know your worth, and that you probably aren’t going to stick around if you aren’t being adequately compensated for your work. There are many reasons why an employer might not be able to negotiate a starting salary or salary increase. For example, you might be represented by a union in which case your salary is dependent on contract negotiations. If that’s the case, get involved. Find your rep, become the rep, advocate for fair pay. 

But also: know your boundaries! Don’t continue to take on more work if it’s not being compensated. Vocational professionals again tend to fall victim to this especially when there is a lot of staff turnover in their organization and people must pitch in. Know that if you can’t negotiate your salary, you can always, 100% negotiate your job duties if you are taking on more than what was originally agreed to in your job description. If you need to take on additional duties, even temporarily, be realistic with yourself and your employer about what duties of yours can temporarily be paused.Vocational professionals might feel like they knowingly entered into this “value as compensation” arrangement, but last time I checked the grocery store only takes one type of currency.