Getting the salary you want: advice from a young professional

When I was recruited by Sirius, I was also interviewing for a lot of other job opportunities. And, many of them were looking really really good. And so, I felt really secure in negotiating when I was offered a job with Sirius. Because I knew that I was gonna be fine no matter what. And I remember calling my dad and crying to him and saying, "I don't know how I'm going to pay off my student loans." And he was like, you know, just negotiate really hard like it's New York City. They know everyone has student loans. They're gonna give you what you want. It's a for profit company. They have plenty of money. So, we were talking about salary and going back and forth. And they said the cap was 55. And I was like, no, I'm not going to settle for 55. I'm sorry. I got a masters in between my last job and this job. And I have student loans. And, this is New York City. You can't survive. They kept saying they weren't going to budge. Nobody else on my team was getting paid that much. And then, eventually, they gave in. When I go into a job interview and I know that I'm gonna get the job, I know that they're excited about me as a candidate. If I'm not gonna get the job, I'm not gonna get the job. But if they're offering you the job, they're pretty ready to meet your demands. At that point, they're not gonna rescind the job offer because you ask for too much money. At best they're gonna say, "This is the most we can pay you." And then, you're either gonna agree to that, or you're gonna walk away. And I do enjoy it. Because it's like a game. It's not personal. You're not asking the person you're negotiating with to pull money out of their pocket and to keep from feeding their kids, and give it to you. It's the company. And they're representing the company. So, you're negotiating with a representative of the company. And if they want you bad enough, they will give you what you want. And I think it also helps your coworkers. That if you negotiate at a certain level, then the next person who comes into that job, now the ceiling has been raised. And, if I as a woman am being paid that much, then whether or not they know it, the perception has been changed. That the next woman who's applying for that job who's negotiating for a salary, isn't the first person to negotiate for that. They can't say to you, "Oh, we don't pay anybody else that much on our team." They have to entertain the possibility. If you see it as kind of a collaborative thing instead of just personal to you, and also, if you realize that you're negotiating with a company or a business, I think, it just becomes a lot easier and the stakes are much lower.