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Salary Story: How My Coworker Helped Me Negotiate My Salary To Be $5k Higher

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Illustrated by Michelle Mildenberg.
In our series Salary Stories, women with long-term career experience open up about the most intimate details of their jobs: compensation. It’s an honest look at how real people navigate the complicated world of negotiating, raises, promotions and job loss, with the hope it will give young people more insight into how to advocate for themselves — and maybe take a few risks along the way.
Been in the workforce for at least five years and interested in contributing your salary story? Submit your information here.
Age: 33
Location: New York, NY
Current industry and job title: Digital Media, Marketing Operations Manager
Current salary: $162,000
Number of years employed since school or university: 12
Starting salary: $50,000
Biggest salary jump: From $85,000 to $125,000 for a new job. I negotiated.
Biggest salary drop: I took a job at a big corporation for the experience and went from $50,000 to $44,000.
Biggest negotiation regret: I made a lateral move one year and my salary stayed the same. I did ask for more, but was promptly shut down. I wish I had pushed back and showed why I deserved it as they really needed me and could clearly afford it.
Best salary advice: I had a former coworker actually push me to negotiate a higher salary and ask about bonuses, which was something at that point I never put much thought into. I got quite a bump because of his guidance and kindness.
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