I Negotiated & Became The Highest-Paid Manager At My Company

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 women more insight into how to advocate for themselves — and maybe take a few risks along the way.

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It can be scary to ask for a higher salary after you get a job offer. Just remember: They want you! Another way to look at it: How much are you willing to pay to avoid an awkward conversation?

Been in the workforce for at least eight years and interested in contributing your salary story? Submit your information here.

Previously, we talked to a 30-year-old engineering analyst who got an $11,000 raise after telling her manager she got another job offer, a 33-year-old senior marketing specialist who regrets not having negotiated early in her career, and a 29-year old regional manager in the wine and spirits industry who tripled her salary without changing companies.

Age: 34
Current Location: Orlando, FL
Current Industry & Title: Marketing Communications, Manager
Starting Salary: $30,000 in 2007
Current Salary: $72,000
Number Of Years Employed: 11
Biggest Salary Jump: $20,000 in 2013
Biggest Salary Drop: $16,800 in 2009 (unemployed)

Biggest Salary Negotiation Regret: "Not knowing that I could negotiate. I'm the first in my family and extended family to go to college, so I didn’t learn how to negotiate or move up the ladder. When I graduated college and was offered a job, I had never gotten paid more than $8 an hour, so I took the position on the spot — no questions asked. Looking back, they must have known I was a college graduate and figured they could pay me a bit less, so I could have asked for more. I just didn’t know how to."

Best Salary-Related Advice: "Know your worth and be ready to articulate to an employer what you will bring to the table. Recently, my cousin was going after a job and didn’t think the pay was sufficient, so I told her to negotiate. She went back and told them she needed more money for bills and expenses. I told her that, instead, she should go in and make a case for her value and all that she would bring to the company. There are a lot of people who, like my cousin, don’t know to focus on conveying how they are going to help the company's bottom line. So my biggest advice is to advocate for your worth and make it clear what your value is to the company, instead of telling them why you might need more money."