
Songs to listen to while reading this blog post: Money Money Money by ABBA, Gold Digger by Kanye West, You Never Give Me Your Money by The Beatles, Bills Bills Bills by Destiny’s Child, and If I Was A Rich Girl by Gwen Stefani.
“What are your salary expectations?”
…
“Hello?”
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“Idontknowbye.”
Have you ever been asked the above question, “What are your salary expectations?” It’s a question I fear most when it comes to getting a job.
I would rather see a salary advertised with the job description than have to think of a number myself.
What if I sell myself short and say too little? What if I aim too high and they hire someone else instead? What’s the right answer?
HOW MUCH AM I WORTH?
How do I judge my value as an employee? How can I put a yearly figure on my skills and experience?
There doesn’t seem to be a handbook with all of the figures that you should be earning at certain ages or how much you should be earning in certain roles. Although, that handbook would be rather helpful.
What is the number? Should I be earning my age or is that too ambitious of me? Should I be earning the same as my colleague doing the same job or should I chance it and ask for higher?
THE GENDER PAY GAP
I can see now why there may be such a difference in the office when it comes to gender and pay. When faced with the salary question, I don’t want to come across as arrogant and ask for too much, so I probably say a number that is below what I should be earning.
Typically, men are more forward when it comes to talking money and salary and wouldn’t hold back in asking for what they think they’re worth or a lot, lot more.
This could be a world where it really is ‘you get what you ask for’ and yet, some of us just don’t have the confidence to do so.
But why are men much more comfortable talking about money, pay-rises, promotion and demanding to be paid what they’re worth? Why are women typically a lot more modest and humble?
IT’S JUST A NUMBER
When you think about it, it’s really just a number. I mean, who puts a price on the job that you’re doing and says, ‘what you’re working on should equal this amount of money yearly.’ Why? Says who?
What if I just stuck an extra 0 on the end and said, ‘no, it’s worth this amount.’ Who’s to say that it isn’t?
Money makes the world go around as they say. There are many songs, movies, books and stories surrounding money. We fear it, we chase it, we risk it and we die for it.
Many people place a negative attitude on money and see it as something that one shouldn’t have too much of. More money, more problems. But if there is $37 trillion out there in the world of wealth, then why shouldn’t you have your fair share of it?
I mean, Jeff Bezos does not need to be earning $149,340 per minute, but he does and its his to do with what he wishes.
CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS MONEY
After reading The Secret, The Power of Now and some other books that discussed life and our perceptions of things like money and living our best lives (so to speak), many of them rightly said that a lot of us fear money.
We are constantly thinking of items as too expensive, thinking that we are broke, that we are in over our heads with debt, can’t afford this, can’t afford that and should save every penny that we have and be a lot more frugal.
However, these books teach you that the more you give, the more you get. The more money that you spend and the more positive your relationship is with money, the more likely more money is going to come into your life.
Change your attitude towards money and be more welcoming of it into your life. Send out positive energy about money and don’t think that you’re ‘broke’ and try not to stop yourself spending on the little things just in case.
I mean, if you have serious debt and are buying things on credit when you shouldn’t and spending recklessly, then don’t listen to me – seek medical help.
SPEND YOUR MONEY WHERE IT MATTERS
But for me, I want to start allowing myself to enjoy the money that I have, even though it may not be a lot, it’s the number sitting in my account and I’m not going to worry about the number in someone else’s account. I’ll treat myself here and there and won’t deprive myself of going out for a meal or going on a trip, because I won’t get those opportunities again.
I know that I won’t sit on my deathbed and remember the time that I didn’t spend $200 to go on a boat with friends because I wanted to save while they all went off and had a great time. I’ll remember not spending money on clothes that I didn’t need for a month, so that I could go on the boat trip and make amazing memories.
It’s what you spend your money on that really counts.
DON’T VALUE YOURSELF ON YOUR SALARY
Don’t get caught up on what your yearly salary should be. Don’t compare yourself to others of the same age and same education. Don’t spend all day searching through Glassdoor, either.
For me, I’m thankful that I have a job in this current economic climate and I only imagine that the job market is set to get worse.
I still don’t know the answer to the first question in this post and I’ll probably never know the answer to it because who really knows for sure how much a job is worth?
I know my worth in terms of life experiences, friends, a roof over my head and food on my plate. Anything extra is a bonus.
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