On the thirtieth installment of The Link Up with Latesha, our incredible host Latesha Byrd, founder and CEO of Byrd Career Consulting, touches on a very important subject, particularly ahead of Black Women's Equal Pay Day (Aug 13) - salary negotiation. In this first installment of a two-part series, she focuses on why you should never accept the first offer you get, how to come prepared to the discussion and more. Check back in about two weeks to hear the second part of the show!

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TRANSCRIPT

Latesha: Hey, y'all. Welcome to another episode of The Link Up with Latesha. I am so excited for today's episode, and you are in for a treat. Yes. So we are at almost August. We have one more week of July, and then August brings my favorite holiday, Black Women's Equal Pay Day. Heeeeey. [laughs] Black Women's Equal Pay Day is August 13, 2020, and before I tell you what today's episode is going to be about, I just want to lay out some context here. Now, why is August 13th Black Women's Equal Pay Day? Well, let me break this down real quick. So what we as black women earn comapared to a white man is a little over 60 cents to a dollar. That is insane, y'all, and it's literally so mind-boggling. I'm just like, "Am I the Twilight Zone?" The studies are out here, you know? There's a lot of focus and hyper-awareness on the inequities that we face in the workplace, but if you study the statistics and the data, it's upsetting me and my homegirls. Literally. And all I've been talking about lately, it seems that the topic of focus has been salary negotiation. And I'm all about helping women get to the bag and get to the coin and knowing your value and knowing your worth and never settling, because we have goals, and we have--and I don't even want to say we have bills to pay, but we have goals. I don't want to make 60 something cents to a dollar, okay? I want the full dollar. So today's episode, you're in for a treat. I am going to be sharing some salary negotiation mistakes that literally hold you back from getting the bag, but other times where I've been talking about salary negotiation, if you follow me on social media or if you've been listening to this podcast, you know that I have a wonderful community called Career Chasers Member's Club, and it's an online community for black and brown women that are seeking the support, the guidance, encouragement, accountability, all the things that they need to really level up in their career and chase their career greatness--haha, y'all see that? Career chasers. [laughs] No, but this group is simply amazing. I love all of our members. We are almost 500 strong in so many countries. I was looking at the metrics just the other day, and we have members all over the States, so all over the U.S., Canada, UK, [?], Lagos, Sweden, South Africa. Like, yes, we are outchere. Outchere outchere. And so each month we have a theme, and the month for July was salary negotiation, and I think that we just can't get enough of this information and this content because we don't learn these things in school, right? We're taught almost to get a job and be grateful, right? Who has taken a negotiation class in college? I never took a negotiation class, so when I tell you I personally have made all the mistakes, my clients have made all the mistakes, and this is why we're talking about today's episode. It is all about the mistakes that I want you to be aware of right now so that this does not hold you back any further in your career. Again, Black Women's Equal Pay Day is August 13, 2020, so we are actually doing a two-part series. This is part one about salary negotiation mistakes, and part two is the same thing, but let me break this down as to why this holiday is set here. So check this out, y'all, and then you will be in for a treat to learn those common mistakes. So equal pay-day, August 13th 2020. What this represents is that, you know, we as black women would have to work from January 1st of 2019 to August 13th of 2020 to earn on average the same amount that a white man would earn from working--check this out--January 1st 2019 to December 31st of 2019. Yep. So you're telling me we would have to work a year plus over eight months to get what a white man earns in just one year? Like, these are the things that upset me and my homegirls. I'm sorry, y'all. I'm gonna get off my soapbox so we can get into these mistakes. But that is what Black Women's Equal Pay Day represents, and that's why I am always going to just make sure we're talking about the things that we have not been educated on. All right, so I would love, love love if you get a pen out and a notebook out and you get ready, 'cause you are in for some gems. All right, let's go. 




So when it comes to salary negotiation, I have been doing a lot of research and reading on the different bias that shows up in the workplace. That's a whole different topic, but for right now let's talk about salary negotiation. #1 mistake is that we don't look at the full compensation package, okay? So one question I wanted to bring up is "If you agreed on a salary number, is it still okay to have a conversation about benefits, work from home, flex time, vacation time, or is it off-putting?" First of all, let me tell y'all about some of these questions that y'all are asking me. Don't ask me "Is it okay?" Okay? You don't need permission to ask for more money. You don't need permission to negotiate. It's never gonna be a good time to negotiate, but you know what? It's not about them, but it's really about you. It's about you. Negotiation is just a conversation, and we really forget that. It's not a confrontation. You're not hopping on the phone with the recruiter saying, "Look, you're gonna have to give me this money or, like, you're just gonna have to come meet me outside." Like, that's not how [laughs] a negotiation conversation goes, so we really have to reframe our thought process on, first of all, why are you asking for this amount of money, what do you actually need to be successful in this role, and why is it important for this company to meet your needs? Companies have no issue with asking us what they need from us, what time we need to log on, that we need to be on these Zoom meetings. We've got to turn our video on. Everybody wants to see our face. Like, they will ask you for every single thing, so why are we scared to ask back? We have to understand that it's a fair value exchange. I'm showing up. You know, I'm saying showing up meaning I'm logging onto the Zoom, I'm turning my chat on and saying I'm available so y'all don't come for me. That's what I mean when I say show up, since most of us are working remotely. You are still expected to perform, right? They're gonna tell you what they need from you, so you've got to tell them what you need from them. So with that being said, salary is just one part of this whole, like, thing when it comes to negotiation. I mean, my first job out of school I didn't negotiate. It was more money than I had ever seen before. The next offer that I got I did not negotiate, and I found out that the other person that actually referred me for the role that had the same amount of experience was getting paid more. Like, she slipped up and told me in conversation. I was like, "Oh, that's how y'all do? Bet." Ever since then I've learned to 1. not accept the first offer. Always ask for more. Let's say they give you more than what you even imagined. You cannot accept. Always ask for more. Because guess what? If that company really wants you, they're gonna find money. Y'all see all these companies donating towards Black Lives Matter and they just said a month or two ago that they ain't have nothing, "Everybody's job is on the line." They've got it. They've got it. All right, anyways, so let me go ahead and continue with what I was saying. When it comes to negotiating your salary, salary is just one very part too, and I know, like, salary negotiation, like, salary is an overused term that does not fully kind of lay out everything that you should be negotiating for. So one thing I want to make sure is clear is that there's a difference between the salary and then the compensation package, okay? Those are two very different things, okay? Salary, you want to have three numbers in mind. I can't give y'all all the gems, 'cause you gotta be in the group--the Career Chasers Member's Club. So there's three numbers that you want to have in mind. So I gotta break it down 'cause I get very excited talking about these things. Bottom number. So the first number is your bottom number. Like, "I cannot go any lower than this number." This is your settle number. Like, "I really want this job so I'll take this number, but I'm not going any lower than that." Okay? The mid number. That's the number that you, like, really want, like, you would be very satisfied with. You ain't gonna tell them that though. All right, then you got your top number. This is your dream number. Like, "Whoo." Now, you know what? "Y'all onto something. You really want me to be here if you're gonna offer me that." So those are the three numbers that you want to have in mind. You want to have very specific numbers in mind. I don't agree with salary ranges, and I'll talk about that in a sec. Those three numbers in mind, because that means when they throw out a number, you'll already know--like, you're already prepared as to what yo