Salary Story: When I Arrived In The UK I Made 21k. Now I Make 66k
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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Age: 34 Location: Buckinghamshire Current industry and job title: Marketing solutions engineer Current salary: £66,000 Number of years employed since school or university: Eight
Starting salary: £21,000 in 2015 Biggest salary jump: £40,000 to £66,000 in 2021 Biggest salary drop: £35,000 + £15,000 to £35,000 + £5,000 in 2020
Biggest negotiation regret: That I didn’t negotiate at all and just went with the offer. I only seem to change jobs when I’m quite desperate and just go with what they offer me.
Best salary advice: Do your research. It’s very hard to find information but you need to be happy with the salary as well!
I had an extremely hard time finding a job when I came to the UK. Eventually I settled for a contracting role at a large company near the place I lived. I got hired five minutes after my interview at the front desk for £21,000 and was so surprised I immediately said yes. The contract signing was two days later and I cancelled a recruitment day for a Dutch-speaking sales role but didn’t forget about it.I did learn a lot from my first job and improved my English massively but I had barely any work once I was settled – I was reading books while in the office. I got approached on LinkedIn by an internal recruiter for a massive American company still close to my home. I interviewed and got a reply within the hour that I was hired as a customer service co-ordinator on £25,700 with great benefits.Promotions were hard to get in this company even though I knew I was doing a great job. There was a bad culture at the management level but absolutely great direct colleagues and a very international community feel. In a bid to keep me with no promotion, I got a 10% raise to £28,700. This was more than I would necessarily get with a promotion but promotion was the only thing that I was interested in as that would open doors for career possibilities.After a bad breakup, a sexual harassment case against my manager that I was witness to and a lot of overall pressure to push me out, I had to take six months’ sick leave. My old manager and the account managers that I was working with said I should start a grievance case but I was too physically and emotionally drained. I basically spent three months in bed before I got myself together and slowly started to look for a new job. I was not willing to return to that job – only if I was desperate.The weeks prior to returning to the office on a three-mornings-a-week schedule, I found a new role via the recruitment agency that I passed on in 2015 as a business development representative. It was for £35,000 + £15,000 bonus.Within three weeks I realised that the company was not prepared for 15 new business development representatives. Nothing was set and on top of it, COVID hit just after my probation. I was not making any bonus and my target market was way too small.
I got a new manager in the summer and had an intro call with him where I told him everything I wasn’t happy with but also where we could greatly improve. The big boss called me within the hour and said he was shocked but did encourage me to apply for a role as a marketing operations specialist in the same company. After five interviews and a general intelligence assessment, I got the job. The salary was the same plus a £5,000 bonus that I was actually making. I took the pay cut as COVID was still in full force and I needed a job I would enjoy.
I gave myself a year to learn the role. My manager was fantastic and my direct colleague was great and a good match in terms of skill level. I enjoyed the role more than I imagined. Slowly I realised I was massively underpaid. I eventually got them up to an offer of €55,000 for a Dutch contract but LinkedIn is tempting and I got approached for a role as a marketing solutions engineer. I asked for £55,000 base and got it plus 20% bonus and great benefits on top. The company culture is great and my position is suddenly very senior.
I still have to get used to this but every day is better. I’m back in sales but without the pressure of selling. I never imagined I would be in this position, looking at my situation just over two years ago, and cannot believe my luck but also my hard work has finally paid off.
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