Salary Story: I Took A 6k Pay Cut & It Changed My Life
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.
Been in the workforce for at least five years and interested in contributing your salary story? Submit your information here.Published stories receive £100.
Age: 27 Location: London Current industry and job title: Communications, press officer Current salary: £38,000 Number of years employed since school or university: Six
Starting salary: £21,000 in 2017 Biggest salary jump: £34,000 to £44,000 in 2019 Biggest salary drop: £44,000 to £38,000 in 2022
Biggest negotiation regret: My very first job was advertised as competitive. Before the interview, an HR officer called me and asked if I would be happy with £21,000 if offered the job. I just accepted it. I had no idea what my worth was, what a good salary was. I was just happy to have a job offer. I also thought negotiating meant they would not offer me the role.
Best salary advice: Be part of a union.
I’d done bar work and other various part-time work but my first full-time job was an unpaid intern at a charity. I was fortunate enough to be able to stay with friends as I had no family in London. Unpaid internships are exploitative and definitely should be banned.My first full-time paid role was as an account executive for a campaigning agency. I fell into the role and did not know much about account management before this but it allowed me to learn about all areas of communications and campaigning. I was completely blind about what salary range I should expect for a role like this and had no idea what other people in the organisation earned so accepted the offer of £21,000.I was lucky as I had great senior advocates who pushed for my promotion with a raise to £28,000. I had been doing the role and the related responsibilities for several months ahead of this. The promotion simply recognised this both in title and salary.I moved into a government communications role. Government is very transparent about salary ranges and has a very generous pension scheme. I was on £34,000 here.I moved to be a press officer at a political agency. This was a massive jump in both salary (to £44,000) and responsibility. I had a bit of imposter syndrome for the first few months and the salary formed part of that – I didn’t think I was worth it. However I finally settled into the rhythm of things.Like many others, the pandemic made me think more about my career steps. I’ve ended up going full circle by recently taking a pay cut (to £38,000) to work as a press officer at an international charity. It feels great to be doing something I’m really passionate about and I could never have moved into a role like this without gaining the experience outside the third sector.
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
