Ask a Manager

It’s your Friday good news!

1.  “I left my old job several months ago and can’t thank you enough for your job searching advice which was a HUGE help to me in securing my new position. I left an industry that is notorious for overworking and underpaying, and since it was the only professional experience I have out of college, I had a hard time gauging what my skills were really worth and how to market my experience.

I especially want to highlight the salary negotiation advice (in some form of) ‘Would you be willing to consider $X? (then STOP TALKING).’ I totally worked! And even if it didn’t, it gave me the confidence to at least ask. I requested a fairly modest increase to what they initially offered (about 5%), because based on my market research I felt that I was starting to approach the upper end of the range for my level/geography. Even though it wasn’t huge quantitatively, I felt so empowered compared to the sneaking feeling at my old job that I was being taken advantage of. I now have a new job, doing exactly the work I was looking for, a culture that recognizes (and reinforces) great work/life balance, and a salary about 35% higher than what I was making before!”

2.  “Earlier this year I realized that, while my job was a good one and the company was amazing, I was deeply unhappy working there. The scope of the job was narrower than it was originally supposed to be (think signing up for a hair styling job and only getting to do regular trims). Not only did I really dislike focusing almost all my energy into this one facet of my career, I was very worried about pigeonholing myself. Your interview tips helped me navigate conversations around this in interviews well enough that I was commended on it regularly, but in a highly competitive field sometimes it’s just not enough (boy, does coming second place get old!)

I had already reached out to the professional contacts that I had fairly close relationships with to no avail so I decided to take a look at approaching my more extended network using your How To Tell Your Network You’re Looking For a Job tips. There was one contact I had been pondering on for a while, we had barely crossed paths years ago and they’re a big deal, like if we were in the movie industry they would be a best picture Oscar nominee kind of a big deal – but we were connected on LinkedIn, so using my best judgement and years of AAM guidance I decided it it was worth a message.

They responded almost immediately asking to set up a call.

Turns out they were actually in a bind and needed some immediate support. If I hadn’t reached out with my resume and explained exactly what I was looking for, they would have assumed I only had the skills to do one thing and I would have missed out on this awesome opportunity!”

3.  “I’ve been working as a freelancer for years, with two anchor clients that made up the vast majority of my income, plus several other smaller clients. Earlier this year, one of my anchors started going in a new direction that I wasn’t a huge fan of. Much of the team I’d worked with for years left, and one of them alerted me that I was probably going to be getting a lot less work from the new team because of the new direction. That turned out to be true: my workload decreased significantly, and what I did get were projects I didn’t love having my name attached to, but felt I had no choice because I needed the income.

Fortunately, I was able to approach one of my smaller clients about taking on more work. Turns out, they loved my work and immediately started giving me a lot more to do, even connecting me with their clients in turn. A lot of the work I do with them doesn’t have my name (or any name) attached, since it’s a different, more behind-the-scenes style of work, but I’m totally fine with that, I’m paid well, and they’ve really gone above and beyond to recommend me and sing my praises to others. I’ve been able to replace (and actually exceed!) my income from Old Anchor Client with New Anchor Client, and it’s work I’m prouder of.

As a bonus, my relationship with Old Anchor Client has a happy ending too! I’m not getting nearly as much work from them, but being free of my reliance on them has made me more willing to turn down work that I don’t feel great about. As a freelancer, I’ve always been scared to turn down any work, but reading AAM has given me a healthier perspective and more willingness to stand up for myself. Instead, I’m doing fewer but better assignments when I do work with Old Anchor Client, and I have a perfectly pleasant working relationship with the new team.

I’m so glad I made this change, and I’m so glad that I’ve been reading AAM all along – it’s because of Alison and all the lovely folks on the site that I was able to get over this bump without panicking and negotiate an even better outcome!”