Laurie Braddy argues you should know your actual worth in job interviews, not just accept market rates. She shares a story about a paralegal earning far below her value, and explains how to research and defend a higher salary ask.
Hey, guys, it's Laurie with career Coaching now. And today I want to bring just a little quick tip for being underpriced when you go into an interview or actually knowing your worth before you walk into the interview. So, you know, you don't want to price yourself out of the market, obviously, but you need to do a little bit of research to find out what you truly are worth. And I don't mean what the market says you're worth. I mean what your worth. Because there are so many candidates that I've talked to in the last 25 years who have done so much more than either what their job title states. And job titles can be underinflated, overinflated. I mean, the list goes on and on. But I'm just going to use an example of somebody who was actually a paralegal. And she literally was doing. I mean, she could have been an attorney, obviously you have to, you know, go to school for that and pass the bar. But she had so much knowledge in a specific area of practice, of law practice, and she had been doing it for so long. And although her job title was paralegal slash legal assistant, that was actually her job title, which I could not believe that legal assistant was even in there because she had a ton of experience where literally she was doing the work that an attorney would do. I mean, obviously, other than the extreme legal part of it. But anyway, she had so much experience and she had been with the same law firm for a very long time. And she told me what she was making, and I said, that is ridiculous. So when she was going in for her next interview, I told her, I said, you need to ask for. And I told her to ask for a minimum of 90 to 95,000. That was what she was actually worth. And she's like, oh, no, no, no, I'm not worth that. You know, that's not what I make now. And I said, I don't care what you make now. This is what you're worth moving forward. This is what, you know, it's not just the experience as far as a timeline. Yeah, you could have 10 years and still not have enough experience. But what she was, the work that she was actually doing. Any attorney out there would be thrilled to have this paralegal working with them. Oh, my gosh, it would alleviate so much with the, you know, the attorney that be supporting. So I literally coached her. I said, you need you. We're not going to do this. We're not going to go in and ask for 50,000, 60,000 I said, this is what you're worth. You know, whatever you want to do is what you want to do, but this is what you're worth. And, you know, she literally did not feel that she was worth that because that's not what she had been told before. That's not what she was making. And it was so hard for her to really understand that I am worth this. So my, you know, all I could say to you guys is, know what you're worth. Not again, what the market says you're worth or what your current employer says you're worth. You know what you're worth. You. You have to know your worth before you go in for an interview. And you have to be able to speak to that. You know, if you're commanding a higher salary than maybe what the market says or what you're currently making, you know, you need to be able to back that up. But in this specific case, she absolutely was being grossly, grossly underpaid where she was. And it took a while for me to really coach her and make her understand that, you know, you're worth so much more. And I knew what she was worth, and she ended up going in for an interview. She actually went in. She stuck to her guns. You know, it took a lot, but she stuck to her guns and she was finally paid. You know, she had an offer, and she was finally being paid what she was actually worth. So, anyway, moral of the story is, know what you personally are worth. Again, not what the market says you're worth, but what you are worth. You have to know this going into an interview, okay? And don't. Don't let anybody tell you, oh, it's. You know, you can only ask for this because you only have this much experience. That's bullshit. You know. Know what you are actually worth. Any employer, if you're truly, truly a great, great, great candidate, they are going to want to do whatever they can to get you in the door. So know your worth and don't listen to anybody else that tells you that you're not worth what you think you're worth. And again, it's about you. It's about what you think that you're worth. Okay? So just open up a little bit, you know, and get paid what you should be paid for your knowledge. All right, so again, it's Laurie with career coaching now, and I will be back soon for another FYI or interview horror stories and interview success.
