48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller: Chapter 9: Show Me the Money
48 Days to the Work you Love by Dan Miller: Book Review
This is a continuation of the in-depth review of the book: 48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller. To read the Previous Chapter, follow this link: Chapter 8: Do They Like Me? Do I Like Them?
Chapter 9: Show Me the Money
This chapter is all about salary negotiation. The author reiterates many times throughout the chapter that you should never mention anything related to salary until AFTER an offer has been made. The author also mentions that the reader shouldn’t assume that salaries and benefits are set in stone. Many times these things can be negotiable. In a change management lecture I attended at my previous job the speaker mentioned that vacation time is one of the easiest things that can be negotiated. Thinking about it, it makes sense…it doesn’t cost the company any real money to give you more time off. (They will lose productivity time, but it can be argued that you have a fresher outlook coming back from vacation and work harder as opposed to being sluggish when you’re burnt out and overworked.)
Proving a point the author said in an earlier chapter, the author mentions again that it is difficult for a person to recognize opportunities if he stays in one place and remains in one job. Most self made millionaires have had many experiences working various types of jobs.
To the point that the author doesn’t want you to discuss salary until the appropriate time, he mentions that the following things should be true:
- you know exactly what the job requires
- they have decided they want you
- you have decided you want them
An interesting point the author also makes is that the responsibilities of the job determine the salary, and not your education, experience, or previous salary. I thought this was a good point…so many people I know rush to get MBA’s just to have the title…but you have to have the skills to perform the job (which you may learn while getting your MBA) to get the offer.
The author mentions an obvious no-no where he mentions not to ask about salary, benefits, vacations, and perks until you know you want the job. Then he offers tips to win at salary negotiation. One tip I liked was to say “Let’s talk a little more about the position to see if there’s a match” if they ask too early in the interview process.
In terms of timing when it’s okay to talk about salary, there is a bar graph in the book, shaped like a mountain. The carat character ^, is the best example I can think of. As your climbing the mountain, it’s still not okay to talk about it. From bottom left of the mountain to peak, the process sounds like this:
1. Why would we hire you?
2. We think we like you.
3. We really like you.
4. We’ve got to have you!
Then the mountain is at the tip. This is the perfect time to talk about salary. Then the mountain slopes down to the right, and if you haven’t asked now, you’ve missed your shot.
5. We’ve got you!
The author lists many things that can fall under compensation when negotiating an offer. I won’t list them all but some I thought worth mentioning are:
- country club or YMCA membership (my old company offered to pay for your gym membership)
- tuition reimbursement
- additional time off (enforces what the change management guy mentioned at the lecture)
- sign-on bonus
- your birthday off (this one’s new to me)
The author then tells a story of a woman who worked in a clerical job making $19,000. Tired of doing that type of work, she applied for a graphical design job. The salary was posted at $32,500 yet her total compensation package ended up being $54,000. The company never asked, and she never told, what her previous salary was at her old job. She simply mentioned what she could bring to the table and was compensated based on her apparent value.
But What If You’re Asked?
One point that the author did not mention in this chapter is what one should do when flat-out asked what their salary was in their previous job. Sure you can try and dodge the question at first, but if the interviewer is persistent I think the candidate has to give up the information. Additionally, many job applications that a candidate would have to fill out have it listed as question…sometimes there’s no getting around it.
The author mentions towards the end of the chapter that our work is intangible, and very few salaries are written in concrete. Companies might budget $38,000 for a position yet post the job for $31,000. We need to recognize that the first offer is probably not what the company has in the budget.
Very good advice that I have used in the past is that once agreed upon, you should always get the offer in writing. This way you don’t have to defend what was said later on.
Lastly, in one of the questions at the end of the chapter mentions that in changing companies we may be able to increase our salary 40 to 50 percent. A salary increase of this magnitude is unlikely to happen while moving up in one company. In my experiences, my largest salary increases were achieved by moving from one company to another.
Continue to Chapter 10: Do You Have What It Takes?
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