While it is still an uncomfortable conversation for most of us to have, there is still ample information out there on strategically negotiating towards your desired salary or raise. But I’ve come to notice, there’s little advice addressing how to leverage non-monetary assets within the workplace that fall within the bucket of ‘compensation.’ Money is not and should most definitely not be the only way you’re seeking to be compensated at your current or next job opportunity. Any job you consider should be willing to offer you valuable and relevant career learnings and in-office mentorship, at the very least. Key in on this during your interview, asking questions pertaining to – “What value does the company place on learning?” or “In this role, will there be an opportunity to learn from a higher-up?”
Now this should serve as the ground floor of your job compensation requirements with other assets being leverage-able icing on the cake; such as opportunities for tuition reimbursement if you go back to get an additional degree or decide to take professional certificate courses. Maybe you want the chance to be tutored in Photoshop, CSS, or SEO, aspects otherwise not required in your daily duties but skills you know to be valuable or interesting to you in the long run.
In large, this process is about understanding what assets in a work environment you value the most. For example, I love to travel. I aspire to see the world. For this reason, I primarily have only considered global companies and furthermore, when interviewing, I always try to understand how much traveling is or could be a component of the job. It has even come up for me as a difference maker between accepting a job with a slightly lower salary in compensation for increased exposure to travel opportunities. Understanding first what your career values are is key. Then placing general monetary figures on said values can really help you determine the priority level of ways you wish to be compensated. If I know I’m on a path to obtain an MBA and Company A offers tuition reimbursement, that monetary value is potentially even greater than that of the tuition price its self, being that I won’t need a loan nor need waste time in applying to scholarships. However, if a secondary degree is not that big of a deal to me then I might see if Company A is willing to pay for me to attend job related conferences and seminars around the country.
Its your future.
If you want it, how do you leverage for it?