Learn Your Market Value at 81cents.com
Settling? We don’t do that here.
81cents.com has the numbers you need to learn your market.
Today I’m excited to turn over the blog to Jordan Sale, the founder of 81cents.
I love 81cents, because they source industry data and compensation benchmarks that I find perfectly complements the coaching work I do. I’ll let Jordan take it from here.
Hi everyone,
I’m Jordan, the founder of 81cents, where we support women and underrepresented minorities as they navigate tough salary negotiations. We specifically provide them with personalized data and industry benchmarks.
Negotiating is a tough process. It’s uncomfortable, anxiety-inducing, and requires significant preparation — perhaps even a bit of sweat and tears. Every coach or online resource will tell you about the importance of having “market data” to inform what you ask for and strengthen your case. However, in my experience, I’ve found this data hard to source.
Today I want to provide a list of the best places to help you find data for your negotiation:
Talk to Third-Party Recruiters
Reach out to a recruiter in your field of work and ask if they might be open to sharing compensation benchmarks for a specific type of role and/or giving you some feedback on the offer you just received. They’re always looking to build their networks and any data you provide them is helpful as they work with their clients as well.
Some recruiting agencies also provide salary reports that can be helpful. Examples include Bett’s Recruiting and Robert Half whose reports include both salary data and hiring trends.
Utilize Online Resources
While it can be tough to verify the data you collect online, resources such as Glassdoor, Paysa, Salary.com, Payscale, and communities like Tech Ladies can be really useful to get a broad sense of what to expect.
Additionally, I highly recommend looking at the H1B database, which includes data reported by companies who sponsor international employees to work in the US.
We’ve also collected compensation guides from a wide array of industries. Email us at hello@81cents.com to see if we’ve collected one in your industry!
One caveat: most of these sources only focus on base and maybe bonus. It’s important to remember that compensation is much broader and often includes components like equity, 401k, healthcare, signing bonuses, and other incentive plans.
Use Your Network
Getting a sense of what others in similar roles earn can help inform your idea of the market and make sure that your ask is both realistic and aggressive. While it’s uncomfortable to talk about money with friends and peers, it’s critical to fostering a more transparent culture around pay.
Here are a few specific tips:
Acknowledge the awkwardness upfront. (“I feel a bit awkward bringing this up but wanted to see if you might be open to talking salary numbers.”)
Volunteer first. This plays on the idea of reciprocity.
Ask what “others in similar roles” earn. This tends to make people feel a bit more comfortable and often they’ll end up sharing their own numbers.
Make sure to go through your LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to see who in your network might be helpful to talk to. You may be surprised by how many peers you actually know in a specific function or industry since the job market moves so quickly.
Use 81cents to Source Feedback from Experts in Your Field
Perhaps a shameless plug, but 81cents’ crowdsourced reviews are an excellent resource to better understand market rates and get actionable advice from those more senior in your field.
Each review includes perspectives from 5 - 10 experts (hiring managers and recruiters in your field / industry / location), as well as a customized action plan where experts discuss how they would approach your negotiation if they were in your shoes. You also have a chance to connect with these experts for 1:1 follow-up calls.
Questions? Responses? Feedback? I’d love to hear from you at hello@81cents.com.
Best of luck out there!
Jordan