There is no end of career advice to be found. It may be industry specific or so broad that it could apply to anyone. The latter is not especially useful, so when I read Sally Krawcheck’s recent piece as it related to her top career advice, it was with a focus on investment, investment in yourself and the significance of creating more dollars. She is the former president of a Bank of America Division and the owner of a women’s networking community. “Women make 77 cents to a man’s dollar on average. While that amount has risen, it is not close to where it should be and the difference in the dollar amount is alarming.”
According to Krawcheck, “If we ask for a raise and get one big enough to close that gap, the investment we have just made in ourselves earns us nearly a 30 percent return on what, for many of us, is our biggest asset: our income stream. Compare that with investing in a 10-year government bond now yielding 2.48 percent, or in the stock market, which has returned 7.3 percent on average over the past decade.”
She continues, “Put another way, if we earn $77,000 a year and take that up to a man’s $100,000, we’ll see a net gain of $23,000 annually, $230,000 over a decade and close to $1million over the course of a career. That’s if we never request, or get, another raise.”
You may not close the pay gap in one jump, but all progress counts. There is a lot of money that’s left on the table for no reason other than no one asked for it. Compensation is based on performance among other things, so list your accomplishments, practice the ask, be prepared for pushback and do not apologize for your request. ©MWeisner2014
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