First, I just want to say thanks for all your tips. I'm a regular reader of the column and get a lot from it.
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On to my question: I recently accepted my second job in journalism after being out of college for a year. It's a great move up for me (it's three times the size of the paper I work at now) and I feel that the pay increase I'm getting is also a good move up -- but I don't know. Salary is such a hush-hush topic, I had no idea what to expect for my first job. I now feel I came out with about the average salary for starting journalists, but I really have no idea how big of an increase reporters should expect when taking on a new job at a larger newspaper.
My increase was $6,000 to $32,000, which I was thrilled with. But I really have no idea if I sold myself short for not going for more. There is a cost-of-living increase, I should mention. Is there a percentage reporters should shoot for? Or is it more of crapshoot, a mix of what you want and what's available?
Happy With My Salary?
Congratulations on the new job and a pay increase of more than 20 percent.
You won't get rich with that, but you can survive and do what you love.
Salary negotiations are very tough, in part because we have very little information to go on. We hate to price ourselves right out of a job and we hate to lowball ourselves. Publishers, on the other hand, know what the range is on their staff and can purchase data on what peer companies are paying.
The size of the raise your new newspaper gave you suggests they thought you were way below their level and they wanted to bring you up. If that is the case, they may have brought you up a lot by your standards, but into just the low- to mid-part of their range. That suggests you maybe could have gotten a little more. But the opportunities, training and everything else count for a whole lot.
I suggest that journalists negotiating pay compare cost of living with online calculators and also check out the calculator on
www.salary.com.
Coming Wednesday: He knew that he'd start at a small paper and that there were some editing issues. But things got worse after he arrived, and he worries about his growth.
Benefits and your area's cost of living need to be...
