In our series Salary Stories , women with long-term career experience open up about the most intimate details of their jobs: compensation. It’s an honest look at how real people navigate the complicated world of negotiating, raises, promotions, and job loss, with the hope it will give young women more insight into how to advocate for themselves — and maybe take a few risks along the way.
Been in the workforce for at least eight years and interested in contributing your salary story? Submit your information here.
Previously, we talked to a financial controller in Pittsburgh, PA , a head of content in Los Angeles, and a senior product specialist on Long Island, NY.
Age: 33
Current Location: Detroit, Michigan
Current Industry & Title: K-12 Education, Math Specialist
Starting Salary: $28,000 in 2007
Current Salary: $53,500
Number Of Years Employed: 10
Biggest Salary Jump: $9,565 in 2016 (from $37,467 to $47,032)
Biggest Salary Drop: $14,000 in 2008 (from $28,000 to $14,000)
Biggest Salary Negotiation Regret: “With teaching salaries, you can’t really negotiate for a different salary but can negotiate for ‘steps,’ or years of service. I wish I had pushed back on the pay freeze, because people were getting hired for what I’m currently making now who had fewer years of experience. Looking back, this was a big regret, because I realized that I should always be negotiating when it comes to salary. When and if I switch positions again, I will make sure that I advocate for my years of service and fight for what I’m worth.”
Best Salary-Related Advice: “Even though it’s teaching, you can negotiate. There are ways to get your worth for your position. For instance, in Michigan, you can Google any district and get its entire pay scale. Sometimes one district will have a very different pay level, so it’s good to come in with that information and have already done your research.”
“There was a job fair at my Midwestern university, and representatives from this North Carolina school district were there. We lined up and waited at a table and did a pre-interview. I was contacted by four different schools within a couple of weeks, so I went down to Charlotte and interviewed with all four over the course of a weekend. I got offers at all four schools, and they were all in very different areas, so I made my decision based on where I knew other people were going to be living and the commute time from those neighborhoods to the schools.
“One school had a similar demographic to where I had done my student teaching, and I would be teaching a similar grade level, so that helped me make my decision. The offer was for $28,000 for ten months’ work. I did not negotiate; I was fresh out of college and didn’t even know negotiating existed.”
“My father passed away rather unexpectedly shortly before I graduated from college. In hindsight, I was not in a place to move across the country — but I didn’t realize it at the time. The school where I was working had hired too many teachers, so they ended up literally putting all of the new hires’ names into a bag and drawing names of people who had to transfer schools. I was one of the names chosen and ended up getting transferred to a school that was a 40-minute commute from where I lived. I didn’t want to take this job and I was still grieving, so I decided to just go back home to Michigan.
“At this time there were very few teaching jobs in Michigan, so I ended up having to substitute teach. I was very fortunate to have a lot of friends whose parents were teachers, so they were nice about allowing me to substitute. There is an agency that contracts out substitute teachers, so I would sit on the website and refresh the page and get jobs that way, as well.
“I was able to build relationships with schools, and I ended up substituting almost every day, at least 20 days a month and sometimes closer to 25. I worked in five districts mainly, but that offered me a lot of job opportunities. Toward the end of the year, I had a more regular substitute schedule and would pick up random jobs as well, as they came up.”
“I taught swim lessons all through high school and college, so when I moved back to Michigan, I picked up a job where I taught swimming a couple of times a week for extra money. I would usually teach two evenings a week and Saturday mornings. It was a very hodgepodge side thing, but it was really the only way to have enough income to pay student loans.”
“I was subbing one day and saw an ad looking for teachers abroad. Because I’m lacking in foreign-language skills, I was excited to find an ad for England. They had a teaching shortage in certain neighborhoods in London, so I applied, did a phone interview, and they offered me a position.
“I was hired as a teacher who covered other teachers’ prep time (this job doesn’t exist in the U.S.). I would teach several subjects, including math, religion, art, and P.E. It was like a floating teacher job. The second year that I was at the school, I taught one grade level, which was the U.S. equivalent of third grade, and taught all subjects.
“In the U.K., they had a cool thing where they have a special housing project — essentially a dorm — just for teachers. So I lived with other teachers from all over the U.K., U.S., and other British Commonwealth countries. We all had our own rooms but shared a kitchen and bathrooms. Our rent was ridiculously inexpensive, which left us with lots of money left over. It was easy to meet other people, and it worked out really nicely.
“Overall, this was an amazing opportunity because I was able to work in the U.K. for two years without dual taxation and made a very livable wage, and I was able to travel cheaply across Europe on school breaks.”
“Due to changing visa restrictions, I had to return to the United States. Before I left London, I started applying for other work but couldn’t find anything. So I went back to substitute teaching when I got back, and thankfully I was able to find a long-term substitute job.
“In this case, the art teacher at the school had quit part way through the year, but the school didn’t have enough money to hire a new person. So I got to stay on as a substitute art teacher for the rest of the year.
“I was paid the standard subbing day rate, and there was no opportunity to negotiate, once again. At this point, I was unsure if I wanted to keep teaching and was interested in educational policy, so I was applying for grad school and thinking of looking at other options, though I planned to finish out the year.”
“I decided to pursue a master’s degree in policy and administration within education. As a teacher in Michigan, you can get a pay increase after obtaining a master’s, so I thought this was a good way to raise my salary. Additionally, I knew administrative jobs paid more than classroom teaching, and I wanted the option to become a principal in the future.
“Since I was already subbing, and full-time teaching jobs were scarce, I took a risk with going back to school. But I figured at this point taking time to go to grad school was a worthwhile investment, plus I hoped that maybe in a year or so, the job climate would change and I’d have better luck finding a job.
“During my program, I had work-study jobs in research and student tutoring, as well as a field instructor position with the university where I went and observed teachers who were in the Teach for America program in Detroit. I also had an internship as a principal — this helped me realize that I like working with teachers and talking about their practice. Getting to go to different schools and work with instructors allowed me to see a lot and learn a lot about teaching. I realized that I really liked talking about teaching math with teachers, so that led me in the direction of wanting to pursue something with math and education at the elementary level.”
“When I interviewed for this position, there was no published salary scale. They initially offered me $30,500. I told them that I needed more, especially because I had my administration credential, five years of experience, and a math endorsement that is pretty hard to come by. I pushed back and told them I thought I deserved $45,000, and they said no.
“We went back and forth for a while and finally settled on $37,500. This whole process felt weird, because teachers aren’t typically trained to even think about negotiating for their salaries since everything is already laid out in publicly available salary scales. Also, it’s a woman-dominated industry, and generally women are paid less and aren’t encouraged to negotiate. I didn’t have a ton of preparation, but I did realize that I could push back and argue for what I felt I was worth.
“This position allowed me to get more experience within administration. I learned a lot, especially about Title 1 laws and the paperwork elements of running a school, but I didn’t do a ton of work with kids. I mostly did administrative work, which wasn’t my interest. On top of that, the charter management company was for-profit, which I didn’t like at all.
“In Michigan, they allow for-profit companies to manage charter schools, which means these companies can make a profit off of public funds. Whereas in public school the money goes directly back to the kids, here the CEO of the charter school could give themselves a nice hefty salary and there’s not a lot of oversight. Since it was a for-profit school, there was no room for negotiation and they weren’t interested in making sure that teachers were paid well or had good health benefits. We also had no retirement options. There are other states that only allow nonprofits to manage charter schools, but Michigan is one of a handful that allows for-profit companies to do this.
“Staff turnover at this school was huge. Within my year at the school, two-thirds of the teachers left for other schools or quit teaching entirely. It was a challenging place to stay positive. It’s really hard to have a school that functions well when employees are constantly leaving and there’s such low morale.”
“Although this was a lateral pay move, I actually ended up with less take-home pay due to insurance premiums and public employee retirement contributions.
“Due to financial issues, the district was not allowing anyone to transfer years of experience, so when I was hired, I was told I would start at the very bottom of the master’s pay scale. Still, I wanted to get into the public school system, and I liked the school district. It was a very diverse school and had a lot of English-language learners, which I really liked.
“What was additionally frustrating was that my pay was frozen for my first three years, which meant none of us received pay increases. I didn’t realize that I was not only starting at the bottom of the pay scale, but that I would not be able to increase my salary. I should have done more research. While the principal was up front about the fact that pay wasn’t great when she offered me the job, I didn’t think to ask about the pay scale and trajectory of the position. It was disappointing, but what the school offered in other ways made it worthwhile. I enjoyed this job much more than the previous position, as I was now working with students more and doing less paperwork.”
“I got a grant to go for another master’s degree for free. The program was related to teaching English-language learners, and I took classes in the evenings part-time. The course work was focused on reading and writing, and since I had mostly taught math, I thought it would be better to make a switch where I would actually be teaching reading and writing.
“I took a risk and gave it a try at another school. The district finally came out of financial oversight, which was what had enacted the hiring freeze and tightened the budget — and everyone got a significant pay bump. But it also meant that people who were new hires were making more than I had made in my first three years. It was a very frustrating time for a lot of teachers, because we had worked for so little money for so long, and then suddenly these restrictions were eliminated.”
“When I had one more semester left of my grad program, I applied for an assistant principal position in the same district. I didn’t get it, but they mentioned they were going to open up the math specialist position and encouraged me to apply for that again.
“I was offered the job, and I tried to negotiate my salary, but I was told that they couldn’t move me on the salary scale because I had already been in the position before. They basically gave me the runaround. With union contracts, there are lots of positives, but sometimes it’s hard to negotiate without causing issues. But I loved math and decided to take the job and felt okay with the decision. Even so, I received our annual step increase that came with each year of service. With each step, there is a corresponding increase in salary, so I didn’t have to start off right where I left off previously.
“I was a little nervous at first, as I thought I was ready to jump into an administrative role, but I had a lot of strong relationships with the kids at the school, and I love teaching math. I was excited to go back to just teaching. With the funding changes, I no longer had to work with small groups of kids who were struggling in math. I could actually co-teach with other teachers and come into their classrooms, which I really enjoyed.”
“Along with the rest of the teachers in the district, I received our annual step increase, which came with another salary bump. I also completed my second master’s, which allowed for $500 per year more than the step increase.
“Right now I’m feeling pretty content with where I am. I’m making enough money to feel comfortable, given the relatively cheap cost of living in Michigan. I still have student-loan debt, so it will still be a while until I out-earn the debt I took on to get my degrees. This said, I have no regrets because my education brought me to where I am now and gave me some unique experiences, allowing me to transition to a non-classroom role.
“I do like the position that I am currently in, and if I make a move career-wise, I think it will most likely be to a principal or assistant job, which would come with a significant pay bump. I now know that while I may not be able to negotiate a unique salary, I can use my experience to negotiate more steps. So if I’m ever to change districts, there’s no way I would consider going down to the bottom of the pay scale ever again.”
Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
How Much Does Coachella Pay Its Headliners?
The Best Memes To Post During The Game Of Thrones Premiere
Unequal Paychecks Aren’t The Only Issue Facing Women Of Color
Source: Refinery29 – Ludmila Leiva