Two weeks ago I attended a Young Publishers event at The Indigo Press office in London. The event consisted of a panel of incredible women working at Book Careers, Pan Macmillan, and BookMachine chatting about their experience with negotiating at work and a Q&A.
Here are some key takeaways:
Never feel grateful for working in Publishing. It’s Publishing’s honour to have you work for them.
When questioning things at work, take a holiday. This will help figure out if it’s stress or just a bad week, and then act accordingly (speak with you boss about changes to make work life better or start working on a Plan B).
Know all the facts before negotiating. If it’s about your salary, a great resource to compare Publishing salaries at each level is the annual salary survey by Book Careers: 2021 results.
When to start the conversation? If you’re brave enough, start it when you’re offered the job, or as soon as you’re feeling overworked/ when something new is added to you job description, or when your workload is increased.
When deciding what’s the best time to approach your boss to start the conversation of negotiating, watch their body language - 80% of communication is nonverbal. This will allow you to gaege if it feels right to book in a chat.
If you still need guidance before beginning the journey of negotiating, Book Careers offers 15-minute free chats all year round: check it out.
What if you can’t start the conversation yet? Start putting boundaries in place - finishing work on time or letting your boss know when you’re too busy to add to your workload and if they want you to re-prioritise.
Don’t be afraid to leave the meeting saying you want to think about what was said before coming back with an answer or a plan.
The worst your boss could say is no. Then it’s up to you with what you do with that - are you happy to stay or do you need to start considering what else is out there?
Finally, NEVER work for free - it’s 2022!