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 people more insight into how to advocate for themselves — and maybe take a few risks along the way.
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Age:Â 28 Location:Â Chicago, IL Current industry and job title:Â Scientist; food & beverage R&D
Current salary:Â $81,000/year Number of years employed since school or university:Â Six Starting salary: $15/hour
Biggest salary jump:Â From $50,000 to $75,000. I negotiated a salary increase and title change based off a competitive job offer.
Biggest salary drop:Â I have not received a drop in salary.
Biggest negotiation regret: Being told that negotiation wasn’t an option. I regret not fighting back and believe I was taken advantage of as a young graduate who didn’t know better. Now, as a manager, I always tell younger or newer workforce women to always negotiate.
Best salary advice: You are worth more than you think. If a man can get paid more to do less, you can do the same.
I graduated with no job lined up and moved back home where I applied for jobs but also worked with contracting agencies. Since I had a STEM background, I was placed pretty quickly and started working at a large Fortune 500 CPG company, which eventually led me to the path I’m on today. I was paid hourly, but through a contract system, meaning the company I worked for physically paid my contract company, who then took a small cut, and then they paid me.
I was in charge of tracking ingredients and supplies inventory for my team. I ran all of the chemical quality specification checks on products. I was also a “floater,” helping play whatever role was needed that day. The main difference between a technician and a scientist was the amount of work you “did with your hands” versus “did with your mind.” I very much was hands-on in this role.
My initial contract ended with the company I worked at, but they wanted to keep me longer. In order to do that, there were some bureucratic hoops they had to jump through — justifying my work ethic, aligning my usage for the designated project, et cetera. In order for my contract company to justify keeping me at the position, they required a pay raise (for both them and me).My contract ended again at my previous work, and the company I worked at had a contractor limit policy. My team attempted to hire me full time, but the company had a hiring freeze so my time was set to end. A former coworker (also contractor) from the company had their contract end and found a new job at another company nearby. He reached out and told me they were hiring for the same position, so he put in my resume for me and I was hired full time!My company does a yearly standard cost of living raise for all employees; they start the raise at 2%. My manager argued that I performed really well and above expectations for my level, so I was given a small merit raise as well.During the pandemic, my company froze all raises and promotions. We were lucky in that they didn’t have to furlough any members. However, during 2020 I completed my master’s degree and was told that it wasn’t enough for even just a title change (no compensation change). In 2021, after the company could better assess the financial assets from the previous year, they awarded promotions and raises. I was privately cautioned from my manager that they would be lower than usual because of the current world events.A lot of people were really unhappy with how the company was operating and how they had treated us during COVID. As “essential workers” who believed that we didn’t actually fall into this category, there was frustration over having been required to be in-person every day during the pandemic. That summer a lot of people quit and my closest friends had left. I also received a job offer from another company, but when I went to give my two weeks’ notice the company fought to keep me. I was able to negotiate a higher salary and the promise of a more representative title for my work.
I don’t quite have a typical day to day, as we are a super fast-paced (not just a buzzword, actually our way of life) environment that requires flexibility. Generally, there is a healthy mix of pilot plant formula testing, benchtop formula development, lots of meetings, and updates with our clients or manufacturers. I’m lucky to have a technician reporting to me, so I’m able to delegate some of my work to her and help grow her skills to also become a scientist one day.
We received another cost of living salary adjustment in 2023, and I now make $81,000. My hope is to keep moving upwards in my current company. However, they have a questionable track record on paying higher performers what they’re worth, so I’m concerned that I’m being financially undervalued. Should that keep happening, I would take my skills elsewhere and find a similar position with a higher more equitable pay.
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