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Bonni Graham laments:
>I was woefully underpaid in my first job, but it's partly my fault. They
>asked me to name a salary. I was too new to the field to know what was
>reasonable, and I lowballed, figuring that was the best way to get the job.
>I found out much later that they would have been willing to pay up to *five
>thousand dollars a year* more than I asked for.
Me, too.
It's hard to know what to ask for in that first career job. Many of us
came from college (i.e. $0/yr income), so *anything* sounds like a lot of
money. Even then, how do you know what
I suppose one way to avoid this is to join the STC *before* you go after
that first techwriting job, and get good advice from other chapter members
(he says, still not quite having gotten around to STC membership himself).
Or stumble across this list and ask us phine pholk. Otherwise, you cut the
best deal you can and go from there.
(Fortunately, my next two performance reviews were tied to hefty, hefty
raises. Funny what saying, "Pay me, or I'll go a company that will", can
sometimes do for your bank account.)
Peace,
jim grey
--
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