FWD: Road blocks in negotiating raise

[Anonymous User <anonfwd -at- RAYCOMM -dot- COM>]

Name withheld upon request. Please reply on list.

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Somewhere on the Illinois "Silicon" Prairie...
I need some input on a sticky situation. I am in the middle
of trying to negotiate a raise, and have encountered a major
road block. So here's the rundown. I could really use some
honest input.

I was offered my current Tech Writing job after working as
an intern last summer. I made a very good impression, and
I demonstrated skills that are not typical of most interns.
I unfortunately did not have any idea what I was "worth" at
the time, so I took what I could get. Now that I have found
out what the area standard for salary is, I realize that I am
grossly underpaid. Not only am I underpaid in relation to
others in the area with the same experience and job duties,
but there is a serious parity problem within the company. I
started at the same wage as someone in the company who
has only a GED, and transferred from Clerical to Customer
Service. This is one of my key points in the negotiation.

The road block:
I was told that the amount I was asking for was out of line
because they just interviewed someone with a Masters in
Tech Writing who is only asking $31,000. I was requesting
to be moved from $28,000 to $34,000, which is still below the
area standard (median of $43,030 from what I have found),
but more realistic for this company (starting wage $26,000).
I will be getting my BA in English with an emphasis in Tech
Writing in a few weeks, and I have a total of 2 years
professional experience (one year writing and editing ISO
9000 procedures, and one year writing, editing, and testing
documentation for a computer software company).

ALSO...
for the past four months my workload has been double because our
third technical writer left (for better pay), and our intern was
fired because she never showed up.

My questions:
Am I so out of line in my salary requirements given my
education and experience?

How might I handle the issue of the person with a
Masters who is only asking $31,000?

I hope someone can give me some sound advice, since I'm
rather new to the raise negotiation process. Thanks!


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