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OK, I've got to jump into this. This actually happened in the job before my
current one.
The scene: the HR interview - held, for some reason, in the lobby of the
building.
HR: So how much money are you looking for?
Me: <I named a reasonable figure, about 12% more than I was making at my
current job.>
HR: Sharp intake of breath, followed by hysterical laughter.
Me: Patient smile
HR: We've never paid a tech writer that much before.
Me: So... you get what you pay for. Besides, I've found that if you don't
ask, you don't get. That's quite reasonable, actually.
HR: I don't think we can touch that.
Me: Well, I can be reasonable. What's on the table here besides salary? Can
you throw in, say, more vacation?
HR: Uh, no, that's fixed.
Me: Stock options?
HR: We don't give options to tech writers.
Me: But you do to other people in engineering, right?
HR: Yes, but we have to to be competitive.
Me: Yeah. My point exactly.
HR: We do have a bonus plan.
Me: But that's a BONUS. It's not guaranteed.
HR: We've never failed to pay a quarterly bonus.
Me: How much?
HR: <Names a percentage.>
Me: How about a signon bonus?
HR: We've never... well, I can look into that.
Me: OK; maybe I should talk to the doc people now.
Can't believe my own arrogance, but really! Six months later, they did
extend stock options to tech writers, as well as to other professionals.
Great wallpaper nowadays, but it's the principle of the thing.
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