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Subject:Re: Ask for a raise? Or pack my bags? From:Chris Morton <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com> To:"techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 23 Jun 2015 17:15:10 -0400
You are GROSSLY underpaid. As for your commute, no one caresâthat's your
problem. Faced with a similar commute a year ago on one contract, after a
month onsite I negotiated a work-from-home arrangement. After a year, I
bumped up my hourly rate by $5.00. It's all doable, but each one of us has
to manage our own careers. The days of any company feeling loyal to you are
LONG gone; publicly-owned companies answer to Wall Street.
As a suggestion, I'd build out your LinkedIn profile. Look at some that
others on this list have created. Recruiting agencies would take a pass on
your profile, if they found it at all, simply because there aren't
sufficient keywords that they search on.
For starters, your [Summary] section says very little. And the [Skills]
section should be demoted, inasmuch as *anyone* can endorse youâ
*whoop-dee-do*. Getting actual written recommendations carries far more
weight.
Get a Glassdoor account and sign up for their job postings. After being
extensively interviewed for a full-time position, I got one contract
through a Glassdoor lead (after sending a LinkedIn InMail to the company
president). And I'm in the interviewing stages right now as the result of
another Glassdoor lead. Glassdoor's blog posts are good reading, too.
Blindly sending out resumes will NOT get you a new job in today's world.
You need to be far more proactive and use guerrilla marketing techniques to
even get considered.
> Chris
On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 4:00 PM, RaphaelWorkman -at- comcast -dot- net <
raphaelworkman -at- comcast -dot- net> wrote:
> Thanks to all for your advice so far! I realize I forgot to add a few key
> points.
>
> I earned a BA degree in Organizational Management from Ashford University
> in Clinton, Iowa in 2010.
>
> I commute from north of downtown Denver to south of downtown Denver
> through rush hour traffic. I spend 8-10 hrs/wk commuting.
>
> Denver region is above the national average so my original salary goals
> are spot on or even a bit conservative.
>
> I put out my resume to a few big companies and haven't received any
> interest back yet.
>
> Companies in my area that are actually hiring are paying $50-$75/yr for
> tech writing and editing jobs popping up last month and this month.
>
> I like the people I work with. My boss is nice. I like what I do. I didn't
> realize I was making so little until my little brother got a new job
> earning $75/yr (as a CFP) but told me his company is hiring regular people
> with bachelor's degrees starting at $50/yr. to basically just answer phones
> in a call center environment. That's a thousand dollars a month more than I
> make now and it's not even the regional average for tech writers in Denver
> Colorado, which is $62/yr ($2,000/mo more than I earn now).
>
> Here are some supporting pics. I entered my info (e.g. 3 yrs experience)
> into salary.com. for my region: Denver.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> As you can see, I'm in the 10% who earn less than $47/yrâway less.
>
> Raph
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> > On Jun 23, 2015, at 12:33 PM, Robert Lauriston <robert -at- lauriston -dot- com>
> wrote:
> >
> > Look up Technical Writer II for your city on salary.com. The national
> > average can be misleading.
> >
> > If you're worth considerably more than they're paying you, you'd
> > probably get more faster by changing jobs. Even if your employer
> > recognizes that you're underpaid, they'd probably choke on paying you
> > twice what you were getting three years ago.
> >
> > If they know you're working for less than you're worth, they won't
> > want to replace you until they have to. If they don't think you're
> > worth more than they're paying you, they won't expect you to leave for
> > a better-paying job.
> >
> > On Mon, Jun 22, 2015 at 4:31 PM, RaphaelWorkman -at- comcast -dot- net
> > <raphaelworkman -at- comcast -dot- net> wrote:
> >> Hello tech writers:
> >>
> >> I don't know where else to turn for advice.
> >>
> >> Is it a risk to my job security to ask my supervisor or an HR employee
> for a raise or work from home privileges? I earn an anonymous amount of
> money between $36K and $38K annually. I was hired 3.5 years ago at $32K. I
> just found out the national average is around $60K
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