Negotiating for a Raise with Renee Nguyen
Negotiating for a Raise with Mike Poulin and Renee
On this episode of Financially Naked: Stories from The Financial Gym, our host is Mike Poulin, Level 2 Trainer based in the DC Gym and a Sergeant in the Army Reserves, and he is joined by his client Renee, who is a lawyer based in Texas.
Podcast Notes
Renee was born in California and raised in Houston. She completed her undergrad at UT Austin and she went back to law school in Houston in her 30s .
It was refreshing to be around younger, energetic students, but because she had already been in the workforce, it gave her a different perspective with how law applies to life.
Renee now does civil litigation, which is mainly plaintiffs versus defendants (corporations and businesses). Previously, she focused on labor and employment law on the employee side.
To unwind, Renee spends time outside. She recently moved to Austin and there are a lot of trails there. She is working from home and she likes to keep active.
Renee joined The Gym and has been working with Mike for almost a year. She graduated law school in 2016 and decided it was time to get her finances in order. She joined The Gym because she didn’t know where to start.
She wanted to be out of debt and to be able to buy a house someday. Seeing the numbers and goals was a reality check, and she knew she needed to do something about the income side.
After doing some research and talking to her coworkers, she realized she wasn’t making as much as her peers. She talked to Mike about negotiating her salary.
After using the worksheet Mike gave her, she went on some interviews to get an idea of salary range for her position in her city and that’s where she found the most compelling numbers. She spoke to attorneys about what their associates made at the three-to-five year timeframe, and she heard it over and over.
Renee scheduled a meeting to talk to her boss about her salary when she had an offer from another company. If she got a no, she had a backup plan and that gave her confidence.
Renee asked about a performance evaluation and she didn’t say anything about the other offer. She received glowing reviews, but she got the idea that a raise wasn’t going to happen. A week later, she put in her notice and her firm asked her to stay and they met the offer. She realized her worth and value to the firm was what another firm was willing to pay her.
Renee stayed with her firm and she continued to keep her options open. Some of the interviews she had gone on before panned out months later and she eventually took a better offer with another firm.
February 11, 2021 is AAPI (American Asian Pacific Islander) Equal Pay Day. It marks how many more days AAPI women need to work to make up their pay compared to what their white male counterparts made in 2020.
After law school, she took the first job she was offered without negotiating. The second job she negotiated her salary based on what she wanted to make.
Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want and also don’t be afraid of the change that comes along with it. Sometimes the change is better than you could imagine.
Looking back, Renee wishes she would have had the conversation with her first firm sooner. It is worthwhile for everyone to look at the numbers, set goals, and go for it.