Corporate Struggle – What God Saw Fit
There is a difference between living your truth and sitting in your truth. First, you must sit in your truth as you cannot live through what you have not addressed. This came full circle for me after beginning a professional career in Corporate America. For two years, I accepted the fact that two employees on my team were placed at a higher salary than I despite possessing the same experience. I assumed it was because I unfortunately did not negotiate my salary upon accepting my role. Thus, I would always try to assume positive intent. I would tell myself “my leader would not intentionally put me in this situation”; deflect, deflect, and deflect some more. After realizing that assumption of positive intent without corrective action was not going to change my circumstance, I decided to problem solve.
I reflected on the circumstance that I thought led me to this point. I failed to negotiate my salary. My self-proposed resolution was to take my resume to leadership and ask what the justification was for a lower placement. Funny thing is, in executing my resolution, I learned so much about myself.
- I know my worth – I explained to my manager why I believed I was entitled to a salary increase. I came with facts; education, experience and current responsibilities.
- NO is not an option for me – After going back and forth with compensation, they finally realized my work experience was not credited correctly. It was a miss on their end and they were going to fix it.
- Faith without work is dead –I prayed and prayed about the situation and finally, I heard the lord say “go forward”. It was my cue to problem solve my situation. There is no way I would have gotten a salary adjustment had I not followed through.
I am now living my truth; no the situation was not corrected how I saw fit. However, it was corrected how GOD saw fit and I am ok with that. I am now further equipped to advise other individuals on offer acceptance and salary negotiations. I offer help especially to minority females entering the workforce unsure if they have the ability to counter offer or feel they should accept the lower placement. Have you or are you experiencing this right now? Share your TRUTHS with me!