by Katie Donovan
“Why didn’t anyone tell me to take the day after Christmas off?” asked my 23-year-old niece experiencing Christmas as a full-time employee for the first time. We didn’t think to tell her and she didn’t know to ask us about holiday vacation norms. So on December 26th she and the other young 20-somethings worked as the more experienced professionals with more vacation days took the day off.
Asking for Help in College
The same type of question often comes up in regards to salary negotiation. Why didn’t anyone tell us while we were in college to get salary negotiation help from the career center or to take a negotiation course? It could have helped us immensely. Yet most of us did not even know to ask about salary negotiations never mind find the resources available on campus. Some people, especially men, are learning to negotiate their salaries though so it must be taught somewhere.
"Salary discretion also favors men’s negotiating skills, which tend to be
more effective than women’s, yielding higher starting salaries for men."
Boston Globe, December 10, 2012
There are so many services that college career centers offer that it is hard for students to sift through them all to prioritize what is absolutely needed. There is determining a career focus and desired job, resume writing, online biography/presence, interview practice, appropriate interview attire, and networking (in person and online) to name a few. Salary negotiation should be in there but maybe just like the typical job seeker the focus on getting the job is so overwhelming that negotiating to ensure you are paid the market value becomes an after thought.
I was delightfully surprised in my search to see the numerous salary negotiation resources available in colleges and universities. Whether schools had these resources when I was in college in the days of big hair and WHAM! is questionable but THEY DO NOW. Students and alumni just need to know where to look and to ask for the help.
Negotiation Classes in Colleges
Negotiation Classes are taught in many colleges. Harvard has a Negotiation Institute. I studied negotiation while in Bentley University’s MBA program. Negotiation can also be a topic within other courses such as management. These classes tend to be upper level courses that have prerequisites and may be electives. Students need to know to look for these courses and when they do students find them priceless because truly negotiation is something you will use throughout your life.
Career Centers’ Salary Negotiation Services
College career centers offer preparation and assistance with salary negotiation. Sallyann Kakas, the Director of Career Development at Pine Manor College has an amazing background including working in corporate human resources to help any of their students forge ahead with their career. The center does help students and alumni with salary negotiation. One of Sallyann’s success stories is helping a student increase her starting salary by $20,000. Not all success stories are direct involvement in a salary negotiation. Career counselors will assist students and alumni plan for negotiations before they even interview for a job. One important tip from Ms. Kakas is to “negotiate with the person who NEEDS you, not with human resources.”
Schools also provide negotiation training to their students through special programs and guest speaker events. Kelly Buckley, Career Counselor, states, “At Lasell College, we have included salary negotiation as part of our Four Year Career Plan and as a step in the career research process.” She also stated, “Students will come to me for salary guidance after receiving a job offer and we’ll discuss potential next steps before they make a decision about accepting the position.”
Negotiation Rooted in Curriculum
Back at Pine Manor, Sallyann Kakas highlights that most schools imbed learning negotiations throughout their curriculum. Consider the omnipresent group assignments that are designed for students to learn to work together as they will as working professionals. Sallyann states, “part of the art of working together is learning to negotiate with each other. The students need to negotiate every aspect of the assignment with people they may not know well or at all. “
If the career centers at all colleges are in as impressive hands as Sallyann Kakas’ and staffed with counselors like Kelly Buckley then students have the opportunity to learn salary negotiation. The problem is that there are so many things for students to learn about careers that students need to know to get help for salary negotiation. Parents, aunts, uncles, and anyone who cares about a college student need to help them know to ask for salary negotiation knowledge. Or those students could end up like my niece, ticked that no one told them.
