Now that the hype has died down slightly, I can finally post a journal entry.
So, Friday morning, I email the hiring manager of Company A asking him if we can discuss the proposed package because I want to put all my cards on the table sooner rather than later so as not to disturb the HR process.
Completely mutually exclusive to the aforementioned event, the lady from HR then calls me to confirm my offer and progress with sending out a written offer. The salary she tells me is a little lower than what the hiring manager discussed with me last week and I tell her that I want to negotiate the package further because I have an offer at another company and they’re currently offering me 21% more base salary than Company A.
I feel like she’s a little taken aback and tells me that she’ll relay my request to the hiring manager. I tell her to iterate to him how I’m really excited to work for the company, that they’re my first choice and if a higher salary isn’t possible then I’ll be willing to compromise for regular salary reviews.
The hiring manager still hasn’t responded to my email and I’m getting really nervous that I’ve fucked shit up and they’ll see me as ungrateful and greedy. I’m literally so worried and properly shitting myself. I’m on the phone to Telis stressing and he’s telling me that he supports me and that I did what I felt was right for me and it’s all part of the learning process.
Until…
The hiring manger responds! He says we can have a quick chat either before or after his meetings. With 15 minutes until his first meeting I put the phone down to Telis and respond right away saying I can have the conversation now if he is free. Yes, I am fucking eager! This is my dream!
Well, the conversation happens. I tell him I have another company thats offering x amount, but they’re my first choice, etc, etc. He says that it’s good I want to negotiate and explains to me that the salary they offered is within the grade that they have placed me in but he happens to have a meeting later on in the day about the recruitment process in general and would like to get other opinions regarding my situation.
So come a few hours later, he’s had his meeting and he phones me back.
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting. Perhaps a small 10% increase on their original offer, perhaps nothing. But he goes into a long speech, explaining things here and there and then he starts telling me numbers.
Ok, listen…
My base salary will match what the other company is offering and then some. On top of that, I’ll get the usual commission, which will bring my overall salary + commission package to 62% more than what I am currently earning. At this point I’m trying not to scream. Let’s chill.
Now, considering this will also be in addition to a car allowance and money for health/car insurance my complete cash package is worth 80% more than I am on right now.
I cannot even comprehend what happened. I went in there thinking I’d be ok with a 10% base salary increase and I come out almost doubling my earnings. I can’t fucking believe it.
Anyway, the hiring manager tells me that they’ve had to increase my grade so that I could be offered that salary and that means it comes with more responsibility. They want me to lead the apprenticeship programme at the company, which I’ll be more than happy to do anyway.
I’m just shocked. During the conversation, I was sending shocked-face emojis to Telis and he was worried that the offer had been withdrawn. To be honest, he didn’t want me to negotiate, he just wanted me to get into the company and work hard to prove that I deserved a raise. But I’m different to him and I do take risks, and this particular risk paid off.
This starting salary has set me up for life. I can only go up from there. If I had accepted the initial lower salary, it may have taken me five years to get to my new offer. I am just so grateful to God. I cannot deal.
I called everyone and told them my good news. My mother was so happy. Telis was ecstatic. Sana was pleased for me. It’s just been good news all around. My mother said that mine and Telis‘ union is truly blessed, that it was when he got with me that he got his raise and when I got with him that I got this new position.
I told him we are written in the stars.
Together, Telis and I are pretty much unstoppable. He got a raise at work and he’s earning hella money. Even more than me. Within a year or so we’d have enough money for a deposit on a big house. It will take us literally one months worth of savings to pay off our wedding photographer, three months to pay off the venue and two months for me to pay for my ten bridesmaids makeup, bouquet and accommodation.
I am grateful.
But all this money comes with a lot of responsibility and I’m still wondering how this happened for me. I feel so inexperienced and I’m not understanding how they looked at my resume and thought that I matched the job description in any way. It must be a glitch in the matrix š¤·š¾āāļø
My way of living isn’t going to change. I’ll increase my monthly allowance slightly, but at least half of my new salary will go into savings. The thought of spending large amounts of money monthly sits very uncomfortably with me and savings is the only thing that soothes that. I am a stickler for savings.
A new chapter of my life is about to begin. I am so excited to be a young, black, female Solutions Architect at this wonderful company but do you know what trumps that excitement? Handing in my fucking notice! I’ve dreamt of this day for so long.
The pettiness in me wants to do it first thing on Monday morning and ruin everyone’s day. The diplomat in me will probably wait until the end of the day instead. It’s still all dependant on receiving and accepting the written offer. If it doesn’t come on Monday, then I’ll wait until it does. I’m sure all my references will check out. There’s plenty of evidence on the WWW that I am who I say I am, that I work where I say I work and I’ve studied what I said I’ve studied. Within the next month, I should be a full time employee of Company A.
I just cannot wait to change my LinkedIn experience section to working at Company A as a Network Solutions Architect. Just to rub it into the faces of all those companies that rejected me or dared to offer me less money than I’m worth. Remember Company CS? They offered me an entry level sales role with less salary than I am on now and promised me progression into a sales engineering role within a year. If I had accepted, there is no way I would be earning close to what Company A is offering any time in the next ten years. The way things have just worked out is crazy.
I felt so shit and unhireable. Nobody wanted me and it sucked. And now here I am. Joining a global company that really wants to give me that opportunity and they’re willing to put in the money to prove it. Yes, it’s a risk for them, but sometimes you have to take chances, and I’m ready to prove to them that they made the right choice to hire this grossly under qualified girl and I’ll thrive while I do it.
PEACE.