The women’s and gender studies department at NC State, in partnership with the American Association of University Women (AAUW), held a Start Smart seminar Monday evening on negotiating for a better salary. Ashley Simons-Rudolph presented on problems students often face when obtaining their first job post graduation, and how to successfully handle these issues.
Simons-Rudolph, a professor in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, talked about how women and people of color are consistently paid less than white men holding the same jobs with the same qualifications.
“Women working full time in the United States typically are paid just 80 percent of what white men are paid, a gap of 20 percent — and it’s even worse for women of color,” Simons-Rudolph said.
The seminar not only included discussion on the issues with the wage gap in the U.S., but also included practical applications for how students can combat that issue. Often women are afraid of being too “pushy” when negotiating salary, but in reality it is simply knowing what you are worth and asking for what you deserve.
“I encourage students to look at ways in which their gender, race, class, life experiences, and often our southern culture reinforce stereotypes like thinking that negotiating is ‘pushy’ in the first place,” Simons-Rudolph said. “Is it really ‘pushy’ to ask for what is fair? We all deserve to be paid what we are worth.”
Simons-Rudolph engaged students with humor and interactive discussions. Students not only learned in a lecture format, but also were able to ask questions and practice negotiating techniques. She pushed those in attendance to command respect and recognize their worth, not submitting to the idea that they were too pushy.
“My favorite part is just how relatable Dr. Simons-Rudolph is and that she is very much a real person,” said Beatriz Gurgel, a senior studying psychology and visual art studies. “This was especially great for me because everything she told us was new information for me.”
The seminar had a great deal more depth than one might expect.
“The difference between this and other salary negotiation workshops is that Start Smart includes the reality check that who you are and what you look like, and stereotypes about these aspects of your identity can and does often influence your starting pay,” Simons-Rudolph said. “While we are working for social justice at the community and society levels, we can also learn to negotiate a fair salary for our ourselves.”
While currently the world does not have pay equality, it does not mean that students must accept pay inequality as their reality. This seminar was a great way to improve one’s pay in a professional way.
“Some students have come back to tell us that they feel empowered to ask for more money and that they feel more confident in general when starting in their first job after university,” Simons-Rudolph said.
That empowerment makes a difference, Simons-Rudolph said. She talked about how starting salary is important because so often raises are based on the current salary. If a raise is simply an increase in percentage of the current salary and a salary starts out low, this difference will be compounded over time.
The Start Smart seminar is offered twice a year, once in the fall and once in the spring. It only costs students two hours of their time, and the knowledge that students gain could make a huge difference in the long-run.
