Students Learn Salary Negotiation Tactics

By Brandon Wallace '17

Bradley students discussed issues of salary and gender at the Smart Start Salary Negotiation workshop, sponsored by the Women’s Studies Program and Smith Career Center. The event taught students about salary negotiations, job worth, the gender wage gap, job skills and budgeting.

The workshop was free and was limited to the first 40 people in attendance. It ran in conjunction with Equal Pay Day.

“Negotiating a starting salary armed with this information is extremely helpful,” Dr. Patty Hatfield, Stephens Professor of Risk and Finance, said. “Knowing the average salary range an individual would receive in a position and then being able to determine where you should be in that range based on your experience and qualifications places you in a much stronger position to negotiate a fair starting salary.”

The workshop, which ran in conjunction with Equal Pay Day, highlighted the difference in pay between men and women.

The audience was provided with useful websites that showed appropriate salary ranges for various careers and tips for negotiating without sounding overly aggressive. At the end of the workshop, students practiced budgeting and negotiation situations.

“The goal would be to try to earn beyond the minimum to survive,” Hatfield said of one of the simulations. “It’s a valuable exercise because you may find out that the job you’re wanting doesn’t pay enough to be able to live in Chicago, for example,” Hatfield said of one of the simulations. “You have to reconsider the job you’re applying for, reconsider the city or find other ways to reduce your expenses.”