cope + paste

What do we deserve?

Obviously, that's a big question. What does anyone deserve?

But actually, in this case, I'm talking about remuneration. Specifically, how much do we deserve to be paid?

Obviously, that's also a big question. I don't have a secret formula or perfect approach to figuring out "what you deserve" as a salary or wage.

My mom said that freelancers should ask for twice the hourly wage they would expect to get for the same job as a full-time position. This is because you're spending half your time looking for work.

Mostly, people recommend seeing what "similar positions" in "similar industries" are paying. But that also feels a bit like a misnomer, because how do you know what a "similar position" is, especially if, like me, you tend to take on work and responsibilities that are outside the norm?

My professional life has not followed a particularly "traditional" path. Now, what a "traditional professional experience" really is under the hideous shadow of late capitalism might also be up for debate. But I've cultivated a variety of skills, from graphic design, to public speaking, to information gathering (reporting, interviewing, research), data analysis, A/V recording and editing, photography, foreign languages, accounting qualifications, retail and customer service, and inventory management. I can also perform some pretty basic IT functions.

I don't expect to find a job that will allow me to use every single one of my skills to its full potential. That having been said, I firmly believe that all the skills I have cultivated are complementary. They enhance one another. Indeed, I would argue the primary core "skill" I have sought to develop is one of "communication". I like helping people learn new things and understand stuff.

But I haven't figured out how to tell that story.

Probably because it's my story, and our own stories are the hardest to tell. (That's why having a biographer is so popular for famous people; it's also why people talk to journalists; we struggle to make sense of ourselves and even when we manage it, and even when we think we understand ourselves, actually finding the means to give voice to that understanding can be nigh impossible.)

Then you add on the imposter syndrome (exceptional powerful when one hasn't done things the "right" way) and a mountain of personal experience of not quite making the cut (I've been exceptionally lucky, I've had some fantastic opportunities, but I've also felt like I've fallen short, again and again), and it gets really hard to ask for things.

Anyway, you should ask for more money than you think you should ask for, and if you have to round down to help yourself feel better, make sure you're using the salary of the guy with the job above yours as a starting point. They're never going to give you more than you ask for.

Good luck out there.