In the last 72 hour, this topic has come up with every single one of my clients.It’s a mantra that I love and it is something I use all the time:
“If I can do it in 15 minutes, but it took me 15 years to learn. You owe me for the 15 years, not the 15 minutes.”
If it took me 15 years to build up a skillset, an approach, a strategy frameworks to complete a specific task in 15 minutes, I deserve to be compensated for the 15 years of knowledge, not the 15 minutes it took me to do the task.
I know it can be hard to wrap your head around but consider this. Learning a skill, gaining experience and building your resource bank takes TIME. A company is not only hiring you as the person, they’re hiring your experience, your brain, your training. It’s all about what you bring to the table. It’s about the efficiency at which you work.
Once you have this type of experience and resume history, you’ll be able to navigate complex situations very quickly, because you will have been doing it for a while and know the lay of the land. You deserve to be compensated at a higher level because at that point, you can work at a higher level of efficiency and productivity than the average employee.
So when you are asking for that raise, negotiating a new salary, or you’re looking at a lateral transfer and you want a bump in your pay, remember that you’re owed for the 15 years, not the 15 minutes. Make sure that you are accurately representing all of the experience that you have, and that you’re getting compensated for all of that experience. And if that ever feels like too much, just remember that whatever experience you bring to the table generates profitability for that company. So why shouldn’t it also generate profits for you?
Something to think about.