Here’s a little controversy to wrap up your week: in her latest blog post, Penelope Trunk argues that women are penalized for negotiating salary, and for this and other reasons, they shouldn’t do it at all. Whew. Find that, plus what happens when you don’t take a vacation, and the best sites to help you land a job in 2015, in this week’s roundup.
(Photo Credit: Hernan Pinera/Flickr)
Penelope Trunk: Women Should Not Bother Negotiating Salary
Women negotiate salary only slightly less often than men (42 percent, to men’s 44 percent, according to PayScale data), but they’re also much more likely to say that they’re not negotiating because they’re uncomfortable discussing money. (Thirty-one percent of women selected this option, in PayScale’s Salary Survey, while only 23 percent of men did.)
They’re not crazy to feel reluctant; research shows that women can be penalized for being “too aggressive” when they ask for more money. Generally, salary negotiation experts approach this problem as one to be solved with careful negotiation tactics. Trunk suggests maybe the answer is not to negotiate at all:
“Men are rewarded for negotiating because doing so makes them seem tough and self-confident. But women are considered brash and annoying when they negotiate,” she writes. “… Often, negotiating has an even worse effect than saying nothing.”
Agree or disagree with Trunk, she presents a bold position. The question isn’t just whether she’s right; the question is whether, even accepting that possibility, women should give up negotiating … or continue trying to level the playing field.
Marla Gottschalk, PhD at The Office Blend: I Didn’t Take Vacation This Year; Here’s What Happened
“I didn’t have the opportunity to take a vacation this year,” writes Dr. Gottschalk. “For some reason, the stars never aligned to make it happen. A few things contributed to the situation. I have a new role (along with my other commitments), and we are also renovating an older home. As you might expect, our resources have been diverted to goals such as staircases and a functional HVAC system. Then we just couldn’t agree on when and where to go. ‘Re-charging’ just was not in the cards.”
Skipping vacation can feel trivial, or at least, not important outside of our personal desire to get away for a bit. But as this post demonstrates, it can have very real repercussions for productivity and happiness at work.
Hannah Morgan at Career Sherpa: The 40 Best Job Search Websites of 2015
“We all know about Monster and CareerBuilder, as well as the other mega or niche sites (well, at least you should),” writes Morgan. “So I don’t need to give them more attention.”
Instead, she provides a comprehensive list of the best sites to support your career search. These go beyond the usual databases of job openings to help you polish your resume, find job openings in unexpected places, and learn the art of networking and developing a personal brand – in other words, these sites will help you actually find a job, the way it’s done in 2015.
Tell Us What You Think
What’s the best career advice you’ve read this week? We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or join the discussion on Twitter.
Or maybe women are crappy negotiators which is why they come off as brash and annoying, while men come off as confident.