Salary Story: I’m A Recruiter Making $113k & This Is My Biggest Negotiation Regret

In our series Salary Stories, women with long-term career experience open up about the most intimate details of their jobs: compensation. It’s an honest look at how real people navigate the complicated world of negotiating, raises, promotions and job loss, with the hope it will give young people more insight into how to advocate for themselves — and maybe take a few risks along the way.

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Age: 27
Location: Boston, MA
Current industry and job title: Tech, recruiter
Current salary: $113,800
Number of years employed since school or university: 4.5

Starting salary: $35,000 base with a $15,000 variable commission component that was uncapped and $5,000 in stock.
Biggest salary jump: $83,000 to $108,000. This was a market adjustment pay increase that happened while our company was doing really well. All my peers received the same increase.

Biggest salary drop: No drop so far.

Biggest negotiation regret: I moved from an entry level sales role to a recruiter role within the same company. I was so desperate for the job that during the interviews that I said I was not money motivated, so my pay didn’t increase at all. I ended up receiving the lowest starting salaries among my peers stepping in to the same job.

Best salary advice: As a recruiter, I highly recommend keeping your cards close. When a recruiter asks you how much you’re looking for, ask how much the pay band is for the role. This way you won’t potentially really undershoot your goal. I also recommend always negotiating: When you receive an offer, when you get an annual pay increase, or when you get a promotion. Last but not least negotiate everything, not just pay. Ask for a sign on bonus, stock (if applicable), relocation bonus, more time off etc. There’s a good chance you’ll get something out of your negotiations and the worst outcome is that you get your original package. At least you’ll know you’ve tried your best!

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to be in tech. Entry level sales roles are one of the more commonly hired positions for folks with non-technical skills and I had some background in fundraising and development so I started off in a business development representative role. I spent my days finding, calling, and emailing prospects to hopefully pass them on to the account executives. I made a $35,000 base, with a $15,000 variable commission component that was uncapped, and $5,000 in stock (four year vest). If I hit 100% of my annual quota, my take home pay would be $50,000 (not including stock) though it could be lower or higher.

I promoted within the same role at the same company at about the five month mark. This was an automatic promotion based solely on quota attainment. I ended up in a principal business development representative role. My base and commission each increased by $5,000 so I was at a $40,000 base, with $20,000 in commission, again with potential to be higher or lower depending on performance.

I didn’t love sales and wanted to focus more on diversity and inclusion, so a month after my promotion I interviewed for a recruiter role at the same company.

Having a quota was really stressful. I also much preferred talking to people about their own personal goals and career path than talking about software. I really wanted to have an impact on DEI, which isn’t part of a sales role.

I ended up receiving an offer, unfortunately with zero negotiation, for $60,000 salary with no stock. Our company does not do commission for recruiters, and given that I was over performing in sales this was actually a pay cut.

About one year in, I received an 8% ($5,000) raise and was at a $65,000 salary. It was my first raise not tied to promotion, and I did not negotiate. I was just relieved to get the role and a mentor of mine at the time advised I just take what I was offered, which in retrospect I probably shouldn’t have done. I was paid way less than my peers with similar levels of experience.

Six months later I was promoted from associate recruiter to recruiter. I received a $5,000 bump bringing me to $70,000. At this point I had spoken with a lot of my teammates and realized I was underpaid. After I asked, HR told me I was in the bottom 25% but that they could not elaborate more. I negotiated and was bumped up to $83,000.

I was honest with my teammates that if they felt comfortable I’d love to talk about compensation because we’d have more agency and be better informed when negotiating for ourselves if we knew what other folks made. I pulled market data on what folks with the same amount of experience with the same title were being paid in the tech industry in order to advocate for a raise.

Our company benefited a lot in 2021, as businesses leaned into using software more. Recruiters at our company were also making less than recruiters at similar tech companies. As such, I received two pay increases in quick succession, that increased my pay from $83,000 to $108,000. I was told that this was a special increase for performance, which was exciting. I later learned all my peers had the same bump, which made me happy for our team but frustrated by the dishonesty.

Six months later I got a $5,800 bump as my annual raise. I tried to negotiate but was told no. Still worth a shot!

Six months later I applied for a different role on our recruiting team. The move was a lateral move, so it did not come with a pay raise. I negotiated with leadership to get some stock and highlighted that when I was hired I received significantly less stock than my peers. They gave me $30,000 in stock with a three year vesting schedule.

I’d love to promote to a Senior Recruiter role. If I could land somewhere around $120,000 or more that would be lovely. I love my company so I don’t see myself moving any time soon.

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