This is a repost sub. Original post by gradschool31924214 in r/GradSchool
Told the hiring manager for my internship: for that salary, I’ll walk away
Told the hiring manager for my internship: for that salary, I’ll walk away
So I’ve been working as a researcher with this team for a full year while I work on my doctorate, and they offered me an internship this summer. Grad students don’t make a ton of money, but internships can be a huge boon because in my field, they are generally very well compensated. So I had my range (floor, target, dream salary) and I’ve been waiting for a few months while they go through the motions on HR end. I was honestly expecting more towards the dream salary end based on our existing collaboration, and going through the whole hiring/HR process was portrayed as more of just a formality. Well I just had a call with their hiring people and they offered me barely above minimum wage. Like just above half of my upper band. This is way below industry standard, but I hadn’t been applying to other internships because we already have a research plan for the summer. I panicked for half a second but then I told them my floor and simply said I couldn’t afford to work with them if they couldn’t make that happen. I have a fellowship I was going to defer in lieu of the internship, so worst case scenario I just walk away and do that instead, but wow. I feel sick to my stomach. I’m simultaneously insulted and also getting serious imposter syndrome. Talent Acquisition said “well that’s what we pay all our interns” like I’m some 19-year-old undergrad and not a grown ass person with two masters degrees. Anyway I thought I’d share in case its helpful for other people to remember that your floor is your floor. Waiting to hear back from them. Would love any advice if folks have navigated this before.
UPDATE: I negotiated up to my floor, a 40% increase above their offer! My advisor provided some data so I could share median numbers for our field, and some friends reassured me that I shouldn’t have accepted their first offer. It’s not my dream number, but it’s a safe number. I’ve decided to accept :)
Originally posted on r/bestofpositiveupdates
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