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SOARING ROUGHLY 30,000 FEET ABOVE KANSAS — Chances are you’ll turn to Healthcare Purchasing News’ 2019 Supply Chain Compensation survey results to see where you might stack up to your colleagues and peers. Likely you’ll reach an epiphany — you need a raise! Or a new job!
While flying down to the IAHCSMM annual conference and exhibition, I thumbed through the April 2019 edition of Southwest: The Magazine, the inflight publication of Southwest Airlines, and spotted a curious headline atop a short, but meaningful “Work | Number” article on page 33: “Only 36% of us negotiate our initial salary.”
What a great question to add to our compensation survey, starting in 2020.
The poignance immediately prompted me to put pen to paper while nestled in my window seat next to the wing.
For many of us reading this, our first job and initial salary remain distant memories — fond, amusing, disturbing or otherwise. For those looking to change jobs or even mentor anyone looking to enter the healthcare supply chain profession, Southwest: The Magazine offers a silver lining that may be worth some emerald green.
While that may seem like a trifle in the grander scheme of things, Siegel further drives his point home by positing, “a $5,000 raise on your first job — $45,000 instead of $40,000 — accrues to a $750,000 difference in lifetime earnings.”
That’s some compelling math with deep context.
The inflight magazine’s short feature also highlighted an age-related survey statistic that “84 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds accepted their first offer, vs. 59 percent of 45- to 54-year-olds.” Apparently, no matter how old we are we’re still learning.
So if you’re interviewing for that first job or even that next job, take note of Siegel’s sage advice.
As you thumb through the report on HPN’s 2019 Supply Chain Compensation Survey — and be sure to check out even more useful content online — the data may motivate you to ask your boss for more or look for a new boss at a new gig.
Either way, it doesn’t hurt to ask — politely and respectfully, of course — so long as you retain a serious offer in your clutches and feel comfortable accepting or rejecting the answer you receive.
