Becoming an Assertive Job Seeker
Becoming an Assertive Job Seeker
Becoming an Assertive Job Seeker
Being an assertive job seeker can be incredibly difficult. Especially if you’re just starting out in the student affairs job search. However, being assertive in the process – particularly when it comes to salary negotiation – can yield a candidate greater benefits down the line.
But what does it mean to be assertive? How can job seekers be assertive without being “pushy?” What are some challenges with candidates asserting themselves during the job search? How can those challenges be addressed?
This article will define what it means to be an assertive student affairs job seeker. Reasons to be assertive will be covered as well as some unique gender based challenges. Steps are outlined on how to become more assertive during the job search. Finally, key takeaways and action items are provided to help student affairs job seekers become more assertive though their careers.
What does it mean to be assertive?
Sometimes assertiveness gets a bad rap because people think that someone is pushy or self-centered. However, being assertive means providing a specific and balanced interaction with another individual.
Being assertive means that you’re willing to stand up for yourself – but not at the expense of others. This can look like different things to different people in practice. Being assertive can mean saying “no” to additional committee work for the overworked student affair professional. To a new faculty member it could mean providing some critical, but incisive, feedback to a needy student.
For a student affairs job seeker, being assertive means that you’re willing to state and ask for what you need. This is a job seeker who knows what they want – and what they can get – from their next position. Their goals could be for a greater starting salary, but it doesn’t have to be. Being assertive means sharing your needs.
Your needs can be varied and unique. For instance, you can share that you require support through the relocation process; an honored start date; and provisions for professional development. An assertive job seeker knows that these are important pieces of compensation they both desire and value.
Ultimately assertiveness in the student affairs job search boils down to “defending your worth.” That includes knowing what you “bring to the table” with your knowledge, background, skills, and abilities, and how that expertise should be compensated.
Now, let’s explore some reasons why a student affairs job seeker should be assertive.
Reasons to be assertive
Oftentimes new job seekers are not assertive because they are shy or don’t want to “shake up” an already sensitive search process. This often manifests itself by being uncomfortable in the presence of authority figures. This can often make these job seekers look less assertive.
Of course, there are reasons why you can (and should) feel uncomfortable speaking with a senior colleague, dean of students, tenured faculty member, vice president of student affairs, or president of an institution. These are people of power and influence. They can do much to shape and form your career – especially at the early stages.
However, part of training yourself to be more assertive comes from two areas: confidence and preparedness. Confidence stems from faith in your knowledge, background, skills, and abilities. Oftentimes this comes from years of experience in the field. But it can also come from having specific applicable knowledge in a functional area.
On the other hand being prepared is entirely up to you. Preparedness is knowing what YOU can do AND what the OTHER person is capable of. With both confidence and knowledge in hand you can set out on the path towards becoming more assertive in your job search.
Assertiveness is within reach. Particularly for millennials and generation Z job seekers who are negotiating salaries for the first time. There is often a line between being assertive and being aggressive. Often that line can be crossed instantly and accidentally. But knowing when to be assertive to help your own position and when to be receptive to the other position will help student affairs professionals for the rest of their careers.
However, there are gender differences between how men and women approach assertiveness and use it in practice.
Assertiveness of men
Being assertive definitely has some differences based on gender. For men that idea is more pronounced as they intend to initiate negotiations on their own compared to women. Men’s ability and desire to start those negotiations stem from a drive to be more assertive in salary negotiation process compared to their female counterparts.
This can have an especially disproportionate effect for women as men are reported to have up to 14% higher salary expectations compared to women. These expectations, in addition to an assertive behavior, enabled them often negotiate for better compensation packages compared to their female counterparts.
In addition, men are reported to have greater career ambitions and are more used to negotiating directly and openly in communication.
The unique challenges of assertive women
On the other hand, women face unique challenges when addressing and including assertive behavior in their career development process. Often this stems from an implication that they will become “unlikable” when they act assertively.
However if “likeability” and “agreeableness” are common concerns for female job seekers, then these traits could result in being compensated less for their work. This often leads to a catch-22 situation where women desire to be assertive in order to negotiate for a fair compensation package. However, by being assertive their behavior can be interpreted as unlikeable and demanding. The results of which could be the opposite of what female job seekers seek: equity in the compensation process.
This stance combined with women’s tendency to underestimate their professional value serve as a double edge sword working against them in their job search. Therefore, they often avoid assertive behavior when it counts the most: during the hiring process.
However, female job seekers that know these aspects are better prepared to address them in the student affairs job search. Part of this comes with taking proactive steps to promote assertive behavior which encompasses advocating for one’s own self interest. Doing so represents small steps that individual female job seekers can take in order to address larger issues surrounding gender wage disparities.
Steps to take towards being more assertive
Learning to be assertive in your career can be done. But it does take some practice. This is particularly relevant when negotiating a salary or compensation package in the student affairs job search. Part of being assertive is being prepared. That preparation means that you need to enter the negotiations knowing what you want to ask for. You can gain that information by researching salary levels prior to starting the negotiation process.
You can also use the following websites for some information and insight on compensation:
-Salary Data - HigherEdJobs https://www.higheredjobs.com/salary/
-U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics https://www.bls.gov/
-Glassdoor https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/index.htm
-Comparably https://www.comparably.com/
-PayScale https://www.payscale.com/
-Salary.com https://www.salary.com/
-LinkedIn Salary https://www.linkedin.com/salary/
-Indeed.com https://www.indeed.com/salaries
-Salarylist https://www.salarylist.com/
-SalaryExpert https://www.salaryexpert.com/
By using this data you can determine what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in the final offer.
With this information you have moved one step closer to becoming more assertive in your career and salary negotiation process. The next step involves practicing your interaction and negotiation with someone else. A good person to start with is a friend or colleague.
Have you practiced with a colleague? Good! You are ready to put your new assertive skills to the test in a real world example. One of the most effective ways to start is small. At the very beginning, ask if the institution has room has room to move with their compensation package. Asking this question early, politely, but assertively; will help you out later in the process.
You can do this by asking in a firm, smoothly flowing, and well modulated voice. This is the kind of voice that conveys sincerity and a dedication towards finding a mutually agreeable solution.
Here’s an example of a script that I’ve used in the past:
Talking to the hiring manager at the final stages of the student affairs job search:
“I’m incredibly excited for the opportunity to join the student affairs team at University College. I want to make sure that we can both come to an agreement on our final steps. Can you please let me know if there is room to move with the final offer? If, so what aspects of the compensation package are negotiable?”
This was written in my own voice. So you’ll want to take and adapt this to suit your own needs. But the key here is to practice this stage of the salary negotiation process as an assertive professional.
Of course you don’t have to wait until you’ve reached the offer stage of the student affairs job search. You can also start off small with implementing your assertive mindset. One way you can do this is to ask the host of a restaurant to re-seat you to a different table. You may not need a valid reason to sit somewhere else, but this small, short, but firm request is one way that you can practice being assertive in a low stakes environment.
Being assertive
When you are assertive you share your autonomy with your future employer. Your autonomy demonstrates that you are a strong and capable person who is here to bring value. This article provided some starting tips towards becoming a more assertive job seeker by outlining a core strategy.
Your core strategy will take into account your knowledge, background, skills, and abilities, and use them in a way to gain a competitive offer from the institution by focusing on collaboration and consensus building.
Takeaways
This article defined what it means to be an assertive student affairs job seeker. Reasons to be assertive were covered in addition to some gender based challenges. Steps were outlined on how to become more assertive during the job search process. Finally, key takeaways and action items were provided to help student affairs job seekers become more assertive in the student affairs job search.
I hope that you found this article useful! If you need some additional help on your student affairs job search, then check out the eBook The Student Affairs Job Search: A Comprehensive Guide available here.
Happy searching,
References
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Cite this Article
Eng, D. (2020, April 21). Becoming an Assertive Job Seeker. Retrieved MONTH DATE, YEAR, from https://www.jobhakr.com/blog-1/2020/4/21/becoming-an-assertive-job-seeker
Internal Ref: JHKROI2CS41OR