"Dear Good Job, I've been at my job for six years. It's my first professional job in my field. I love my job, and I'd hoped to build a career here, but my pay isn't keeping up with the market (I'm making $30,000 under market average for my role). I realize that I need to leave if I want to make a competitive salary. But my job has a strict policy that is making this extremely complicated."
"The company has a strict no references policy, and everyone's afraid to break it. HR will give the standard "x person worked here between these dates" confirmation, but if you're found giving a professional reference to someone, you are disciplined and sometimes fired. For context, last year I got an advanced license in my field and it required references from people familiar with my work."
"My other options are professors from school (but it was so long ago!) or maybe colleagues in my field that I'm friends with and who've seen my work but not actually worked with. That also feels iffy. Before this job, I worked rotating retail/temping/restaurant gigs while putting myself through grad school. To be honest, I wasn't great at any of them and most of my effort went towards school."
The writer has been at their first professional job for six years, enjoys the work, and hoped to build a career there, but earns about $30,000 below market for the role. A strict company policy prohibits providing professional references; HR provides only employment dates, and employees who give references can be disciplined or fired. An advanced license required references last year, and boss and coworkers had to request permission from the national department head to provide them. The writer cannot rely on clients for references, considers professors or field acquaintances who have seen work but not collaborated, and is uneasy about contacting distant past supervisors. It remains unclear whether job applications have already begun.
Read at Slate Magazine
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]