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 women more insight into how to advocate for themselves — and maybe take a few risks along the way.
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Age: 35
Location: Manchester
Current industry and job title: Marketing, digital marketing and communications manager
Current salary: £40,000
Number of years employed since school or university: 13
Starting salary: £18,000
Biggest salary drop: £23,000 to £22,000 in 2018.
Biggest salary jump: £34,000 to £40,000 in 2023.
Biggest negotiation regret: I went for a job while doing my master’s, and I asked for three days off a month for the first three months to complete my master’s. They offered to drop me down to part-time with reduced salary. I agreed and then mentioned my master’s required a three-month work experience element. They then turned the paid job offer into an unpaid internship citing my lack of flexibility. I ended up turning down the offer as I would have needed to quit my paid customer service job to accommodate this. Now I am further into my career, I feel I could have negotiated this better and kept the original offer or at least a paid role.
Best salary advice: When asked what salary you are on, always pad it a little. Especially when speaking to a recruiter. It’s their job to get you the highest salary possible.
First Job: Production Assistant
Year: 2013
Salary: £18,000
My degree was in broadcast journalism so I accepted my first TV role. I worked on a well-known show that relied on user generated content. It was my job to watch the videos that were submitted. It was a great first role and a great first salary. I didn’t negotiate in this role, I was excited as it was my first career job and the offer was more than I expected. (I actually got offered the job while sat in the Job Centre waiting to sign on, so I was too excited and jumped at the first offer).
Job Change: Marketing & Social Media Executive
Year: 2015
Salary: £20,000
The programme I was working on did not get renewed, so I was made redundant. The TV roles that were available were on short contracts. My uni friends in the field were all struggling with going months between contracts, I didn’t like the sound of that so decided to switch fields. I’d done some volunteer marketing roles and enjoyed it so looked into marketing jobs and landed my first marketing role.
I enjoyed my time in television but the idea of not having a reliable pay cheque made me too nervous to pursue it. My salary covered rent and bills but didn’t leave much over for saving, so knowing that I could be out of work with little to no savings was not a position I wanted to be in. Being offered what I thought would be a permanent role, allowed me to feel more secure.
Job Change: Marketing & Comms Assistant
Year: 2015
Salary: £22,000
I was made redundant from my role. They wanted to combine the PR/Marketing/PA role from three people down to one person. I quickly found another role for a small company offering more money. However, I didn’t enjoy this role as it wasn’t as it was described, so decided to go back to university for a master’s degree. I thought this would get me more interviews and help me specialise in digital marketing. I knew I lacked professional experience and thought this would help my CV stand out to help me get higher paying roles. I found part-time work in a call centre while studying.
Job Change: Marketing & Business Development Manager
Year: 2017
Salary: £23,000
At the time I thought this salary was very generous. However, it was advertised as up to £25,000, so I wish I had negotiated this more. It was my first role after gaining my master’s. I was really happy with this salary and they offered flexibility in my working hours. They were a small company that had never had a marketing strategy before, so it was great experience getting to set everything up. Sadly, I was made redundant.
Job Change: Marketing Assistant
Year: 2018
Salary: £22,000
When I was made redundant, I went back to the leisure centre where I’d previously worked to get my call centre role back. As it turned out, the marketing assistant had handed in their notice the day before, so I was offered the marketing role instead. Less money than I was previously on but better than the minimum wage I was expecting. Plus it came with benefits like free passes to the centre.
Job Change: Digital Marketing Executive
Year: 2018
Salary: £25,000
I found a new role offering more money in the hotel sector for a prestigious name. I had always been interested in working in travel and this company seemed an exciting opportunity and had some great perks. I found this role through Indeed and it had an advertised salary band. I asked for £24,000 during the interview process and they offered £25,000.
But the hotel was then sold to new investors who wanted to downsize the team, so I started looking for a new role. I found a new position before I could be made redundant, which was good as they ended up making the whole marketing team redundant.
Job Change: Marketing & Brand Liaison
Year: 2020
Salary: £28,000
I found a role in restaurants, just before COVID hit. It was hard to make a good start when everything was shut. I was furloughed five months in. I came back when everything was opening up again but the industry was struggling… and there were talks of redundancy. I started looking for a job again.
Job Change: Operations Manager
Year: 2021
Salary: £32,000
I took a role with a small SEO company, which came with a great salary increase. They also offered the flexibility to work from home. During the interview process I asked for £30,000 and was offered £32,000. The company was very generous with holiday and team building events. They also allowed me to bring my dog into the office. Once again, the business was restructured with a change in ownership. I was made redundant and was out of work for a month. This was challenging as I had just bought my first house.
Job Change: Digital Marketing and Communications Manager
Year: 2022
Salary: £34,000
I accepted this role which came with hybrid and flexible working. I had been offered another role at the same time, but for less money and at a smaller company. I also chose this one because there’s a yearly cost of living increase of 3-4%, which is helpful.
I handled all of the website and social media for the company as well as ad hoc traditional marketing. The company is quite large with lots of opportunity for training and growth so I was very excited to join. However, this role was advertised as up to £36,000. I wish I had negotiated slightly higher, but did just accept the first offer as I was keen to get into work. I think because I had job hopped so much previously, I didn’t feel too tied into it as I could always move to something else should a higher paying role come up.
Raise: Digital Marketing and Communications Manager
Year: 2023
Salary: £40,000
Thankfully, a raise came the following year, bringing my salary to £40,000. I had been offered a new role by a recruiter, so I used this to negotiate a salary increase and stayed put. During my time at the company I had taken on a lot of responsibility as well as covering for the PR Manager role which was vacant. When I mentioned the new role to management they immediately offered me the increased salary to stay. The other role was only offering £38,000 so they immediately offered the increase to £40,000 plus an additional +3% in six months (when the new budget year started).
My line manager has now left the business due to a restructure and I am acting up into their role. We are currently negotiating the new role responsibilities and salary increase. This is expected to be over £50,000. I do plan to negotiate harder this time as I have assumed a lot more responsibility, and am now line managing two direct reports. The programme I work on has been funded for a further three years, so I expect to continue progressing in this company. I am also looking to move house, so am looking forward to the pay rise.
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