Today, only 7% of women negotiate their first salary, compared to 57% of men. This gap narrows later in career, yet, there is always 15% less women than men who negotiate at every stage. It’s time we change this and start negotiating our salaries, fees, and benefits. This workshop will give you basic principles, tools, and tips, so that you approach your next big negotiation in full confidence. Instead of waiting 200 years for gender wage gap to close, let’s learn to negotiate now!

1. Salary Negotiation Workshop
Natalie CERNECKA
WiMLDS Paris
12 March 2019

2. Bad news 7% 👩 vs 57% 👨
15% <
18% <
24% <
300 K€ lifetime difference

3. Why women
don’t negotiate?
Three common concerns
1. What if they penalise me for
negotiating?
2. I am not doing it for the money…
3. I do not know how

4. Why you
should negotiate
your salary
❖ You salary is probably the single
most important factor determining
your financial well-being
❖ Compounding effect
❖ Buy a flat / a car / a helicopter
❖ Educate yourself / your children
❖ Support your parents
❖ Travel to NY / Bali / Mt Fuji 🗻
❖ Safety cushion
❖ Earn to give
❖ Freedom to walk away from a
toxic job or bad relationship

5. Why women
don’t negotiate?
Three common concerns
1. What if they penalise me for
negotiating?
2. I am not doing it for the money…
3. I do not know how

6. Good news Negotiation can be learned
Negotiation is not magic 🔮
Negotiation is not
a zero-sum-game 🔫
Negotiation is a skill

7. Three principles ❖ Prepare
❖ Practice
❖ Politely persevere

8. Prepare 1. Know your market value
Glassdoor, AngelList, WTTJ, LinkedIn...
The Salary Project in the US
Real startup salaries in France
Ask (male) colleagues
Play the transparency card with HR,
your boss, or recruiter

9. Real data scientist salaries in FR startups

10. Prepare 2. Know your situation
How is salary raise handled at work?
Who is your main interlocutor?
What is the best time to ask?
Keep a track of your accomplishments
with numbers, facts, and figures 📈
on your own device

11. Prepare 3. Do some reading
Plenty of free resources online: moocs,
She Negotiates, The Edge, experts ...
To start, you are welcome to use
my list of resources

12. To prepare for
salary negotiation,
you should
❏ Do nothing, as they are not going to raise my
salary anyway, and will think I am arrogant /
nasty / greedy / incompetent / impostor
❏ Do some reading on the topic 📖
❏ Keep a track of your achievements
❏ Research your market value
❏ Wear low cut / mini skirt / high heels 👠
❏ Talk to people in your company or your
network who have done it before
❏ Pray to Mother Teresa / Schrödinger's Cat /
Uncle Sam, and hope for the best 😼

13. To prepare for
salary negotiation,
you should
❏ Do nothing, as they are not going to raise my
salary anyway, and will think I am arrogant /
nasty / greedy / incompetent / impostor
❏ Do some reading on the topic 📖
❏ Keep a track of your achievements
❏ Research your market value
❏ Wear low cut / mini skirt / high heels 👠
❏ Talk to people in your company or your
network who have done it before
❏ Pray to Mother Teresa / Schrödinger's Cat /
Uncle Sam, and hope for the best 😼

14. Practice What if they say ‘NO’? They will.
Scripts
Simulations
Arguments and counter-arguments
Open-ended questions (what, how,
when, who, where?)
The rule of thumb: collaboration 👫
not confrontation

15. Practice
Role A 👩💻 Role B 👨💻

16. Practice
Role A 👩💻 A Star Data Scientist
You are female Data Scientist in a startup
You have been with them for 3 years, and are
now the most senior person on the data team
You learned that a junior male colleague who
just joined the team, is paid 30% more than you
Recruiters are calling on you every week
You like your job a lot
You are going to ask for a raise
Role B 👨💻 The Big Boss
You are the Head of Data Science in a startup
Your best performer has left for a competitor
You hired a junior person to replace him
The startup is fundraising, and pressure is high
The budget is tight right now
Your most senior team member asks to see you
You are going to say No

17. Politely persevere Three horror scenarios 😱
1. What if they ask me to name the
first number ?
2. What it they say ‘salary is not
negotiable’ ?
3. What if they rescind the offer ?

18. High value to you
Easy to do for them
❖ Additional holidays
❖ Flexible working hours
❖ Remote work
❖ Fancy title
❖ Status ‘cadre’
❖ Training
❖ Conference budget
❖ Books budget
❖ Opportunity to choose projects
❖ Opportunity to choose your team
❖ Opportunity to hire and vet new hires
❖ Opportunity to collaborate with academia
❖ Opportunity to manage
Be creative 🎨

19. Politely persevere Three horror scenarios 😱
1. What if they ask to name the first
number?
2. What it they say ‘salary is not
negotiable’?
3. What if they rescind the offer ?
Watch out for red flags 🚩

20. Summary ❖ Treat any negotiation as
conversation 🎧
❖ Prepare
❖ Practice
❖ Politely persevere
❖ Open-ended questions
❖ Be creative
❖ Watch out for red flags 🚩

21. Final words
of wisdom

22. Final words of wisdom
“If you’re in a company that does things like that, where you know there’s a disparity
between what they’re paying men and women, you’re working for a company that’s getting
ready to go the way of the dodo.
You know, half of Fortune 500 companies in 10 years are gonna be gone. And in my view,
one of the reasons is if it’s a company that compensates men and women differently, that’s
the tip of the iceberg of a lot of really bad strategy in that company.
So, ladies,…if you wanna get a better salary from a company that notoriously pays women
less, here’s what I’d say. Were I your father…I don’t want you working there. There are better
places for you. That’s a dead-end job. It’s a toxic environment. It’s a bad strategy. Go
someplace else.”
Chris Voss, former FBI lead hostage negotiator