Jacob Warwick: evaluation

Transcript context

…Yeah. Okay, so coming back to this compensation number, so you've touched on this a bit, and I think this is an important part of your advice is when the number question comes up, who should speak first? What should your approach be if they ask you this question of how much do you want to make? Yeah, there's a decent amount of nuance in this too. So one thing you should realize is that especially earlier in your career, they're going to push on this harder. And that indicates that the person asking is really more looking for a commoditized or a price sensitive hire. That can be okay. There's nothing wrong with sharing your number and getting a deal that moves the needle early in your career and even middle of your career. That changes the higher up the ladder you go. And this is one of the reasons I want to share this is that what got you here won't get you there. So things start changing as you mature in your career. So when you're working with a top recruiter, they don't ask you about comp. They won't. The problem is top recruiters only reach out to you when you're very well known and they don't reach out to you very often. It's very difficult to optimize for inbound attention the higher up you go unless you become very popular. And then what happens is you share less information because people come to you in a different capacity. So nine times out of 10, a recruiter reaching out to you is going to ask that number. One time out of 10, they're going to just focus on the value creation. Those are the ones you want to focus on, the best possible. But it could be confusing because so often you get a different side of the story, more of the commodity type stuff. So typically, I'd recommend you answer, right? "I don't talk about compensation until we're ready to make an offer, it sounds like we're pretty far away there. I'd love the opportunity to learn more about the team, understand where the value comes in, and proceed kind of down that path to make sure we're a good fit. Is that going to be a problem?" And then typically they'll say, "Yeah, it is going to be a problem. I just need to know a number." Right? Now, it's very uncomfortable to do this back and forth and to say no, especially Americans have a hard time saying no. I have noticed that other cultures can be more direct and just say, "No, I'm not going to do it." So be it, right? So culturally, there's a lot of differences in how this conversation happens. So they say, "Look, we need a number from you." You might say, "Look, I'm uncomfortable doing that right now because I don't understand the scope of the role. Can you help me understand what you had in mind? " The reason I learned this is I used to be a marketing manager making $12 an hour in downtown San Francisco for Series A companies, not knowing that $12 an hour wasn't a lot of money, I just didn't know any better. But then I looked up marketing managers and I saw that they made 60 grand a year and I suddenly got offended in how little money I was making. Then I got promoted to director in that period and was making $14 an hour, good for me. And then I saw that marketing directors were making 110,000 at the time. So when a recruiter called me, I pulled that. I didn't want to tell them I was making $14 an hour. ng $14 an hour, good for me. And then I saw that marketing directors were making 110,000 at the time. So when a recruiter called me, I pulled that. I didn't want to tell them I was making $14 an hour. They'd be like, "Who is this kid? He's not very good. That's fake title." And instead I said, "What did you have in mind?" And they said, "Oh, we're looking at 110 to 130." And I'd say, "Oh, I'm on the upper end of that now." So I went from $14 an hour to $120,000 a year in a single month, a single jump, just like that. That changed my life, one negotiation. It's one of the reasons I'm so passionate about that. I hated the marketing work, for what it's worth, but I thought if I made a lot of money, it would make that pain go away of not liking my job. Turns out that was a fool's errand, but that's a story for another time.…

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