marcia has been with the same fortune 500 firm for 22 years…she has had a metioric rise and, especially as a woman, been told how wonderful she is..
they keep promoting her, helping her get her MBA…and working her to death and, of course, not paying her all that much…(they don’t pay anyone on her “director” level all that much)…but they get the security of working for a well recognized, presigeous firm…
she works at a very narrow job, supporting a division on a world-wide basis..has to travel at a drop of a hat…all over the world…which sounds like fun until you have to do it all the time..and by the way…no social life…but her company doesn’t care…
so, for the past few years, she has gotten more and more frustrated with the company, the job and, most of all, beinig underpaid and underappreciated…
so, she is gonna show ’em…she will just leave and find a better opportuntity where she is apprecaited and paid well..
of course, she wants a director’s job…and $100,000 more a year than she is making…’cause she is worth it (her words) and since she has had a phenominal trajectory up the corporate ladder and she is a woman, she knows she can get it..just ’cause she knows she can get it
so, she gets referred to me and proceeds to tell me what she will and won’t accept…how much she will or won’t take…blah, blah, blah..
she has been “looking” for six months…had only two inteviews…didn’t even give them the time of day…she was simply better than any of those jobs..couldn’t see promotion in the near future…wanted to know “where will i be in five years”…
she is gonna be looking for a very long time…and, likely stay where she is…she won’t like it, but that is likely to happen…
look, 99% of american companies don’t run like your fortune 500 firms…her skills are excellent but they don’t apply to most companies…and, she certainnly isn’t gonna get $100,000 more in salary..
it is kinda sad…she has been drinking the company potient that she is exceptional…but they have boxed her in…and they did it on purpose…they promote her, underpay her…and now she is mad as hell and is gonna show them…
the kind of thing she has been doing is so narrow and so specific to the company she works for, she isn’t conna find anything like it…not likely she can find a director’s job…and certainly not likely to get a $100,000 raise..
she is mad as hell…but that won’t help..
look, all that stuff they tell you at your big company… at your MBA school doesn’t mean poop if the real market won’t bear it…
marcia…settle down…quit being mad…quit feeling indignant and taken advantage of…look for a decent job at a level you can get hired at…work hard…get promtoted..the money and title will take care of themselves
