Aspiring former feds: do you know your worth? Earning potential is the primary motivator for a career transition. It is measurable and comparable. It is also your responsibility.
Defining the ideal number takes many forms. Collecting facts on what you stand to earn upon leaving USG is crucial. This helps deal with the compensation questions recruiters throw your way.
No one is waiting to just give money away. To maximize what you can make, you must empower yourself with knowledge.
How much is the market willing to pay a civil servant with 10 years of experience who has controlled budgets of $1M and ran teams as big as 20 people?
While counterparts in the private sector can use levels to understand how their job at company X translates to a new position at company Y, there aren’t similar equations for those looking to make the move out of government.
An efficient and educational path for determining this number is landing an offer.
Offers don’t just fall from the sky. You can’t pluck one off a tree branch in the backyard. In all likelihood, you’ll need to interview for a lot of roles to land a handful of offers.
In the beginning, interview for everything. Doing so, gets you into more compensation discussions faster. Having the compensation number associated with the offer is empowering. You can then speak authentically and confidently with other recruiters and hiring managers.
Some of the big FAANGs will share detailed total compensation ranges well before the offer stage. When this happens, seize the initiative. Take notes and ask questions.
As an anecdote, early on in my own transition, I had a detailed compensation discussion with one of the Big Tech firms. Concurrently, I was interviewing with a smaller company, that still had good financial backing. When I got to the offer stage with the smaller one, the numbers were underwhelming. Lacking the Big Tech comp conversation, I would have assumed this lower offer was my value. Instead, I pushed back, negotiated and eventually passed on the smaller company’s offer.
Websites like Glassdoor, Payscale and LinkedIn will have information on industries, companies and roles. Still, the best way to get numbers is via interviews and offers.
When you know your worth, you will make a better decision for your future. When it comes time to move on from your first post-USG job, what you’re making there determines what you make next. Starting out with a lower number, limits your long-term earnings.
Don’t sell yourself short.
10 Steps to Breaking Free of USG: a complete guide to landing a lucrative post-government role
Network Superpower Part 1: the connectors in your network can unlock opportunities you never knew existed
Crush Conferences: a killer conference execution strategy, complete with document and spreadsheet templates, to maximize earning potential associated with conferences