We’ve had endless public conversations about minimum wage and compensation at the lower end of the pay scale. On a policy level, the issue frankly confuses me. There are too many consequences tied to the proposed actions to feel that one course is clearly superior to all others.
On the personal, professional and career management levels, however, I have more to say. Having held dozens — yes, dozens — of minimum wage jobs, and having netted far less than minimum wage for the first decade of my business, I have just over 20 years of direct experience to inform my thinking.
If you are trapped in a low-wage cycle, my advice is simple: It’s on you to get out of this situation. Increases to the minimum wage will elevate your income, but you’ll still be a minimum wage worker. To leave this rut once and for all requires both an overall career plan and a job strategy that leverages your low-wage positions in the interim.
The best career plan is vocation-specific. For example, “Become a licensed beautician in three years; own my own salon in 10 years” is better than “Learn to cut hair” — and far better than “Pay my bills.”
This is a good place to note the difference between a career plan and a survival plan. While the minimum wage laws focus on pay, I’m focused on job and career advancement. If you can’t make a living on your wage, you must move up the ladder at your workplace, or into better-paying work elsewhere.
Perversely, I’m not in love with education as the key to this advancement. Every worker needs a vision (career plan), the ability to advocate for themselves, and the work skills to ensure they’re returning value to their employers. Some training programs are designed to return those outcomes, but others — including most four-year degrees — are built to deliver a broader array of long-term benefits, not closely tied to wages.
It’s easy to tell someone to get a degree, but will that make them better workers, negotiators or career builders? While education is never wasted, neither is it a career cure-all.
Returning to the career plan: You can make this as ambitious as you’d like, as long as you build in enough steppingstones. If our future hairstylist wants to eventually start a beautician school, the plan will need to include more education, possible jobs at an existing school to gain relevant knowledge, and of course hair-cutting experience and the initial licensure.
Your career plan may be led by a life plan, if you prefer, with the work component taking a back seat to such life goals as owning a home or raising children. But you’ll still need specific work goals to fund the life goals. Whatever your plan is, lay it out in three- or five-year increments, to give you the road map you need for job decisions.
For each position you take, you need a strategy to ensure you’re on the path to your career goal. Is your current, low-wage job one of the steppingstones to your career plan? If yes, then there’s a strong argument for keeping it. That means you’ll need to cut costs, negotiate for a raise, or add a second job to make ends meet.
Start by asking for a raise. If that doesn’t work, look for a similar but better-paying job in your field. If that doesn’t work, go for a better-paying job outside the field while taking volunteer or side work to replace the steppingstone aspect of the job you’re leaving. If that doesn’t work, pick up any and all scratch jobs — cleaning houses, tending bar — to do in addition to your steppingstone work.
And of course, reduce expenses as much as possible during this period. Having done it, I know that living in a boarding house, sharing apartments and renting out rooms in your house are not fun. But having a career plan makes the difference between being a low-wage worker and a worker who currently earns a low wage. One is a mindset and a rut; the other is a temporary situation and a tool.
It’s true that a higher minimum wage would ease the financial strain for many, which would be a relief. But changing the wage won’t change your mindset. Only you can do that.
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