About a year and a half ago I left my job to follow my partner’s career when they got a job opportunity in another country. I tried my best to get a job in my field while we were abroad, but due to various factors, nothing panned out. (I did get many interviews and even some offers for a few remote jobs, but once they realized I lived outside the US those opportunities fell through, despite my being upfront about where I live on the application materials–so a few lessons learned there.)
We’re now looking to move back to the US, and I’m considering applying for a job with my former employer, as my manager gave me great reviews and had told me to let them know if/when I move back, plus a few locations within the company are hiring. I think it’s quite likely I could get rehired, so I had a few questions about salary and benefit negotiations.
First, how would I handle salary negotiations? I know that for a lot of fields, the “best” way to get a significant salary increase is to get a job elsewhere, and I think my field is no exception. How likely do you think it is that they would offer me the exact same salary I had when I left? For what it’s worth, I suspect that in general new employees are hired at a higher rate than previous employees to account for inflation, etc. But I’m not sure how it would work in my case when they can literally see my last payrate with them.
Would I have any standing to negotiate for a higher payrate, especially since I was unemployed in the interim? For what it’s worth, I have done a few things since I left to stay active in my field, such as completing continuing education, networking, some light volunteering, and getting quoted as an expert in some publications in my field.
Second, in my field it’s not uncommon to start with zero PTO which you accrue at a certain rate, with the accrual rate increasing with your years of service. I had previously worked for a significant amount of years with this employer and had achieved a pretty good accrual rate. Could I somehow negotiate returning at my previous PTO accrual rate? How would my negotiation on the PTO accrual rate be affected if they offer me the exact same salary I previously had vs a higher one that new hires likely get? (Ideally I’d like both a higher salary and my previous high PTO accrual rate, but of course I need to be realistic.)
And if I instead pursue a job with another company, how would I handle salary and PTO negotiations with them after a job history gap? I suspect it might be more likely they’d offer the type of salary any new hire would get (that’s in keeping with inflation, etc), but could I negotiate getting the same PTO accrual rate as my last job if I have a gap in my work history?
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