Salary Negotiation: Interview with Cynthia L. Conley, Ph.D.

[Episode 47] Today's podcast is on salary negotiation. Salary negotiation is a topic that is rarely discussed in schools of social work. Yet, for reasons identified in today's podcast, the social work profession as a whole would benefit if social workers negotiated salaries. In today's podcast, I speak with Dr. Cynthia Conley, assistant professor of social work at the School of Social Administration at Temple University. Dr. Conley's research focuses on salary negotiation, the salary gap between men and women social workers, and leadership skills and social work students. Cynthia and I talk about why salary negotiation is an important topic for social workers and some tips for how to negotiate salaries. I ask Cynthia how realistic it is for social workers to negotiate salaries, especially since many social workers take jobs in agencies where salaries are tied to position, rather than the qualifications of the applicant. Cynthia provides some case examples of successful salary negotiation. We end our conversation with a discussion of Cynthia's research on salary negotiation, and some ideas on where salary negotiation fits in the social work curriculum.

Download MP3 [15:12]


Contact information
Cynthia Conley, Ph.D., MSW
Email: cconley@spalding.edu

References and Resources

    Debt and Loan information
  • Bachelor's level social workers have an average loan debt of $18,609.
  • Master's level social workers have an average loan debt of $26,777.
  • Doctoral level social workers have an average loan debt of $32,841.
  • In 2001 the median salary of social workers with 2-4 years experience was $35,600.
  • In 2008 the median salary of social workers is approximately $40,000
  • Over 20% of social workers make less than $30,000 per year.
  • On July 31, Congress passed Higher Education Reauthorization and Opportunity Act, and President Bush signed it into law on August 14th. H. R. 4137 includes loan forgiveness for social workers.
  • http://www.bls.gov/ - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
  • http://www.payscale.com/ - Pays scale, gives rate of pay according to level of experience, skill sets etc.
  • http://www.fedjobs.com/pay/pay.html - pay rates for federal job hunters

    References

  • Conley, C. L., Buckingham, S. L., & Huber, R. (in press). Does salary negotiation reduce social work's gender-based income gap? Implications for Social Work Education. Journal of Teaching Social Work.
  • Zarrella, D. (2006). Public Comments of the National Association of Social Workers to the Department of Education. National Association of Social Workers. Retrieved December 7, 2008 from http://www.socialworkers.org/advocacy/letters/2006/110806.asp


APA (6th ed) citation for this podcast:

Singer, J. B. (Producer). (2008, December 8). #47 - Salary negotiation: Interview with Cynthia L. Conley, Ph.D. Social Work Podcast [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from http://www.socialworkpodcast.com/2008/12/salary-negotiation-interview-with.html

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