AartiGadhia SherifatAkinwonmi

foreign [Music] all right awesome so the video is played right and are we good to start awesome well thank you and I guess for those who were able to watch the video think about this situation what would you advise my niece should she accept should she negotiate or should she reject the opportunity I love audience participation so please please it put your answer in the chat boxes I'd love to hear uh your response of what you would uh advise my niece and I can tell you one quick thing is that from this lenses you're watching I'm sure all of you will agree that it's so easy to advise but think about your situation when you've been in her shoes and how many times have you negotiated the offer and for those who did negotiate please in the comments write and chat and what was the outcome when you did make the ask or negotiate Jambo Namaste konichiwa bonjour and greetings to everyone no matter where you are in this world today I'm in beautiful Whistler I love this conference because you can do it it's a hybrid some of you are there some of you are remote it's fantastic huge shout out to James and all the volunteers at besides Calgary for doing a phenomenal job thank you [Music] thank you to you as the audience for joining us at besides Calgary as we cover an important topic don't settle for less know your value today with uncertainty in the economy I've seen so many individuals get impacted and it's heartbreaking to read all about the layoffs I see on LinkedIn I see all these updates and to add on top of all that inflation is rising things are getting expensive just the other day I failed a full gas of tank before it was eighty dollars today is hundred and twenty dollars it's a pinch and with uncertainty one thing for sure is be prepared for change and whether you've recently been laid off or if you're considering changing jobs or even if you're staying with your existing organization learning how to position your worth is important and through our talk our hope is that by the end of this session you'll be able to apply some of the learnings to your journey because together we can close the gap and as we share our viewpoints please note that what we share today is our personal viewpoints and not of our employer so let's start off with introductions sheriff and I uh we've known each other for quite a few years it's been such a pleasure uh getting to know her and be part of your journey Sheriff had in Canada and so I'll hand this over to you to do a quick introduction of yourself great thank you RT um first of all I'd like to confirm from the audience because they're super quiet can you hear us no audio okay all right can you hear us now can you hear me did you hear hearty yeah that's the real good um no no audio I'm getting perfect toward you someone said I'm getting no no RT yes um so we're getting no audio some can hear uh hopefully I hope you can hear us okay I can hear moderator and RT both okay great so I guess we go I thank you Artie for having me it's my pleasure to be here my name is sharifat they said they could hear our tea but they could hear me but not Arty um testing again can everybody hear me or no see um can you will you be able to join through the to the event link through the event link yeah we are airing two times through the stream link I have joined through there oh we're done a minute I'm just going to oops tracking the chat [Music] [Music] [Music] and I'm just checking the fact [Music] are we still there love technology when it works but don't love it when it doesn't work [Music] okay you're back I can see you I can hear you what about the audience can you hear and can you see us I don't know I'm just gonna try to present the slides quickly I'm gonna go back to this session can you see the slides yes okay great hopefully it's better now can you go to the session and and see if they can hear us okay let me go back to the session can you see the slides yes yes okay so it looks like people can hear us okay great so I guess we'll carry on um you need to mute the others the session that's it yeah just to transform everything all right um well be great to see the chats to know if they can hear us because there's been lots of audio issues but yeah thanks artsy for having me my name is sharifat and I'm happy to be presenting with my very good friend Artie we've met a few years ago and it's been an amazing time um when Atty reached out to me to say hey come let's talk about this I'm like yes definitely because even for me this is a problem right sometimes you sell yourself short sometimes you you don't know you just don't know especially because there's so much around conversation around salaries you don't really know when to get the best value for what you're worth so I'm really happy to be here I'm hoping the audience can hear us and we have a fantastic time today awesome thank you yes I'm going to be monitoring the chat as well at the same time so hopefully everyone can still hear us um and if not just keep typing in the chat uh so a little bit about me and uh about my Safari my network knows me as a change maker and my purpose is to be a voice and I've dedicated my entire career to break down barriers and boundaries for underrepresented groups in stem and in leadership and I've done this through several different channels one of them being stand out to lead she sharing her empowerment and it's just been amazing to see the impact that has led to a positive impact all these initiatives is uh creating change I was also honored for my contribution in the cyber security industry by being named as one of Canada's top 20 women in cyber security and this inspired me to write a book The Rise of the Cyber women volume 2. I served in four boards as an advisor right now for observe ID I also volunteer for OAS Vancouver chapter for Oasis western Canada affiliate and a new initiative which is the women in security documentary celebrating Amazing Stories and moments of women and allies in security and outside of work I enjoy cooking I enjoy writing my motorcycle in fact just yesterday in Whistler I think my parents were probably the oldest couple that did an ATV with me so it was fantastic having experience that Journey with them so that's a little bit about me Sheriff would you like to add anything about yourself because you've also been Canada's top 20 in cyber security so go for it absolutely thanks Etsy so here I am I'm a business information security officer with TD and like Katie said this year was nominated and awarded as one of the top 20 women in cyber security in Canada I'm grateful for that opportunity it's been fantastic experience that people actually recognize all of the work you're doing and to see what you're doing to support cyber security and remain in general um my daily life is I work with TD Bank as a Visa like I mentioned I live in Calgary I was supposed to be in person today but I didn't want to be alone on the stage when I have rt online so I decided to stay online and do the do the presentation and I just figured out it will work better if I was online I have three children and I love cooking as well like Artie I think cooking is actually therapeutic for me I love cooking strange right but I love to cook I love to travel I love to meet people I love to discuss and engage people in different ways I'm happy to be here great awesome thanks haircut for those who are able to see the video at the start hopefully it did play um but basically the video was my niece I was offering a job to my niece and as I mentioned earlier on is everyone will agree that it's obvious to advise her to a negotiate um so I was actually very curious I actually sent out a survey to my network just to see how many people chose that option to negotiate their existing job and as you can see here uh in this Statistics only 30 percent negotiated and I will tell you 20 years ago I myself was actually in that category I was in that 60 category and I did not make the ask it's because I felt I needed the job more than the company needed me I didn't know my value and I was going through and as I was going through my own Safari I began to do a bit more research to see am I the only one here who is on my own and didn't negotiate or are they others who are like me and I received several answers and I'll summarize it into these four categories which I think will resonate to many of you as I share this but please in the chat I'd like to see audience uh participation um so please keep the chat going the first one is I heard when I was asking individuals why they didn't negotiate and the first one was fear fear of what the employer will think is that reputation your reputation risk of um you know when you're being offered in fact I know here for a fact for those I've had conversations with some of them who have been impacted by the layoffs one of them uh came back and said well it's harder uh when you've been laid off because you fear that they'll offer the world to somebody else rather than you if you try to negotiate so that fear comes at very various different forms for some it's like I've just graduated and I don't have another alternative so there's fear I'll take whatever I've got first the second reason is imposter syndrome I've heard at many conferences and I'm glad to see that many individuals are starting to talk more openly about imposter syndrome and many of us at some point in our career have experienced this um and then the third reason I heard from individuals who were like me that didn't negotiate was the assumptions and it's the assumptions that you feel that you need to prove to the company first before you can make the ask I've heard from individuals sharing how organizations have that culture where even after you've proved your worth you could be in a situation where you'll need to aim for the sky before you're even supported to make the ask so there's always these assumptions that you have to prove first before you can make me ask and then lastly I've heard from so many who have shared that I just didn't think about it I didn't think about asking it I didn't know what my value is um I don't know what my worth is I want conversations from a few individuals who shared that Sheriff up from your journey have you had any of these objections applied to you um when you've been offered and may not have negotiated yes um definitely I know for almost every time that you know if I had a position I've had to go through everything you described so it starts with even though I wasn't maybe I didn't lose a job or I wasn't asked to go I have these Alpha at hand but everything is running through my mind so I'm thinking should I accept it is it good enough should I ask for more if I ask for more are they going to go to the next candidate so all of this happens in my mind and takes a conscious effort to say well you got it because you're worried ask for more if you want more so definitely I have gone through this um in the past and recently as well and it took that conscious effort talking to people and actually making a decision from an informed point of view for me to go ahead and ask for what I really wanted absolutely and exactly sure if that even for me I can sort of relate to the one which was the assumptions I've always been a top performer and when I was new in this country coming from the UK I just assume that performance would automatically get me that pay rise every year over year over year and I remember actually this was many years back and I questioned my employer um and I did actually make the ask because I assumed enough it wasn't happening so I made the ask and for me it was decline so please audience do share some of your experiences that I would love to hear now one thing as it when I did make the ask it was declined and I know as I reflect back as I fast forward you know 20 years plus when I reflect on this I realize I was not prepared for that meeting and how to position my value Sheriff you brought that a little bit earlier on when you mentioned that and in that scenario it led me and I do remember this clearly during that scenario when it was declined it actually led me to consider another offer from the competition and I actually left and that's when I was offered what I asked for but unfortunately you know within the existing organization it was too late because I did make the ask and this is what can happen over time as the employees can can leave but on that side you know it's both sides I look at myself I was not prepared when I made that ask back then and we've all seen research in statistics right there's always inequality in pay and the Gap gets even wider for you know women women of color um for lgbtq and of course all other underrepresented groups and one thing I'd like to share is change is taking place which is great but we need everyone involved in order to accelerate it um otherwise you know if we don't have everyone's commitment it just won't happen so we're going to address some of these obstacles that we talked about through the five W's which is why who where when and what and as you can see on the side there is this great statement I love this statement and every time I bring it back you know every other month I just bring it back just to re reflect and realize and it's that when you start seeing your worth you find it harder to stay around people who don't and it's so true so let's start off with why and the impact knowing your value can have Sheriff let's start off with what are your thoughts on on the first one which is why yeah absolutely is is important for for the very first reason that you need to have the knowledge of what you want what you what you're worth if you want to ask for more then you need to know your value right you need to know how much are you worth if you do not have a baseline for the discussion like you indicated at in your case for that offer in which you eventually left you would not be able to ask for what you want if you do not know your value then you can't you can't you can't negotiate you can ask yourself whatever comes to you you don't even know if you're you're getting the best or you're getting what is not what for you and it's it's it's it's it's very important and it's actually the first step you know your value and whatever you ask for if they are able to meet that then yes it's worth it if you're able to do more than what you've asked for then all good for you as well yeah what do you think Katie about why it's very important to know your value yeah when you're just about your value or your self-worth one big thing that I advise uh you know individuals is not just about your strengths it's about believing in yourself as well understanding your purpose and how work plays uh a role towards your personal values that are important to you the big thing is it's very important in believing in yourself for it because trust me you will notice along your journey Society May weigh you down people will sometimes value you value you less than what you really are it is human nature and we need to challenge that I actually went for a leadership training uh a few years back and this was in Boston and it was a self-assessment and I can tell you through my own experience it was a self-assessment for me and please audience and share this as well what your response is right if you've experienced that self-assessment where you have to rate yourself I can tell you I rated myself lower because that's what I was led to believe so please share share if any of you have had that self-assessment and if you've also uh rated yourself lower and one thing is when you know your self-worth and your value you can actually address all those obstacles fear um imposter syndrome uh assumptions and it will make it easier to make the ask and even though if we look at this everyone has a different approach we see things through a different lens right the one thing that sheriff as you mentioned is making that ask but always remember one thing is when you are off of that position for example you always have to remember that they have offered you that role because of what you're bringing to the organization and therefore just keep thinking believing in yourself there's also another example I'll talk about uh which is an article um a very interesting article is um it was from news and they explained it really well there was two candidates basically uh one individual who um I mean both individuals were offered hundred thousand and one individual had asked for seven percent more and it was granted now let's assume uh between both individuals the same Rises the same promotions are applied if you fast forward that and start calculating over a 35 year period the individual that started a hundred thousand would have had to work for eight more years to match individual two eight more years I know I've experienced in my own self when I was new in this country I just took whatever I could because I needed a job right I started off at a very low level it took me so many years to finally get uh to where I should be so this is just something it's a really interesting article it just gets you to reflect when I read that I was like oh my gosh yes that's true just looking at that um in my scenario definitely more at least a minimum of two more years of income I would have had by now uh if I had started off at a higher rate yeah you know as we were talking about the RT I think we should explain it a bit small for people to to get it so whatever you start off with as your base your increase is a percentage of your base your bonuses is a percentage of your base so look at that person you know if I said to five year period that person would have to walk eight more years eight more years to catch up with their peer just because they didn't ask for more and do you know that companies even expect you to ask for more a lot of companies expect you to ask for more so knowing your value is important it's important for you to get the best for you and I also want to look at it from an angle of also understanding what is it that you need to do to go to the next level what do I mean by that so you have done your research you've done your self-assessment you see where you are and you see the kind of opportunities in which you want to go for trying to understand your value can actually help you to see the difference and what you need to do to get to your next level so really knowing your value will also help in helping you grow and helping you get to that very next level I think we should go to the next one so who is responsible to correct the paga I love this question yes um we are all responsible whether you're an employee or an employer in my opinion it's we're all responsible now we shouldn't wait for legislation to happen or I've heard statements it's not my responsibility whether you're a hiring manager and if I mean if for those who are hiring managers put it that way if you see an unfair advantage in your team's pay be a voice as you are in a position to make that change if you're an employee you need to make that ask the sheriff that has mentioned several times make that ask but remember when you are making that ask do it in a way that matters and we're going to share a few tips I did see a question from Rebecca in the audience uh when we reached to where some resources that we're going to share we'll definitely share a few tips as well now I recently had a conversation uh back to who's responsible even your peers your colleagues your friends I had this conversation just literally two three weeks ago and I'd worked with him about 12 years ago and I was in the process of accepting an offer and he happened to be working at that organization and so I connected with him after several years and I wanted to know a little bit more about the organization organization's culture and when we connected the first thing he said was thank