What you can learn from TikTok and Instagram salary videos
Hannah Williams from Salary Transparent Street.
Photo credit: Brandon Showers Photography
In street interviews like Williams’ – which can go viral on social media – YouTubers typically ask someone they pass on the street about their position and salary. This is often followed by questions about how the interviewee got started in their field, their general career history, and the advantages and disadvantages of the job.
Another typical question: “How much do you earn?”
Williams, who has traveled across the U.S. interviewing people in cities big and small, said CNBC what she does is a dream.”
“It’s this great mix of so much on-the-job learning, but also being able to control what I share and have so many voices heard,” she said.
Some of the valuable lessons Williams has learned in his career include pursuing new opportunities and the importance of self-advocacy.
When watching these videos, remember that there may be valuable details, but you should take the information disclosed with caution.
Use pay transparency to negotiate a raise
Daniella Atkinson
Courtesy of Daniella Atkinson
While working at The Market Herald in Vancouver, Canada, As a reporter and anchor, Daniella Atkinson quickly gained a following on social media by conducting street interviews and asking people what they do for a living. She now has 94,300 followers Tick tock and 116,000 followers on her Instagram.
“I realized that other people were just as curious as I was,” Atkinson said. “And other people are just as curious and want to learn just as much as I am.”
Atkinson has received messages from viewers saying she encouraged them to negotiate a higher wage for themselves. She said promoting pay transparency also helped her discover her and other female journalists in her newsroom received less pay than a male colleague. At this point she left the company.
Understanding typical salary can be an important part of salary negotiation if you’re job hunting or hoping for a raise.
TikTok salary Videos can Be informative for viewers, especially students in high school or college, from It shows a reasonable salary range and what it’s like to have a job, he said Elizabeth Lyons, an associate professor of management at the University of California, San Diego, who has studied pay transparency and the gender pay gap.
Lyons said she appreciated how respondents talked about salary, but also the non-financial benefits of a job, such as flexible hours and the opportunity to help others.
“This is not a representative sample”
Still, Lyons pointed out that salary videos shouldn’t be taken at face value. Important information such as the name of the respondent’s employer is often missing to protect their privacy. However, different employers can offer drastically different salaries, even within the same industry.
According to Lyons, the answers can also be biased. For example, someone who is dissatisfied with their job may not want to accept an interview request. Likewise, an interviewee is unlikely to reveal the worst aspects of their job if they believe there is a chance their boss will see the video while scrolling through the For You page. It’s also possible for people to lie about their salary.
“I think it’s important for viewers to remember that this is not a representative sample of people with job titles,” Lyons said. “These are people who are willing to be there.”
For those who don’t feel comfortable being interviewed on camera, Williams created one Salary database Here, workers can anonymously enter salary, position and location, among other factors, and see what other people are making. Sites like Glassdoor and Payscale also display salary data.
“There are ways to be transparent and still protect yourself,” Williams said. “You don’t have to be on Salary Transparent Street to improve pay transparency.”
