首先报告大家一个好消息：如果你觉得读一个MBA学位可以带来更好的工作和更高的薪水，那么恭喜你答对了。美国有一家名叫福特基金会的非营利机构，该机构针对2005年至2017年之间获得商学学位的900名毕业生进行了研究，发现在取得商学学位后，这些毕业生的总薪酬平均增长了60%以上，不管他们是男人、女人、白人、黑人、西班牙移民还是印地安人。不过令人失望的是，对于MBA毕业生来说，薪酬的性别差异不仅是存在的，而且还在越拉越大。

据统计，女性经理人在就读MBA前最后一份工作的平均薪水要比同等资历的男性经理人低3%左右。然而在读取了MBA学位后，这个差距就拉大到了28%。换言之，女性经理人每年要比男性经理人少赚5.9万美元的年薪。其中又以少数族裔女性高管的薪酬最低，大约要比“非少数族裔”的男性低52%，也就是7.7万美元。

福特基金会的CEO艾丽莎·桑斯特表示，这些数据给有些公司敲响了警钟。“有些大公司在密切关注高潜力人才的同酬问题上做得很好，以确保这些人才在职业生涯的每一步都能获得合理报酬。但还有很多雇主根本没有这样做，他们正面临着失去高价值女性人才的风险。”

作为一位女性经理人，指望雇主自己发善心给你加薪，那怕是要等到天荒地老了。有40%的受访女性MBA毕业生表示，她们知道自己遭遇过或者正在遭遇不平等的薪酬待遇，然而她们对此的反应无疑会让很多男性同事感到困惑——她们最惯常的两种反应是：“我没有也不打算采取任何举动”和“我离开了那家公司”。

那么，女人为什么不能像男人一样跟公司谈薪水呢？这是个好问题，但是答案很复杂。首先，在决定是否要辞去一份工作时，女人更喜欢考虑薪酬以外的因素，比如工作的灵活性、工作地点、她们是否喜欢这项工作、是否喜欢工作中遇到的同事等等。桑斯特指出：“至于是不是值得待在一家公司工作，薪水只是女人考虑的因素之一，而男人更喜欢用钱来衡量成功。”

另一个令人更加不安的事实是，即便女性经理人提出加薪要求，她们也不太可能成功。根据Glassdoor公司2016年的一项研究，男性经理人谈加薪的成功率是女性经理人的三倍。卡洛·弗洛林格表示：“社会对女性的刻板偏见让我们无法接受。大家都认为，女性就应该体量别人，而不应该为自己要求什么。”接着她又表示，谴责大男子主义很容易，“但研究表明，即使女性经理人要求了加薪，大多情况下她们也不会得到加薪。”

弗洛林格是一名律师，她经营着一家名叫Negotiating Women的职业辅导和咨询公司，这家公司主要与大客户合作，为女性人才提供职业发展。她表示：“女性确实需要在薪酬问题上更加自信”，但是，“如何提出这个问题也是至关重要的。”她建议女性经理人在谈加薪时，可以采取以下三个步骤：

1. 提前计划。弗洛林格表示：“这就好比制定你的缴税策略一样。你应该全年都想着这件事，而不是等到12月31日才想：‘我今年本来应该怎么做来着？’”你可以每周或每月总结你的成绩，以免疏漏，同时尽量量化你的工作成果。对于急难险重任务和重点项目要敢于主动请缨，并且要详细记录项目进展。在这个过程中，也要尽可能多地获取反馈。弗罗林格表示：“这对女性来说至关重要。研究表明，女性得到的反馈一般远远少于男性。但是如果你不知道问题出在哪里，就无法解决它。”你可以向同事和上级征询具体意见建议。

2.了解你的市场价值。去一些求职网站（如Salary.com、Payscale.com和Glassdoor等）看看你的岗位在其他公司值多少钱。“如果你是一个苹果，你就得跟其他的苹果比。”弗洛林格表示：“为了得到尽可能准确的数据，你还要综合考虑岗位、经验、行业、公司规模和地理位置等因素。有了这些信息，你就可以跟公司开始谈判了。你可以这样开口：‘我这个岗位的市场价值是X元，我认为我值这么多钱，原因如下……’接着你就可以介绍你的工作成绩了。”换句话说，也就是从去年开始（或者从上一次薪资评估起）你记录下来的主要工作成绩。“这种客观的方式，使你们的讨论弱化了人的主观因素，跟其他商业提议没有什么区别。这样就不会让别人产生反感。”

3. 让对话围绕“我们”展开。弗洛林格建议，你应该直接与你的老板谈，而不是跟人力资源部门的任何人谈，理由也很简单：“你的直接上级是最了解你工作的人，而且他最希望你继续在现在的岗位上做这件事。”你肯定不想让这场谈判变得充满对抗性。所以这次谈话的基调应该是：“我们怎样才能让我的薪酬尽量接近我的市场价值？”重点在于“我们”二字。弗洛林格表示：“即便公司本来没有大幅加薪的预算，如果你的老板希望把你留下来，他也会给你一些其他福利，让你进一步在公司施展抱负。“比如有些培训能让你进入一个全新的领域，让你拥有不同的薪水构成。”另外，你也可以自己给出一些建议，告诉老板哪些福利可以让你产生跟加薪类似的幸福感。有了这些建议，“你的老板更有可能答应你的要求。”（财富中文网）

本文作者安妮·费希尔是一位职业专家和咨询专栏作家，她也是《财富》杂志关于２１世纪工作和生活指南“Work It Out”专栏的主笔。

译者：朴成奎

First, the good news: If you thought getting an MBA would lead to a bigger job and a higher salary, you were right. A study from the nonprofit Forte Foundation, based on a survey of 900 U.S. executives who earned graduate business degrees between 2005 and 2017, found that the credential boosted total compensation by an average of more than 60% across all demographics—men, women, and minorities (black, Hispanic, or Native American) of both sexes. Now, the more discouraging news: The infamous gender pay gap not only persists post-MBA, it gets bigger.

Women leaders reported salaries in their last pre-MBA job that were 3% lower than their male peers’. In their current roles, though, female MBAs earn 28% less. The study notes that gap represents, on average, almost $59,000 in annual pay. Minority women executives fare worst of all, with salaries that are 52%, or about $77,000, less than “non-minority” men’s.

The figures are “a wake-up call” to companies who need to try harder to close the gap, says Elissa Sangster, the Forte Foundation’s CEO. “Some big companies already do an amazing job of closely tracking and comparing their high-potential people throughout their careers, to make sure they’re compensated appropriately at each step. But many employers are still not doing this at all, and they risk losing highly skilled female talent.”

Depending on where you work, hoping your employer will get around to addressing the pay gap might feel like the corporate version of Waiting for Godot. Although About 40% of women MBAs in the survey said they were aware of being underpaid, either right now or in a previous job, they most often reported reactions that would no doubt baffle their male counterparts. The top two: “I have not taken action and do not intend to” and “I left the company.”

Why not try negotiating for more money, the same way men do? It’s a good question, with a complicated answer. For one thing, in deciding whether or not to leave a job, women seem more likely to take into account factors other than pay, including how flexible a job is, where it’s located, and how much they enjoy what they do and the people they do it with. “Women tend to see compensation as just one component of their worth to an organization, and their job satisfaction,” observes Sangster. By contrast, “men are more likely to measure success in dollars.”

Maybe, but there’s another, more uncomfortable reality at work here, too. Even when women do ask for more money, they’re much less likely to get it. According to a 2016 Glassdoor analysis, men come out winners three times as often as women do. “Social stereotypes about women make it unacceptable for us. We’re supposed to be taking care of others, not asking for anything for ourselves,” says Carol Frohlinger. She adds that blaming male chauvinism is too easy: “Research shows that women most often don’t get raises even when requesting them from other women.”

Frohlinger is an attorney who runs a coaching and consulting firm, Negotiating Women, that works with big clients on developing female talent. “Women do need to get more assertive” about pay, Frohlinger says, but “how you approach the subject is crucial.” She recommends these three steps:

1. Plan ahead. “It’s like strategizing about your taxes,” says Frohlinger. “You think about it all year ’round, rather than waiting until December 31 and then thinking, ‘Hm, what should I have done?'” Keep a journal of your accomplishments and add to it weekly or monthly, so nothing gets overlooked or forgotten, and quantify your results whenever possible. Go after “stretch” assignments and high-profile projects when they pop up, and note in detail how they turn out. Along the way, get as much feedback as you can. “This is essential for women,” Frohlinger notes. “Studies show that women get far less feedback than men. But, if you don’t know what’s broken, you can’t fix it.” Ask peers and higher-ups for specific critiques.

2. Know your market value. Go to sites like Salary.com, Payscale.com, and Glassdoor to check out what what your role pays in other companies. “Be sure to compare apples with apples,” says Frohlinger. “To get as accurate a figure as possible, you need to look at title, experience, industry, company size, and geographic location.” With that information in hand, you can start negotiating by pointing out, “‘The market value of my position right now is X. I think I’m worth that much, and here’s why’,” Frohlinger notes. “From there, it’s a matter of selling your accomplishments”—which you’ve already written down throughout the past year (or however long it’s been since your last salary review). “This factual approach depersonalizes the discussion, so it’s like any other business proposition,” she says. “It doesn’t put people off.”

3. Make the conversation about “us”. Frohlinger advises bargaining with your boss, rather than with anyone in human resources, for the common-sense reason that “the person you report to directly is the one who knows your work best, and who presumably wants you to keep doing it.” The last thing you want is for this meeting to turn adversarial. “You’re on the same side,” says Frohlinger. The tone to aim for is, “How can we get my total compensation as close as possible to my market value?”—emphasis on “we.” Even if a substantial salary bump just isn’t in the budget right now, a boss who wants you to stick around “can usually find other goodies to enhance your career looking forward,” Frohlinger says. “Some kinds of training, for example, can put you into a whole new category, with different salary bands.” You might even go into the discussion with a few suggestions of your own about things that would satisfy you as much, or nearly as much, as a big raise. By bringing those ideas to the table, “you can help make it easy for your boss to say ‘yes’.”

Anne Fisher is a career expert and advice columnist who writes “Work It Out,” Fortune’s guide to working and living in the 21st century.