The Number She Was Afraid to Say

“₦180,000.”

Mira stared at the number on her phone as if it had personally insulted her. It was the salary figure the recruiter had just mentioned over the phone, and for three full seconds she forgot how to breathe.

“Is that okay for you?” the recruiter asked.

Mira looked around her tiny bedroom. Her old laptop sat on the bed beside her, one corner held together with tape. Her CV was open on the screen, and underneath the impressive-looking list of skills was a painfully honest fact: she had never worked in a real company before.

“Yes,” she almost said.

The word was already climbing toward her mouth when she remembered the advice her older brother had given her the night before.

“If they ask what you want, don’t say anything until you understand what they’re offering.”

So instead, Mira swallowed and said, “Can I ask a few questions about the role and the full compensation package before I give you an answer?”

There was a pause.

“Of course.”

Mira had no idea what she was doing.

Three weeks earlier, she had been unemployed and spending her mornings applying for jobs while pretending she wasn’t refreshing her email every twelve minutes. She had completed several online courses in digital marketing, built sample campaigns for imaginary businesses, and helped her cousin manage the Instagram page for her small clothing business. She had no corporate experience, no impressive job title, and no previous salary to use as evidence.

But somehow, she had made it through three interviews for a marketing assistant position at a growing media company.

She had also made one dangerous discovery during the interviews.

They liked her.

Not politely. Not in the “We’ll get back to you” way companies liked to reject people. The marketing manager had spent almost an hour showing her their current campaigns and asking how she would improve them. During the final interview, the company’s founder had laughed at one of her ideas and then written it down.

Still, Mira had convinced herself that because she was a beginner, she had to accept whatever number they offered.

That evening, she called her friend Tolu.

“They offered me ₦180,000.”

“Congratulations!”

“Don’t congratulate me yet. I haven’t accepted.”

“Why?”

“Because I think it’s low.”

Tolu laughed. “You? The same person who almost apologized to a waiter because he brought you the wrong food?”

“That was different.”

“You literally said, ‘Sorry for disturbing you.’”

Mira ignored her. “I don’t have experience. What if I ask for more and they withdraw the offer?”

Tolu became quiet. “Then don’t negotiate like you’re entitled to money. Negotiate like you’re trying to find a deal that makes sense for both sides.”

That sentence stayed with Mira.

The next morning, she wrote down everything she could bring to the company. She had experience creating content calendars. She understood short-form video trends. She could use Canva, basic analytics tools, and social media scheduling platforms. She had grown her cousin’s page from almost nothing to a small but active audience. She had even noticed that the company’s social media pages were posting inconsistently.

She wasn’t an expert.

But she wasn’t empty-handed either.

Mira called the recruiter back.

“Thank you again for the offer,” she began. “I’m genuinely excited about the role. I wanted to ask whether there’s flexibility in the compensation.”

“There may be some flexibility,” the recruiter said. “What did you have in mind?”

Mira’s palms became sweaty.

This was the moment.

She remembered all the advice she’d read online. Know your value. Be confident. Don’t undersell yourself.

None of those sentences helped when an actual human being was waiting for her answer.

“I’m hoping we could discuss something closer to ₦250,000.”

Silence.

Mira immediately regretted being born.

Then the recruiter said, “That’s quite a jump from the initial offer.”

“I understand,” Mira replied. “I’m still early in my career, so I’m not presenting myself as an expert. But based on what we discussed during the interviews, I believe I can take on more than basic assistant duties. I’m particularly interested in helping with content planning and campaign reporting. If those responsibilities are part of the role, I’d like the compensation to reflect them.”

Another pause.

“Would you be open to ₦220,000?”

Mira nearly shouted yes.

Instead, she asked, “Would that include the transportation allowance we discussed?”

The recruiter laughed.

“You’ve done your homework.”

“A little.”

“Let me see what I can do.”

Two hours later, the offer came.

₦220,000 monthly, transportation allowance, and a salary review after six months based on performance.

Mira read the email three times.

It wasn’t the ₦250,000 she had requested. It wasn’t a dramatic victory. Nobody had thrown confetti. She hadn’t suddenly become a high-powered executive.

She was simply a first-time recruit who had negotiated her first salary.

Six months later, during her performance review, her manager reminded her of something.

“You know what impressed me during your interview?”

Mira smiled nervously. “My portfolio?”

“No. You asked questions.”

Her manager explained that many applicants had simply accepted the first number mentioned. Mira had asked what the job actually involved, what success would look like, and whether the compensation reflected those responsibilities.

“You weren’t the most experienced candidate,” her manager said. “But you understood that a job is a deal. Both sides have to see the value.”

On her way home that evening, Mira remembered the ₦180,000 offer.

She realized she hadn’t been foolish to consider accepting it.

She had simply been inexperienced.

And there was a difference.

Being new to a profession did not mean she had to be silent. Being an amateur did not mean she had no skills. And negotiating did not require pretending to be more qualified than she was.

Sometimes, it simply required knowing what you could genuinely contribute and having the courage to ask whether the offer matched it.

Lesson

You don’t need ten years of experience to negotiate a better deal. You need to understand what you can genuinely offer, ask thoughtful questions, and be willing to discuss the terms instead of automatically accepting the first number placed in front of you. Your first job may not give you much bargaining power, but being inexperienced is not the same as being worthless. Sometimes the biggest improvement in your financial life begins with one uncomfortable sentence: “Is there flexibility in this offer?”