Negotiating salary can be
one of the more difficult aspects of your job search and during
your career as a whole.
Solid salary negotiation skills benefit
you long term and not only when you are negotiating salary.
Myth: Employers don’t like potential
staff who negotiate salary and try to get more money than
what the employer initially offers.
Reality: Negotiating salary (and other
aspects of the job offer) is a fact of life and evidence of
strong negotiating skills during the job offer process might
help to increase your value in the eyes of the employer. A
smart employer recognizes your solid negotiating skills.
If you were applying for a job where
negotiation was part of the position but during the job offer
process you simply accepted the first offer put in front of
you, what does that say about your negotiating skills?
Do you think the employer be comfortable
with you negotiating on their behalf in the future?
Being adept at negotiating salary is something
that can actually increase your worth in the eyes of a potential
employer because it shows you are savvy and know your worth.
As long as you know your worth, that is.
Here are some tips for negotiating salary,
beginning with getting the facts on paper and understanding
your worth to an employer:
1. Do research and have factual salary
information at your fingertips that correlates to your job
that you can use during the salary negotiation process. Check
salary surveys and reviews for your industry and job. A few
Internet searches should yield some indicative figures you
can use. Trade or industry organizations should be able to
provide assistance as well.
2. Make sure you fully understand the
compensation structure of the job and fully understand all
aspects of the offer before trying to negotiate it.
3. Don’t lie about your current
salary to a potential employer. If they find out you lied
even after you’ve been hired, it could be a firing offence.
4. Don’t bring up the issue of salary
and how much you are looking for, let the employer do this.
Don’t evade the question if it comes up but it’s
usually best to first stress your interest in the job and
to let the employer know that you are aware of the salary
range and will consider their strongest offer if and when
an offer is made. The longer salary negotiation is delayed,
the better especially if by the time the issue of salary negotiation
comes up, there are fewer candidates being considered for
the job.
5. Don’t assume negotiating salary
has to occur immediately after receiving the job offer. Depending
on how you receive the offer – is it emailed to you,
is it delivered in person – you will typically be told
by the employer when they need the offer returned and how
much time you have to review the offer. If you are “forced”
to make a decision to accept or reject a job offer on the
spot, I’d question whether or not you really want to
work for such a company. This is unusual in my experience.
6. Make sure you get all the pertinent
aspects of the job offer – salary, bonus structure,
benefits, vacation time, etc as well as any negotiated parts
– in writing. A job offer is not a job offer until you
get a final copy in writing for you to sign.
7. When negotiating salary, remember to
state an amount you would actually be happy with. Don’t
say it if you don’t mean it. It’s hard to ask
for a certain salary and then later on in the negotiations
suddenly ask for a higher amount. I wouldn’t state a
salary range either because the employer could simply pick
the salary number at the low end of the range when you’re
actually looking for the high end.
8. Once you make the deal, live with the
deal. Once the salary negotiation has been completed and agreed
upon by both sides, don’t try to go back and re-negotiate.
I’ve seen job offers pulled away from people by employers
when a candidate tries to amend the offer after it was agreed
upon earlier.
9. Try where possible to negotiate in
a way you feel comfortable with. These days, email is an acceptable
medium and if the job offer was emailed to me, I’d expect
that I could email the employer to suggest specific aspects
of the job offer I’d like negotiated or if I needed
part of the offer clarified. If you prefer salary negotiation
that is done face-to-face, relax and just ensure you have
done your homework to ensure successful negotiation on your
part.
The bottom line with negotiating salary
is that you need to do your research, understand your value
and also understand when to end negotiations. There has to
be a happy medium: a job offer that you and the employer can
both live with.
At some point the negotiating has to end.
A good salary negotiation ends with both sides feeling like
they won.
Don’t forget that negotiating salary
isn’t the only part of a job offer that can be reviewed.
Depending on the specific job, here are some other aspects
of the job offer you might be able to negotiate especially
if the employer is unwilling to discuss negotiating salary:
Early salary review
Signing bonus
Bonus (size of bonus, structure of bonus, etc)
Vacation time
Start date
Job title
Job responsibilities
Benefits (or possibly, how quickly your benefit coverage will
start)
Other benefits (ie. you might get your employer to agree to
a personal training budget, travel costs, etc)
Carl Mueller is an Internet
entrepreneur and professional recruiter who wants to help
you find
your dream career.
Visit Carl's website to separate yourself
from other job searchers: http://www.find-your-dream-career.com
Sign up for The Effective Career Planner,
Carl’s free 5-day course: http://www.find-your-dream-career.com/effective-career-planner.html
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