OK! Let's have a show of hands. How many of you have actually tried to negotiate your salary when accepting a new job? Don't fib, tell the truth. Yep, just as I thought.
After many years in career development I can honestly say I have become somewhat of an expert on this, and my experience tells me that very few people actually try to negotiate.
Why mess up a good deal? After all, the employer has already explained he has offered you "top dollar." You need a job, and you need the income. So why do something to get the boss mad at you and give the job to somebody else when all you have to do is meekly accept what is offered and go home employed?
Fear is understandable. Desperation and the desire to be employed also are understandable. Yet, let me emphasize right now that neither of these should keep you from attaining your financial worth when accepting your next employment.
Keep in mind that the salary for most jobs is flexible. The most common systems have established ranges within which the employers hope to hire. And you can bet they want to keep your starting salary as low as possible within that range even though they might not offer the job at the lowest level.
Also, the lower the amount at which an individual is hired, the higher the annual increase generally will be. And in some cases, the lower the salary, the more frequent the salary reviews are likely to be. So from this perspective, there actually can be an advantage to accepting the lower figure.
The wise move, in any case, is to determine what range the employer is using in your particular case. If it meets your expectations and desires, go for it. But if the range is too far away from your expectations, be prepared to move on and put this one behind you, marked down as "Experience."
Successful negotiation of salary generally depends on your current employment circumstances. When you are already employed, you are negotiating from a position of strength. It is imperative that you maintain firm objectives. Discipline yourself to keep others (including family and friends) from discouraging you. Shoot for what you honestly believe your worth to be.
Conversely, if you are unemployed, soon to be unemployed or under some other form of pressure, you probably won't feel as secure. This will certainly affect the posture you assume in negotiating.
A few rules of thumb you should keep in mind:
- Set realistic goals, and sell quality instead of the lowest price.
- Don't volunteer expected salary numbers. Or, if you feel it is necessary, quote the high end of your expected range. Better yet, avoid this area until you have an offer in hand.
- When you do receive an offer, no matter how exciting it might be, do not accept it on the spot. Suggest you will need to sleep on it.
- Go home and weigh the pros and cons of the position and company. From a financial standpoint, calculate what the increase in salary means in terms of additional revenue on a weekly or monthly basis. This puts things on a more realistic basis.
- Get back to the employer and attempt to negotiate a better financial package.
Your most difficult decision might involve evaluating comparable offers. For the new college graduate or first-time job seeker, the decision should be to rank future opportunity over starting salary.
For the senior-management type, it might be useful to write down and evaluate all the pros and cons of comparative offers. It would be nice if the position with the highest salary was also the position with the greatest growth potential. But you can't count on that always happening.
When the time comes to actually accept the position, give a verbal acceptance and then follow up with a written version. Be sure in each case to restate the terms under which you agree to accept. The employer should do the same.
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