Career Advice

Negotiating Salaries

After you have landed the interview, wowed them with your experience and captivated them with your sparkling personality, the one part of accepting a new job offer that makes most people cringe begins – negotiating your salary. Let's face it; the mere thought of bargaining intimidates a lot of people. Perhaps you don't want to appear too pushy or better yet, maybe you don't quite know and own what you're worth.

Whether you receive a job offer on the spot or by a formal offer letter, knowing your worth, relative to your industry, the job market, experience and training, is the first step to successfully negotiating the salary and benefits you are seeking. Plus, negotiating demonstrates a skill to your future employer that will be valuable in the future. So, how and where do you begin? Here are a few tips to help you develop your negotiating skills.

Know your Worth – Finding the Typical Salary for the Position you want

Of course your worth is most notably tied to your experience, skills and education but it is also tied to several other factors you may not have thought of such as your geographic location, the state of the job market, cost of living and company size. Keeping these factors in mind, you'll be worth more for example, in New York City than you may be in Scranton, Pa. There are many sources that benchmark salaries by industry, geographic location, skill and experience to generate an average for the job you are seeking and most are very good. One very comprehensive and easy to use website is offered by The National Association of Colleges and Employers and is a kind of one-stop-shop for career research, calculating salary and professional development to help jump-start your research.

Follow the Girl Scout Motto – Be Prepared… to Negotiate

Yes, negotiating is uncomfortable. So much so for some people that they may undercut themselves just to get that part of the exercise over with. Stop, take a deep breath and put on your bargaining cap. So, who's up first at bat? You or the hiring manager?

You may be perspiring buckets but this is the time to let your future employer swing first. If you are asked what salary you are looking for during the interview phase, pause and let the hiring manager know your requirements are open based on the position and compensation package. Or, better yet, tell him you'd like to know more about the position before discussing salary. If you receive an offer on the spot, let him start the salary conversation.

If you've gotten an offer letter, even better, after your excitement has subsided you'll have time to mull the offer over without feeling rushed. You'll be able to take some time – but not too much – to develop your counter offer which includes any benefits as well. Once a number is in play, this is where your negotiation skills kick in full gear.

Negotiating Styles – Competitive or Win-Win

One common negotiating style is the Competitive Winner-Takes-All Approach. This is when the hiring manager starts low and you counter with a higher number and you both arrive at a number somewhere in the middle. For example, a hiring manager may offer the lowest salary (minus other compensation) the company will pay for the position you want – $35k. Since you've now done your research and are confident about your value, you know that the average salary is $45k. You both negotiate and meet mid-way at $40K.

Another negotiating style is the Everybody Wins Approach developed by Dr. Gerard Nierenberg, author of The New Art of Negotiating: How to Close Any Deal and How to Read a Person Like a Book. This is when you and the hiring manager both benefit from the negotiation process. For example, you inform the hiring manager that you earn $42k at your current job but over time also developed skills that are worth a pay increase to $50k. The win-win? You benefit in compensation and he in additional skill sets he may not have expected. The hiring manager now has a clear understanding of what you are currently compensated and what you feel your skills are worth. This information will allow him to work within that salary range to arrive at an offer you both will benefit from.

What if the Salary Offer isn't Negotiable?

You may encounter a situation where the hiring manager makes an offer that is set in stone. That's ok. Presuming the offer is at least about or more than you are currently compensated and there other factors such as career growth and professional development that make the offer attractive, you still have room for negotiating non-salary benefits. Don't forget that perks such as Health Insurance, Retirement Plans, Stocks, Flextime, Working from home, Employer-paid Child Care, Vacation and Holiday time are negotiable. While you may not see a jump in annual income, if you successfully negotiate perks like working from home or employer-paid child care, you could offset your earnings by the money you save on gas and auto upkeep or paying for daycare yourself making your overall compensation package a win-win for you and your future employer.

At the end of the day, negotiating salaries are a part of a successful job search. By putting the tips in this article into practice, you'll be able to negotiate a more alluring salary and compensation package with your new company.

Of course this article is devoted to the art of negotiating salaries but we also discuss such job search essentials as 10 Resume Dont's, How to Write a Resume, How to Write a Cover Letter, and Negotiating Salaries as a part of this series brought to you by PCDI.

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