The way in which you present your requests during salary negotiations has a dramatic impact on whether you get what you want from an employer. Be firm, but flexible, self-confident, but not arrogant or demanding, and sell your skills and knowledge in a way that appeals to the employer’s concern about the bottom line. Let me give you a few tips on how to negotiate your best salary yet:
1) During negotiations, be enthusiastic, polite and professional
Let the employer know by your tone of voice and your demeanor that your goal is a win-win solution. If you are too pushy or adopt a “take-it-or-leave-it” attitude, the employer may get the impression that you’re not that interested in the job and withdraw the offer.
2) Start high and work toward a middle ground
Ask for a little more than you think the employer wants to pay and then negotiate a middle ground between the employer’s first offer and your counter-proposal.
3) Be creative
Look beyond base salary for ways to boost your income. For example:
- Holiday days. If new employees must work for 6 to 12 months before receiving paid holidays, ask that this restriction be waived.
- Early salary review.
- Bonuses. In addition to requesting a sign-on bonus, you may be able to negotiate a performance bonus.
4) Continue selling yourself
As you negotiate, remind the employer how the company will benefit from your services. Let’s say, for example, that the employer balks at giving you $8,000 more in compensation. Explain how you will recoup that amount and more for the company. For instance:
“I realize you have a budget to worry about. However, remember that with the desktop publishing skills I bring to the position, you won’t have to hire outside vendors to produce our monthly customer newsletter and other publications. That alone should produce far more than $8,000 in savings a year.”
In other words, justify every additional $ or benefit you request. Remember to do so by focusing on the employer’s needs, not yours.
5) Ask a fair price
Be sure that your requests are reasonable and in line with the current marketplace.
If the salary offer is below market value, gently suggest that it’s in the company’s best interest to pay the going rate:
“The research that I’ve done indicates that the going rate for a position such as this is $5,000 higher than this offer. Although I’d really like to work for you, I can’t justify doing so for less than market value. I think if you reevaluate the position and consider its importance to your bottom line, you’ll agree that it’s worth paying market price to get someone who can really make an impact.”
6) Be a confident negotiator
Remember to use the confident body language and speech patterns. When you make a salary request, don’t go on and on, stating over the over again why it’s justified. Make your request and offer a short, simple explanation of why that amount is appropriate.
7) Let the employer win, too
It’s a smart negotiating strategy to ask for a few benefits or perks you don’t want that badly. Then you can ‘give in’ and agree to take the job without those added benefits it the employer meets all of your other requests.
Ideally, both parties in a negotiation should come away from the table feeling that they’ve won. This is especially true when you’re dealing with salary negotiations. You want employers to have good feelings about the price paid for your services so that your working relationship begins on a positive note.
Your Next Steps
For more tips on salary negotiation and to find out how the salary game is played in today’s market, you can download my FREE “You’re HIRED!” video course at http://www.YouAreHiredVideoCourse.com.
You’ll also learn how recruiters read resumes, why you are not getting hired and how to sell yourself successfully in a job interview.
If you’re looking for personal coaching where I will help you tailor your resume to specific jobs, as well as help you create a tailored master plan to help you get your dream job and promotion in the next few weeks, check out my Career Acceleration Plan and if you’re interested in discussing, please email me on Margaret@interview-coach.co.uk
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Margaret Buj is an Interview Coach who’s helped hundreds of professionals across Europe and the US to get the jobs and promotions they really wanted. Margaret also has 9 years of experience recruiting for a variety of positions at all levels across Europe and in the US, primarily in technology and e-commerce sectors. If you want to find out how recruiters read resumes, why you are not getting hired, how to sell yourself successfully in a job interview, and how to negotiate your best salary yet, you can download her FREE “You’re HIRED!” video course.
I understand if the reeirutcr asks about your last drawn salary but it’s annoying when they ask you what you expect for the New role. The truth is the reeirutcr already has a salary range in mind based on their deep knowledge of the role and market-based compensation for that role. And it’s silly to hire someone at significantly below market because they will find out soon after they start and then you’ve disenfranchised your new recruit – especially if they’re in sales. Recruiters need to be more direct with salary ranges to get better results. They are driving the process afterall.
Hi, thanks for commenting. It is important for a recruiter to find out salary expectations – not because we want to hire someone at the lowest possible salary at all but to avoid surprises at the offer stage.
When preparing offers, we always look at what other people on the team are on – it wouldn’t be fair for one person to earn much less than others, as sooner or later they’d find out about it anyway.
We don’t share salary ranges as we can never go to the maximum of the salary range anyway. Also, I wouldn’t recommend mentioning a specific amount anyway when someone asks you this question. You can give them a rough idea, as obviously you’d need to know more about the role, responsibilities etc.
Thanks for commenting again.
Kind regards
Margaret