Negotiating Your Salary: 11 Tips to Do It Productively!
Negotiating is never easy. It surely effects your salary in hand but also tells the recruiter about your negotiating skills. This could be one of the skills that you might need once you are hired.
Negotiating salary does not come naturally. You might not be able negotiate well at your first job, but with time as you grow, your skills improve. Most of the job seekers are not comfortable bargaining, but if you do not learn this art, you will not gain.
Whether you are at your first job interview or changing a career mid-life, negotiation is important.
Here are steps that can successfully lead you to a better negotiation.
#1 Find Out Your Worth
If you desire to get the pay you deserve, you will first have to research and find out the ongoing rate for the industry you are going to work in. This also limits you to the place of your work. If you have no idea about the industry rates for a specific position you are applying to, you are giving the charge to the recruiter completely.
#2 Ask the Recruiters
Another way of doing a successful job, talk to the recruiters. The recruiters have the right knowledge with what your experience and expertise are worth in this market. So, the next time you get a call from a recruiter engage him/her in a conversation and find out a number. Even if you don’t get a specific number, a range works well.
#3 Select the Top of the Range
When you are researching your numbers, you are most likely to find a range that depicts the market value for the position. It is human to select a value that lies in the middle of the range, but it is always better if you pick a number from the higher range. Negotiation is a two way process and hence when you are in the discussion, the recruiter will automatically bring the value down. Hence, choose a higher number.
#4 Decide a “Walk Away Point”
When you are talking about salary negotiation or numbers you should always decide on a point below which you would not accept the offer. The point can be based on your market value, financial need or simply just your decision. Remember walking away from an offer can never be easy but it is necessary.
#5 Are You Ready?
It is necessary that before you go out and ask a raise, you should ask yourself some questions. Questions like, have you spent a year at your job? Have you been meeting expectations or exceeding them? It is like self-assessing yourself.
Next, get ready to start the conversation.
#6 Gear Up for the Conversation
Before you start with the conversation, build up your conversation. You can use a mirror for the same. Stand in front of the mirror, with your chin and chest raised. This reduces stress and increases your confidence.
#7 Flaunt Confidence in Your Walk
The way you enter the room of the interviewer decides how your rest of the conversation goes. Keep your head high when you walk inside the room. Try and start things on a positive note.
#8 Begin with Questions
The conversation about salary negotiation by putting forward questions that let you understand more about the needs of others. Understanding prioritises would help you offer a better solution that will help them. Hence, you will be at an edge and would be able to negotiate well.
#9 Show them Your Best
Before you start the conversation about numbers, keep your focus on what you have done or rather what you can do. Make them believe that you are the best suitable candidate and have almost every solution to any problem.
#10 Talk about the Future, Keep the Past Away
It is common to see job seekers talk about their current salary. This can be a trick situation for you especially if you are underpaid at your current position. But if you have to talk about your current salary, it is a bad idea to lie about it. Give your current number than includes bonuses, benefits and other similar things and then cleverly move the topic to what numbers are you expecting and why are they justified. Explain your market value and how you wish to grow.
#11 Stay Positive
Even though the conversation about negotiation are scary, you should learn to keep your calm and keep things going on a positive note.
In the End
You can have a successful negotiation talk when you have problem solving conversation with your recruiter. For that you have to put yourself on your boss’s side of the table and make yourself an important resource that can help overcome your organization’s problems. Doing this you are not only fulfilling the needs of the employer but giving yourself a stronger position for the remuneration talk.
Posts
