Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Salary Negotiation: Make More Money, Be More Valued
Kalzumeus Software: Imagine something a wee bit outside your comfort zone. Nothing scandalous: just something you don’t do often, don’t particularly enjoy, and slightly more challenging than “totally trivial.” Maybe reciting poetry while simultaneously standing on one foot. If I told you I would pay you a hundred thousand dollars if you did five minutes of poetry recital while standing on one foot, would you do it? It’s an absurd image, but play it straight. There is no hidden gotcha here. You won’t be videotaped. Your friends will never see you make a fool of yourself. The revolution will not be YouTubed. The offer is exactly as simple as you think it is: poetry, foot, $100,000. Would you read poetry for me?
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2 comments:
Wow, that was thorough, and, while salary negotiations may not be an imminent concern of mine, it was a very comprehensive discussion about what the process is. It reminded me a lot of my babysitting days (which are still alive in well fyi), when the conversation would inevitably turn to "so, what's the going rate for a babysitter these days?" A thing I got quite good at was not feeling bad about talking money with my employers, and I also, by the time I was about 15 had some quick factors that played a part in my decision (where they live, age of child, time of day, number of kids, brat or angel, etc.). It's intriguing and rather hilarious that the process of salary negotiations is so similar!
Another advocate of the "it never hurts to ask strategy"... this isn't that relevant to freelancing gigs or union gigs, since the former is less about a long term relationship and the latter tends to use the minimum rate. The major thing takeaway is that if you respect the value of your labor, the employer is more likely to respect the value of your labor.
The point about negotiating more generous vacation days and benefits if dollars are not flexible is another useful one of which I had not thought, and would certainly be useful in a situation where somebody in our industry wanted to have a full time job while maintaining a freelance career.
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