“This is an opportunity to make thousands of dollars within a few minutes, you have to take advantage,” says Jim Hopkinson author of Salary Tutor: Learn the Salary Negotiation Secrets No One Ever Taught You. Come prepared, he says, and you put yourself leaps and bounds ahead of other candidates.
5 comments:
The negotiation process has always been a problem for me and I like the emphasis on the fact that salary is not the only negotiation point. The large thing that I had not considered is asking for an accelerated promotion schedule. This summer I was working with someone who had gotten that instead of a larger salary and now he is up for tenure two years earlier than he would have been. Now he will get a swing at having job security and a raise earlier which will more than make up for the lower starting salary. One part of this that I think I am doing well with is that I have been searching the job postings while I am at school and keeping in touch with friends and colleagues who are getting jobs in the field to keep my numbers current. The salary consideration also needs to have region and cost of living added to the mix because California universities are paying significantly more but the cost of living is also significantly more. Another thing that was brought to my attention that is not mentioned in the article was by a friend of mine who is an educator and works for a public university and is required to be part of the teachers union. Required collective bargaining may help or hurt and should be part of your research into how effective that collective bargaining entity has been in the past. The final part of this that is not mentioned is to investigate what personal capital you have with people at the company that can be leveraged.
I found this article very useful, particularly because it pointed out that there are other elements to bring to the table besides salary (such as vacation days). The article also does a service to its readers by providing acceptable language and phrasing that is useful to bring to the negotiation conversation. I think Luke brings up an excellent point regarding cost of living and required collective bargaining. Sometimes, the advantage of joining a union is letting the union work for you. This is where actors have a slight advantage over us, in that frequently, agents are part of this negotiation. I think also something to keep in mind when it comes to salary negotiation is a benefits package: 401K, health insurance, stock options. He didn't really mention these things, but when I was about to take a job with Barbizon Lighting, this was definitely part of the conversation.
The idea of salary negotiation terrifies me for several reasons. Firstly, I don't enjoy confrontation. This is not to say that salary negotiation is a confrontation in itself, but that it does seem there is a lot of potential for confrontation to arise within the negotiation. I also tend to give way to the middle ground instead of sticking to my guns to get exactly what I want. It becomes a game of, "I COULD live with this," rather than, "This is what I want to live with." I've not yet been at a place in my life where I've encountered the need to negotiate a salary, but I'm sure the time will come sooner or later. When it does I will have to remind myself that if they really want me I should be able to come out with close to what I came in desiring.
I agree with Kassondra. It can be really hard to assert yourself in this way and ask for more, especially with people who you work with. It's in your interest to have these people like you, but you have to remember that it's equally important to stand up for yourself and what you know you need/deserve. You are valuable to the company, otherwise they wouldn't have kept you around, and one wrong move won't make them lose faith in you. I appreciated the emphasis the article put on this, and when I find myself negotiating job offers in the future, ill keep in mind what I should and shouldn't say, and remember that I don't always have to settle.
I'm so glad that this article exists! The thought of having to do this in the relative near future is pretty scary for me. I am absolutely bookmarking this page so that I can come back to it when I need to. I didn't quite realize what an impact providing a range (instead of an exact number) could have. Also, I never really thought about how there may be back-door ways to get more out of your employer via vacation days, bonuses, and other perks that are provided via different funding sources from within the company. I love the idea of asking about being able to go to conferences and events on company money/company time as part of your salary. Just because this isn't coming to you in the form of money direct-deposited in your account doesn't mean that it isn't a form of payment; it means you can pocket the money you would have spent on that opportunity. I agree with Luke that one thing that was missing from this article was that way that location and cost-of-living should play a role in salary determination. Aside from that, though, I find this article to be extremely useful, especially because it provides specific wording to use for different tactics.
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