www.lifehack.org: How much should you receive for your services and your skills? What is the right value for you? How much are you worth as a professional? This should be your line of thinking when you are scheduled to go to the negotiating table with a future employer.
In short, when you are applying for a job and getting ready for an interview, you also need to prepare for a salary negotiation. It’s a given: after the initial interview, and perhaps after a series of tests, the future employer will start discussing salaries. That will come when they are considering hiring you.
3 comments:
I feel like this article points out a lot of things that are common sense about negotiating anything, even a salary. You need to do your background research. For salaries specifically, you need to know what the going rate is, what other companies are paying people like you, etc. It also helps to consider benefits. The salary may be a little lower than you'd like, but if the company is offering health insurance and paid vacation, that would sweeten the deal a lot. The best way to prepare for anything you have to face in the world is to research, and be prepared. Knowing what you're talking about, knowing what to expect, and having practiced a few times will always help you feel more comfortable on the spot.
I think one thing that wasn't stressed enough in this article is confidence. You can know your research and back it up with facts and statistics, but if you're timid about it it won't get you very far. They'll be able to tell the difference between the guy who's asked around and knows he can have a better offer elsewhere and the guy whose mother told him he should ask for more money. Occasionally, these transactions and offers are done through the phone or email, which makes the situation less dire, but confidence is still going to be a key factor in getting your point across.
And like Jess said, benefits are hugely important. Vacation time is as well. But how much is your time worth? What's the trade-off between paid work and unpaid work? Will you have to make up the work anyway or be working while "on vacation"? Or does your employer allow you to take an actual break? These are points many don't consider until they're already in a work situation they dislike and are looking at their next job, but it will help you get a head start if you consider these from the start.
This article does seem to mainly just point out several common sense points that you would think don't need to be pointed out, but I keep re-learning that people are not very good with common sense. I would love to see more college classes or seminars that expose people to these issues and how to approach them. The biggest thing to remind yourself and prepare for is know what you are talking about, be able to speak clearly and concisly, know what your goal is, and have a real compelling reason why this is something you need. If you can do those you will have a much better chance at moving things forward than if you don't.
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