Negotiating your Salary

Got an interview coming up? Interviews are two-way streets so don't forget to interview them back. I've written about this and you can read it HERE.

Talking about money is something we all dread but we all need to do at some point in our lives. There's a point in one's professional career where it's basically expected to negotiate pay during the offer stage of hiring. I never negotiated pay or asked for a raise until my more recent professional positions. I'd like to tell you what I've learned about it so it can help you too.

Asking for a raise or negotiating your compensation isn't for everyone. There's a right time, right person and right tactic to asking with positive results. Before breaking into IT, I worked mostly positions in the retail, fast-food & grocery industries (mostly as a clerk in grocery stores). I never even thought about negotiating my pay. The pay was whatever the company was going to pay (read minimum wage). I got raises; When minimum wage went up. (The bigger problem working in service jobs for me was the hours. In unskilled jobs, I fought harder for more hours than I did higher pay. Pick fights you can win, right? The problems plaguing those kinds of jobs are a whole 'nother ball of wax.) The last two positions I've had, I bumbled through asking for a bit more at the time of hiring but the hiring manager didn't play hardball and practically held my hand through the first time. I'd like to talk about what I've learned about the topic. My tips are geared towards negotiating a higher salary at the time of offer on a new job but could easily be modified for the situation of asking for a raise at your current gig. 

• Don't be adversarial. Be let's-get-this-done-together. You both have the same goal. You've built up a certain amount of good-will throughout the interview process. If your negotiating tactics are too cut-throat, you could damage that credibility. Think big picture. Push too hard and you risk losing the offer entirely. Push too little and you're leaving money on the table. 
• After the initial offer, reiterate your interest in the position. "This is the job I want." Constantly touch on your excitement for this opportunity every chance you get. 
• Discuss your experience and the value you've demonstrated in your prior roles and how you're going to bring that value to your new role. 
• Know the range for this position in your market. Give a range based in your research and suggest why you fall in that range. Having your range is good but bring it back to them and what you're going to do for them. Don't just cite salary surveys that say what you should be paid. Salary surveys are decent for rough estimates for a competitive market salary but no survey will be tailored specifically for your job, your market and with your constellation of duties, skills & abilities. Plus, for every salary survey you cite that should be paid more, the employer will pull one out that shows why their lower offer is a handsome one. If they're good, then you're not the only one doing your homework, 
• If you get shut down ("the economy has been tough."), pitch it as an investment to them. "Are you going to pay $low-offer for someone who can do the job ok, or are you going to pay $counter for someone who is going to knock it out of the park? At the end of the day, it's about the return on your investment and I believe that compared to candidates, I can more than make up that $difference difference."
• If they raise their offer, let them know that goes a long way to bridging the gap and thank them. If they raise their offer this is where you'll need to read them a bit more. You might be able to squeeze a better offer but at what cost? Like I said earlier, if you push too hard you damage that good-will you've built up throughout the interview process. Push too little and you could be leaving thousands on the table. It's a balance.
• Also, remember that you're negotiating your entire compensation package; Your salary is only a part of that package. Ask the hiring manager if now would be a good time to discuss things such as stock options, bonuses, PTO accrument rate or other perks. Give the manager control to open that  discussion by asking if it's appropriate to discuss. This may or may not be applicable to you. (Personally, I work in a large university where things like PTO are pretty much standard across all "staff" positions. It doesn't hurt to try when negotiating with a new org but if you're asking for a raise at your current gig and you know what they can and can't flex on then stick with the battles you know you can win.)
• Show gratitude to any flexibility given at this point. 
• Discuss the review cycle and ask if an accelerated review cycle (say, every 6 months rather than annually) is available. "While I understand that these may be tough times we're all going through" (getting back to their push-back attempt based on the economy) ", what I'd love to do is have an accelerated review cycle every 6 months in order to have an opportunity to renegotiate my salary to a level that is more commensurate with the experience and value that I bring."

The most important part of getting better at anything, including negotiating, is to practice. However, no matter how much you've practiced, sometimes the timing just isn't right so your great tactics might not get you very far, Don't pin all your hopes on your negotiating skills. What's important is that you try. The company could be in a dire financial situation, or there could've been cut-backs to that department recently. There's many factors out of your control. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take. The worst they can say is no.