Salary Negotiation: What People Forget to Mention

Although I have an eye for a fair number of negotiation tactics, I find that negotiation, in most circumstances, is simply a hindrance to the normal flow of business.

For a moment, calculate the opportunity cost that you’ve seen squandered by others who want to negotiate meaningless, arbitrary things like the cost of pens at Staples. You would probably have a good chunk of change if you summed up all the wasted time and energy.

Among many professionals, salary negotiation is a topic of inflated importance and is often written about by people who are out of place in a very reckless and inaccurate manner to the point that I am very curious, both personally and as a recruiter. of sales. .

It took me years to come up with these “rules” of salary negotiation that I recommend most job seekers follow. They are broad, but since I started KAS, I find them most reliable, in the widest variety of job posting situations.

Unless you need the money, don’t negotiate for a few thousand dollars.

With a smile, I once watched a vice president go back and forth with a 20-year-old for $3,000. How this vice president still has gainful employment, I don’t know. When two people who don’t know how to negotiate get together, they have the perception that they both know how to negotiate. Both sides of the table seem to pretend that the boardroom table is a stall in some country bazaar.

Therefore, before you embark on your job search, set rules for yourself. Don’t get caught up in situations like the ones mentioned above. At best, you’ll waste time or leave a bad taste in the hiring manager’s mouth. At worst, you will lose what should have been a sure thing or a job you really wanted.

Tell yourself what you are going to gracefully walk away from, what you are going to sit on, and what you are going to sign the next day. Keep in mind that this number should change along with how much you like the job and your perceived strengths in terms of furthering your career progression.

If you love the job, remember that you only live once and weigh what luxuries you should give up and do your best to make a decision.

– You don’t know the job market well enough to negotiate

There are too many complicated variables that go into compensation.

When trying to gauge your market value, job seekers tend to refer to friends and old colleagues. What they don’t understand is that their friend could have been in the right place at the right time.

For example, maybe the owner of the company that hired your friend needed to hire someone and was very desperate to get a body in the organization. In this circumstance, around 20% or more of the offsetting leverage went to the friend.

This is just one of 20 different variables that baffle people when applying for a given compensation package.

In any salary discussion, whether it’s for a new job or a raise, citing an acquaintance’s or colleague’s compensation package is a weak argument. It’s the equivalent of saying, “Bobby has chocolate milk, so there shouldn’t be regular.”

When it comes to numbers, the employer doesn’t know Bobby; all they know is your budget and your business goals.

– Don’t fall into the profit trap

I always tell my corporate friends that if they get hit by a tank, they are very lucky not to have to pay the ambulance bill. If you’re younger, chances are you don’t need comprehensive health insurance coverage, beyond annual checkups and some prescription drug coverage. For most job seekers, especially those who don’t yet have families to secure, keep benefits out of the salary negotiation equation, all things being equal.

If you want to cut the negotiations and get a higher salary…

Be upfront about the fact that you don’t negotiate wages. Now, the employer may catch you and ask for a specific number, but be vague and give a range. Let them come with the offer. If they’re too low, walk away: undervaluing yourself is unprofessional of the employer.

Remember the emotions involved in negotiation

Before you get into heated salary negotiations over $12,000 for weeks on end, remember that you will have to work with these people. The last thing you want to do is walk into a new office with strange faces and feel uncomfortable.

People make snap judgments about others, mostly within a four to seven second window of time. Strangers know when you’re upset or unhappy more than your own family, often because they haven’t gotten used to your behavioral tics. This is not to mention that 80% of all communication is non-verbal. First impressions don’t last a lifetime, but they do last and are hard to change.

The last first impression you want at your new job is a reputation as the new person who needlessly pushed the budget.