Whats My Salary » Salary Negotiation

Negotiating Your Salary During Recessionary Times

Whats My Salary — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:23:39 +0000

by Trevor Davide Grant

It’s common knowledge that the US financial system is in the middle of a recessionary slowdown, and that slowdown is having an effect on their largest trading partners. Studies have recently shown that for many employees in many companies there’s still room for salary negotiating.

This is important to be aware of, and you ought to know your strategy to approaching salary negotiation at this difficult economic time.

Just because the economy is on a slowdown doesn’t mean it is a bad time to negotiate your salary with your employer. While it’s true many companies are reducing staff levels and slowing down production, other companies are in hot pursuit of top skilled employees. Keep this in mind. There are many opportunities to still discuss salary with your boss and to negotiate a higher salary with prospective employers.

When you negotiate a salary, you’re standing up for what you believe you’re worth. You’re standing up for yourself because your skills and the job market will support the price you’re asking. You really need to do your diligent research to assess this.

Be prudent in the salary negotiation tact you use. Employers will respect you when you approach them with a softer, less intense approach. Now is not the time to play salary negotiation hardball unless you’re one of the elite few that command top dollar in this tough market.

Nonetheless, salary negotiating is still an option. Not just that, but also if you find yourself in-between jobs, an unfortunate circumstance indeed, salary negotiation strategies and tactics are of absolute importance.

Salary negotiation is not to be swept under the carpet just because we’re in a tough financial time. On the contrary, you should consider your best negotiation approach, and do your diligent market research. With a solid supporting case your request for a pay increase should be well received.

The best of luck to you in your salary negotiation plan.

About the Author:

Trevor Davide Grant is an IT manager in the IT field and has extensive experience in salary negotiation. Trevor has worked for a large telecom, electric utilities, software development consulting, and a prominent social network. He has learned salary negotiating in the most powerful way. Learn great tips on the topic of negotiating salary at www.HowToNegotiateASalary.com.

Technorati Tags: salary, salary during recession, salary negotiating, salary raise

Salary Negotiating

Whats My Salary — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:15:29 +0000

by Trevor Davide Grant

Once a person asked me if it was okay to talk about their salary history with an employer during an interview. They were concerned about discussing their history because it was a little low and they thought it would have a negative effect on their salary negotiation. They were wondering how they could avoid the topic with the employer until the right time. My rule is to never be dishonest with an employer. However it’s a good idea to avoid this topic until you have nearly closed the deal with getting the job.

Many times I’ve faced the same scenario. When asked by the hiring managers what my expectations were or what my salary history is, I have used the following approach.

1) The approach I would take would be to ask to table the question until later in the interview or for another day. It’s important to me that we have first come to a common understanding on the roles and responsibilities of the job. Also, the type of experience I bring to the job, and what I will be contributing to the new company. I would prefer to be paid in line with the current job market and within the companies standards for this role.

2) If I’m pressured for an answer in an interview where the request is to provide my previous salary, I set out the total value of what I expect the compensation package will hopefully include. That is cash value for the time and effort (salary), list the benefits in as much detail as I can, how much holiday, and other working conditions such as flex time, or time off in place of worked overtime. I also prefer to reiterate that the job I am looking towards is not with the same company and thus my previous earnings not very relevant. In reality, there are so many things to consider, such as home life balance, health benefits, vacations, overtime, etc, that factor in. What is most important to me is that my salary will be aligned within a margin of my past job, and does the package I am offered match what is reasonable for the current job market which can be totally different.

3) It’s very important to be aware before interviewing for the job, what the range is for that position. It’s important to determine where I believe I fit within the market percentiles for that job. Most people do not meet the top end of the salary range, and there needs to be room to grow into it. I don’t recommend asking for the highest salary in the range unless you know you are a total super star. Your super star status will be confirmed by reference checks, so be reasonable, but also, don’t undersell yourself.

4) Regardless of your past salary that you earned in that job role, you should expect to be paid fairly for the current market conditions. You should explain to the new employer that regardless of your past salary, whether it was at or below the market range, you would like to be paid at the salary level that is fair. Your reasons for having a lower than average salary in the past are not pertinent to the new job, and your life situation has changed. Therefore your goal is to have a fair salary negotiation that both sides will be pleased with.

5) If you disclose your salary history information, remember to state your case about the relevance of the information. You may give your personal reasons for accepting the lower pay, but most important is to explain that you want the outcome of the salary negotiation to be one where both parties are respected, and that they feel a sense of win-win in the outcome.

Honesty is imperative when doing interviews. Employers have many means to determine whether you’ve been honest with them in the hiring process. What is most important is to be clear about what you can contribute to the company first, and that you expect fairness in the hiring process.

About the Author:

Trevor Davide Grant is an IT project manager in the information technology field and has considerable experience in salary negotiation. Trevor has worked for a global telecom, power generation, software project consulting, and a prominent web 2.0 website. He has learned how to negotiate a salary in the most effective way. Learn great tips on the topic of salary negotiating at www.HowToNegotiateASalary.com.

Technorati Tags: salary, salary raise

Salary Negotiation: Compensation Advice From A Recruiter

Whats My Salary — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:39:49 +0000

by Carl Mueller

As a recruiter, I’m used to negotiating salary and compensation on behalf of my job candidates with the hiring manager of the company they are interviewing with.

Salary and compensation negotiation is one of the things a recruiter typically does when helping someone get a job, so if you’re not a good negotiator this can be one of the things they can help you with.

Here are some tips that I’ve learned in my time as a recruiter that might help you next time you’re negotiating salary for yourself with a potential new employer.

1. Let the employer bring up the issue of money first. Ideally, you should let the interviewer broach the issue of money (ie “How much money are you looking for?”) not you. Employers generally don’t want money-motivated staff whose main concern is salary, since people can easily switch jobs if they can get more money elsewhere.

Certainly, if you’re working with a recruiter you can let them know what salary you’re looking for since they need to know what range is acceptable to you and avoid wasting your time with jobs that don’t match your requirements.

2. Don’t state a desired salary range. The problem with saying “I’m looking for a salary of $30,000-$40,000? is that while you might be thinking that you’re showing flexibility by stating a wide range, you could actually be low-balling the salary you end up getting offered.

While you might be thinking that you’d like the higher end of this salary range (ie $38,000) the hiring manager might be thinking you’d be happy with $30,000 since you did state that $30,000 was in your acceptable range! While the hiring manager hopefully wants to be fair, some might not offer you $40,000 if you state that $30,000 would be acceptable, which is basically what you’re saying with this stated range.

Ideally you want to go into an interview knowing the salary range that the company is offering. A recruiter can definitely get this information for you. Knowing the salary range being offered ensures that you don’t price yourself out of range and don’t low-ball yourself either.

3. Don’t state a salary that you won’t be happy accepting. If you tell a hiring manager you’d be happy with $30,000, do not expect to be able to go back to them later in the interview process and then ask for $35,000. It can be difficult to get a higher salary agreed to once you’ve verbally mentioned a lower one. As we spoke about in Point 1, let the employer bring up the issue of money first and try your best to understand the job fully before committing to a stated salary figure.

While you don’t want to evade the question if you’re asked “how much money are you looking for” during a job interview, you also don’t want to ruin your chances at getting a better figure by making a mistake handling the salary question.

The longer you can delay the issue of money in an interview process the better.

A good recruiter should be able to help you with salary negotiation since that’s part of their job and since as the middleman, they can negotiate on your behalf without the emotional aspect that can come along with this issue if you were doing it yourself.

Plus, they should have a solid understanding of exactly what parts of the job offer might be open to negotiation especially if this is a hiring manager or company that they’ve successfully dealt with before!

Carl Mueller is an Internet entrepreneur and professional recruiter who has written an ebook for career-minded individuals: Recruiter Secrets Revealed

Recruiter Secrets Revealed sheds light on job search and career management “secrets” that you can use to supercharge your career and distinguish yourself from other job searchers.

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