Salary Negotiation. It’s one of the most difficult parts of the job search – because so many people are unsure when to do it, what to say and even, sometimes, when to walk away. Every interview, and interviewer, is different, but there are some strategies you can use in any negotiation, to help you get the salary you want.
Try your hardest not to give a number.
There’s no way to sugar-coat this – whoever names a number first loses the upper hand. You can risk selling yourself short several thousand if you name a number first. Anna, who works in project management, recently negotiated her salary at a new job.
“When they asked me what my salary range was, I hedged and said I’d like to know what they’d budgeted for the position and we could go from there. They told me the budget was $95,000. I was going to say my range was $80-85,000! I’m now getting paid so much more than if they’d known I was happy with far less.”
Conversely, naming a range that’s way out of their budget could exclude you from a job you’re really eager for, and would potentially accept less for.
Get to know the market rate for your job.
It can be very helpful to search online job boards for similar positions that you’re applying for and having a look at the jobs that list a salary to find what are the market rates are. Or you can attempt to find out what salary your colleagues and peers are on – Depending on your current job or situation you may find it easy and appropriate to talk to your peers about their pay, but this won’t always work in your favour though so be prepared for that. Knowing your market rate is important so that you don’t get lowballed, and so you can also decide where on that scale you sit, and how much you should be getting at a minimum.
Be prepared to negotiate with the other perks you want.
Not getting the salary you want isn’t always a cause for despair. It’s possible to negotiate other perks. Perhaps they’ll agree to pay for training or job-related training for you, let you work from home for a certain amount of hours, pay for a carpark or cover your health insurance.
Graphic designer Roseanne recently negotiated working from home two days a week and a car park for herself in exchange for being paid $5,000 less than she originally wanted. And she swears she’s happier with this arrangement rather than the extra money –
“I get more done in less time because there are less people distracting me, so I finish earlier and I don’t have to take the bus anymore to save on parking. Both of those things make my life better than the extra money would have.”
Know your bottom line.
If someone is offering you thousands less than you know you’re worth, and you’re not getting anything in exchange, in the form of training, reduced hours or other perks, you should question whether you really want this job and if you really want to work for a company that would under-value you by so much.
Every situation is different, I know, but give it some serious thought. There are lots of jobs out there – don’t indulge in everyone else’s “it’s a recession, take what you can get” fear automatically – several large New Zealand companies still reported big profits last year.
And not to get all touchy-feely on you, but if you let a potential employer undervalue you so much from the outset, it’s really hard to recover from that when you start working for them.
Practice negotiating before you get there. On almost everything.
Most people feel “weird” negotiating. Which means they have little practice at it. Which means when it comes to negotiating anything for a new job, they feel 
uncomfortable and have no idea what they’re doing. So, how can you expect a decent result for yourself in salary negotiations, against someone who does it all the time? Practice! Remember that negotiating is just getting the best deal for you. The other party has every right to say no if it doesn’t work for them.
Start off with small things, like at a local market, or even your favourite clothing store. When I worked at a well known NZ shoe store, we gave discounts to people who bought 2 pairs of shoes if they asked for it. And only if they asked for it. Get comfortable with negotiating. You won’t get what you ask for each time. In some of these scenarios you might not get anything. But you’ll be much more comfortable when you come to salary negotiation – an area where both sides usually expect to haggle a little.
Are you a master negotiator? Or is it something you could work on? Let us know of any tricks you’ve got for getting a salary you’re happy with.
