How To Negotiate Your Salary (Tips and Examples)
Negotiating salary or fuller compensation packages (think paid time off, flexible work schedules, 401k matches etc.) is nearly always expected in professional roles now. Here are some tips and ways to advocate for yourself.
Do Your Research!
The top sites I like to use to better understand average salary within markets, industries and companies are:
Salary.com
Payscale.com
Glassdoor.com
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Nerdwallet.com
paysa.com
Having multiple sources of data helps you better understand and evaluate trends and themes and provides a basic benchmark for the position and industry you are negotiating in. Negotiation is all about compromise and being reasonable so it’s important to have a clear understanding of highs, lows and averages within your industry.
Don’t Negotiate Over Email
Many people find negotiating salary awkward or weird and try to use email to avoid some of those feelings. Email negotiations nearly never work as well as jumping on the phone and actually talking human-to-human with the HR staff.
People hire people, and the best way to personalize the recruitment and hiring process is to have as many touch points and interactions with the recruitment team as possible. It helps you connect more personally with them so when you negotiate they understand more of your backstory/background, skill set and reasoning for the negotiation.
Have A Reason!
No one is going to give you more money just because you say give me more money (crazy, right?). You need to have good, relevant and data driven reasons as to why you believe you’re worth more than the initial offer.
It could be your familiarity with the company as an intern or perhaps you have a certain professional designation such as a CPA that would be directly relevant to the position and is something other applicants may not have. Whatever makes you unique and helps you stand out from the crowd, that’s what you use to leverage offers with.
Only Negotiate On A Job You Really Want
Going into a negotiation, the employer assumes you have a fundamental interest and intent in taking the position. If you’re on the fence about the job or you don’t care for how the company does business, don’t let money drive your decision making process. Trust your gut and find a company and job you like first, then negotiate second.
Be Reasonable
I generally advise using a range of $5,000 as a standard negotiation amount. If the job offer is 50K, don’t ask for 100k. That is absurd. Be reasonable and understand the recruiting manager may not have as much flexibility on pay as they do on other compensation elements like time off or flexible work from home/hybrid arrangements. Work with them to find common ground. Trust me, they want to hire you and if they can remove barriers to you saying yes, they will.
Parting Words…
What if you don’t want to negotiate? Then my advice would be: don’t. If you’re 100% happy with the offer as is and don’t feel like you have any relevant talking points to negotiate with, it’s completely ok to take the position as is, grow into the role and then in your promotion within the company, negotiate up.
We all take jobs for different reasons. You need to establish what you NEED from your compensation vs. what you WANT. If you’re getting what you want and need in an offer, you don’t necessarily need to negotiate. If you can’t meet your basic needs with your compensation, try to negotiate and continue to interview for other positions. Never stop interviewing till you have a signed, sealed and delivered offer letter you’re happy with.
Related:
Why LinkedIn Isn’t Working For You: 4 Mistakes You Might Be Making Right Now
5 Tips To Elevating Your LinkedIn Profile Headline To Get Noticed Fast
Meet The Writer!
Hi! My name is Nadia Ibrahim-Taney and I help people design happy and fulfilling careers through authentic career coaching. My expertise includes career exploration guidance, resume writing, interview prep and LinkedIn profile optimization. My pronouns are She/ Her/ Hers and as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I focus on how diverse identities impact and influence folks holistically and professionally. Please connect with me on LinkedIn or at Nadia@beyonddiscoverycoaching.com
