How to Earn $1,000 in a Minute

Here are some thoughts from pages 55-58 of Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success (a book I liked very much) where the author says that when you negotiate your salary at a new job you can earn $1,000 in a minute. Then she gives a four-step process for doing well in salary negotiations:

1. Don't disclose your pay requirements during the interview process. The first person to provide numbers establishes the range.
2. Get the whole offer in writing before you ask for more. You need to consider other financial benefits like a bonus as you prepare your counter-offer.
3. Go home and form a plan. Do your research and see what you should be making.
4. Know yourself. Negotiate for what matters to you.

Here's my take on these:

1. A great tip, but easier said than done. I think it's relatively simple to have the employer give a number first (a simple "what does this position pay?" in the fact-finding stage should sort this out), but to avoid giving them your salary requirements is virtually impossible -- especially if they ask you a direct question. Sure, you can say something like, "I'd prefer to discuss that later" or make excuses as to why it doesn't matter, but if you're pressed and you don't answer, you'll look deceptive, like you have something to hide, or you're ashamed of the answer -- all results you won't like.

2. Certainly you need to know the complete picture of what they're offering before you ask for more. Early on in my career, I was offered a job and took it based on a formal offer. When the offer letter came, I had several more benefits than what I'd expected (retirement, vacation, insurance, stock purchase, etc.) It really didn't matter to me at this point, but from that experience I learned to get all the information up front so I knew the complete view of what I was being offered.

3. Don't accept the offer on the spot. Tell them you're excited about the opportunity and would like a couple days to discuss it (if you're married, saying you need to talk it over with your spouse is an excuse that almost anyone will buy -- as long as it doesn't look like your spouse is calling all the shots in your life.) Then take some time to develop your counter-offer.

4. In addition to knowing yourself (that you like vacation time more than extra pay, for example), know the employer. Often times it's easier for them to give you extra time off than to give more money -- or to up the bonus than to make the base pay higher. Explore the areas where they are flexible and try to be flexible yourself. if you can be, you'll have a better chance of walking away with a better overall compensation package.

Comments

[Penelope Trunk]

Thanks for writing about Brazen Careerist.

I wanted to point out that not revealing your salary requirements is super important -- and not that hard to do.

The person interviewing you knows that whoever gives a number first for salary is at a disadvantage, so that person will respect that you are not giving a number. Still, it's the interviewer's job to ask you, becuase it's better for the company in negotiations if they have a number from you.

Here are things to say in order to avoid giving a number first:

I am sure your company pays the market rate for this job, and that will be fine with me.

Let's figure out the scope of the job before we talk about how much it pays.

Why don't you tell me the range of salary you have earmarked for this job and I'll tell you if you're in my range.

Right not the salary is not as important to me as making sure we're a good fit for each other.

I hope this helps. You'll do a lot better in negotiations if you go in thinking that you are capable of not giving the first number for salary.

Penelope

[FMF]

Penelope --

Do you think it's really that easy?

On the side of the interviewee, I've always been asked and if I've given an evasive answer, I've been asked again. Certainly an unsure interviewer may give up and move to the next question, but anyone I'd ever want to work for wouldn't.

As an interviewer, I would ask and if the person gave me one of the responses above, I'd ask again -- and keep asking until I got an answer. If they didn't want to answer, then they don't want the job, right? Unless I'm interviewing the Michael Jordan of business, at that point I can show them the door.

In reality, I think most interviews happen where both sides know what's being made by the interviewee and what the pay range for the position is before the interview even happens. This information is generally traded back and forth by the interviewee and whoever is doing screening for the interviewer (for higher level hires, this would be a headhunter.)

All this said, I don't think this severely hampers your ability to negotiate a higher salary. If you have the right qualifications and have sold yourself throughout the interview process, the company is invested in you once you have an offer. At this point, you can apply the other strategies noted above to increase the initial offer.

[LC]

I know that common practice is to negotiate a higher starting salary and companies often offer "low" because they anticipate this. However, when I accepted my current job, the salary they offered me was 20% higher than my salary at my old job. I didn't really have any "ammo" to negotiate with so I felt like I had to accept it with no negotiation. Do you have any advice for someone in this situation?

[FMF]

LC --

First of all, congrats.

Second, some options:

*If it was still below market value, point that out and ask for market value.

*If it's at market value, point out your accomplishments and tell why you should be paid more.

*If you have another offer that's higher, use that to your advantage as well.

*If the offer is well above market value, you're an average employee at best and/or you have no other job options, thank God that you're getting an offer 20% higher than your current salary. ;-)

[LC]

I believe the offer was market value or just slightly below and the reason it was so much higher than my previous job was that I worked for the government, which tends to pay lower than industry. I just felt that I could have negotiated for more and that's what they were expecting I just didn't have any leg to stand on for those negotiations. Overall, I was pretty happy with the offer.

[Jency]

My employer's offer letters state that all compensation information is confidential. Just tell the interviewer you are not able to divulge compensation information because you signed a non-dislosure agreement.