PRINCIPLES OF SALARY NEGOTIATION

Always establish worth before discussing value

Your worth to the company is what you will bring them – what they will gain from employing you. You have a unique combination of skills and experience and personality. Your value is what you will cost. Throughout this book we have advocated not discussing salary during interviews until you are sure the company wants to hire you. This is about establishing your worth to them before they try to put a price tag on you.

Your personal circumstances are not relevant

Here’s a hard point to take on board. You may know that you have a large mortgage, or that your childminder costs £7,000 a year – but the employer isn’t interested in that. Don’t ever bring personal circumstances into the discussion. It introduces problems, and the employer doesn’t need to know you have problems – keep everything focused on positive issues.

The only exception to this is the subject of travelling – or anything else if it already forms part of your package outside your current salary and so needs taking into account. If, for example, your current job pays you a travel allowance or reimbursement in addition to your salary, and therefore this needs to be factored into any new salary, you will need to bring this up at some stage.

The first number mentioned

The first number mentioned can often determine the range within which any negotiation or bargaining will take place. Employers or hiring managers usually have an amount in mind that they are thinking of offering you, but they will very often try to get you to name a number first.

Never go first

If asked what salary you were thinking of, you could end up in trouble! If you answer too high, you could disqualify yourself for the role – the employer may think there’s no point making you an offer anyway. If your answer is too low, you devalue yourself.

How to avoid giving a figure

The only real way to avoid giving a figure is by not answering the question in some way! Common sense tells you that ‘I’m sorry I’d rather not answer that’ is a pretty bad answer, and not likely to get the job. The best possible answer is as follows:

‘I am much more interested in (type of work) here at (name of company) than I am in the size of the initial offer.’

Why is this so good?

• You focus on your interest in the job, not the money.
• You tell them you want to work for them – without grovelling.
• Most candidates will say a figure, whereas you tell them how much you like the idea of working for them.
• It manages to avoid answering the question with a number.

A lot of the time an employer will be happy with this, and go on to make you an offer without further discussion. But obviously different people have different personalities and different ways of doing things. So if the answer sounds totally alien to you, try one of these alternatives:

• What did you have in mind?
• Did you have a figure in mind you wanted to bounce off me?
• A reasonable offer – money isn’t always the main motivator for me.
• I don’t have a firm figure in mind, but I’m sure it would be within the range you stated in the advert.
• Quite frankly I really like the sound of this role, so I’m open to offer.
• It depends on the benefits and total package, but money isn’t the main issue here, I want a role I can really get satisfaction from/get my teeth into/practise my skills in/learn from (or any other reason you feel is more appropriate).

If forced to give a figure

Remember advice in previous chapters. Here are some ideas:

• Never give a figure, give a range.
• Then follow it with the question, ‘Does that fit with your own thoughts?’ to try to see whether you’re in the right area.

Know your bottom line

This is the minimum amount you can accept for the job.

Ways of handling tricky questions

There are a number of tricky questions you may encounter about salary. Here are some suggestions for how to handle them.

‘What’s your current salary?’

• ‘I’d prefer to discuss the position in more detail before looking at salary issues.’
• ‘Can I come back to that when you have a better picture of what I have to offer?’

‘How much do you think you are worth?’

• ‘I am looking for the maximum, fair salary for the responsibilities involved in the job I’m asked to do.’

‘What do you expect the salary range of this position to be?’

• ‘Is this a job offer?’
• ‘I’m not sure – what range did you have in mind?’
• ‘I’m sure you pay fairly – it isn’t a concern for me at this stage.’

PREPARING TO NEGOTIATE YOUR TERMS

Many people find negotiating an offer uncomfortable, so it is wise to prepare in order to make it easier. The process should be relatively smooth, and how well it goes will depend on how well you (and the employer, but you can only control your side) get round the barriers that are bound to come up between you. Preparation is everything.

Build up a relationship

Show enthusiasm

You will need to make sure they know how excited you feel about the job. Spend a little time making sure you can put that across.

Make them feel good

Listening carefully to the other person helps build rapport and hence the relationship. This is especially important if the person is potentially your new boss. Listening involves not interrupting and allowing them to finish their thoughts, as well as repeating back to that person a part of what they’ve said in the course of your answer so that they know they’ve been heard. Additionally, things such as establishing good eye contact, nodding after a statement to reinforce that you’ve heard it, etc. are common communication devices that say: ‘I heard you and I understand what you’re saying.’

Make it easy for them

You want to give the overall message that you want to work for them, it’s just the salary/money issue that needs to be resolved. This makes it clear that you’re both on the same side trying to resolve a common problem, not on opposing ones.

Practise what to say

• Avoid being confrontational.
• Be polite and reasonable.

HANDLING THE SURPRISE NEGOTIATION

If you attend what you thought would be an interview or meeting, and are suddenly made a job offer or asked to consider a hypothetical offer, this can be a pretty big surprise. Coping with this can be hard, as you feel caught out and unprepared. Here are some good suggestions for how to respond.

Your four options

In a way your options aren’t that complicated, as you only have four of them:

• stall for more time to think
• accept the offer
• reject the offer
• negotiate the offer.

STALLING FOR TIME

Don’t panic

There is no reason to accept an offer immediately, and fortunately most organisations will not expect you to accept an offer on the spot.

Express your appreciation

If you are going to ask for more time, make sure that the first thing you do is to express appreciation for the offer.

Explain the need for more time

Explain to the employer that this is an important decision, and that you would therefore like some more time to think about it.

Agree on a reasonable time frame

Agree with them the time and date by which you will get back to them with your answer.

Ask any questions

Ask any questions necessary in order to understand the offer completely, then leave politely. There is no point in staying any longer – if you are too positive they may think you will accept the offer, which may reduce your bargaining power later. If you are cautious they may assume you won’t accept it, and try to persuade you, which can be awkward.

Asking for it in writing

You can try this, but nowadays it is becoming rare for companies to issue an offer unless they already have a verbal acceptance.