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When should you negotiate, and when should you not?
There are key moments throughout the year when it’s appropriate to negotiate. If you’ve taken on extra tasks, perhaps because a colleague has gone on maternity leave, or you’ve been asked to manage a special project, it could be the right time to book a meeting with your manager and bring up the issue of salary.
Equally, if you’re 11 months into a 12-month contract and you’re being asked if you’d like to renew, this is a perfect moment to discuss salary.
However, if the company is going through bad times and has issued a profit warning or business is slow, it might be sensible to wait before trying to negotiate your salary. As with everything in business, timing is key, so try to think medium to long term when it comes to salary and don’t get panicked about the situation right here and now.
How to Negotiate Salary
1. Do your homework
This is more than just googling “salary for marketing assistants” and then thinking you’re ready for a salary meeting. It means doing a thorough assessment of the market so you know your worth.
Start by setting up alerts with multiple recruitment companies so you get regular updates about jobs available in your sector and at your level. Once you start to see job ads on a regular basis, you’ll instinctively understand the salary bracket for jobs like yours. You might find you’re being vastly underpaid in your current role — which may inspire you to apply for a new role in a new organization. Or, you can use this body of evidence to work out the average salary for your position in other companies and then take this data into a meeting with your HR manager
Whatever you do, get educated first. It will really help you in the long-run. It’s also a good idea to talk to recruiters over the phone. Ask them what the market is like right now. Is it a good time to be looking for a new job? They deal with the job market every day so they are a rich source of valuable information that can really help you. Don’t be afraid to ask.
2. Communicate clearly
When the time comes to actually negotiate a new salary, make sure your communication is super clear, whether you’re talking on the phone, working over email or in a face-to-face meeting.
If you will be sitting with a manger in person, try to meet in a neutral location. Meeting over coffee in a neutral cafe close to the office rather than in your manager’s office could really help to boost your confidence as you won’t be surrounded by his or her personal possessions and signs of success.
Try to remain positive and modestly assertive in the interview; make your points clearly and know what you want to say. Have your bullet points ready in a notebook or on an A4 piece of paper (do not use a ‘notes’ app on your smartphone, as it can look too casual to keep referring back to your phone, which should also be switched off for this meeting so it doesn’t beep at a key moment).
You might want to try ‘the power pose’ before the meeting; this involves standing with your legs and arms as far apart as possible, and pushing the air around you with your palms, for 60 seconds. It can really boost your confidence as it makes you breathe more deeply and it allows you to take up more space in the world. Do this before the meeting and you will feel more confident, like you deserve your space in this meeting and your correct payment from this company!
When it comes to the best language to use, try to remain open: this means sentences like “I’d really like to discuss the opportunities surrounding my salary for the coming year, which I know is going to be a great one for the company,” instead of “I need a raise.” See the difference? One is positive and aspirational and the other is demanding.
If it helps, try practising your bullet points on a friend or family member. Ask them to tell you if they hear anything negative or demanding seeping in, and see if you can work out a more upbeat alternative phrasing.
3. Make sure you are ready to negotiate
It’s fine to go into a negotiation knowing what you want out of it (a salary increase of 10%, for example, is nice and specific). But it’s also important to be ready to negotiate. We don’t always get what we want, but what would you accept? Would an 8% increase, plus gym membership and gas for your car, be acceptable?
Work out the monetary value of these other benefits before you start negotiating – they can save you thousands of dollars each year, and often companies are willing to throw in these ‘benefits’ because they are buying them at reduced rate from the supplier. So it costs them less to offer you an improved health care plan, for example, than it would cost you to buy it from your increased salary.
Do your own ‘lifestyle maths’ before the meeting and know what you’d be willing to accept. Any extras that aren’t money would also need to be itemized in your contract, so don’t sign anything until all the small print is in place.
4. Get ready to close the deal
Don’t be afraid to say no to a first offer, or to ask for time to consider their offer. You can leave a meeting by saying, “Thanks very much for this, I need a few days to think it all over, I will come back to you as soon as possible.”
The same works when negotiating over email or on the phone. As long as you are polite and grateful, you can buy time. During this period of consideration you can consider other options and make sure the new offer connects with what you want. Then, when you’re ready to close the deal, let them know via email. It’s a good idea to get an independent advisor or lawyer to look over contracts before you sign them. Local councils often offer this service for free – search online to see if you can find a pro bono service in your area or online.
5. Get ready for the future
If everything has gone according to plan and you’re happy to sign to your new deal, then work out a start date for the new salary and get set for your more lucrative future!
It’s important to make sure that you live up to the new deal. If the salary rise is dependent on an extra 8 hours of work per week, for example, use an online time-tracking tool to make it clear you are clocking up those extra hours. You want to leave the employer in no doubt: you deserve this pay raise, so show them this every step of the way!
If, however, the salary negotiations didn’t go your way, try to find out why. If your manager feels you lack the skills or knowledge required to move to the next salary bracket and level of responsibility within the company, consider up-skilling while you work. You could do this via an online course in something practical (pay per click, or search engine optimization, for example, if you work in marketing and want to hone a new specific skill).
If the reason you were denied a salary increase has to do with a lack of qualifications at the higher-education level, then don’t panic, just study while you work instead. Shortly you’ll be well on your way to plugging that CV gap and you’ll be ready to re-enter into negotiations with your boss – this time, from a much stronger position. Remember to journal and reflect throughout this experience. A ‘working journal’ that you write in every week will hold you in good stead to learn from everything you’re going through right here and now.
Culled from UoPeople.edu
