Salary Negotiation: What People Forget to Mention

Although I have a keen eye for a good number of negotiation tactics, I find that negotiation, in most circumstances, is simply an obstacle to the normal flow of business.

For a moment, consider the opportunity cost you’ve seen wasted by others who want to trade arbitrary and pointless things like the cost of pens at Staples. I would probably have a good chunk of change if I summed up all the wasted time and energy.

Among many professionals, salary negotiation is a topic of inflated importance and is often written about in a very reckless and inaccurate way by people who are off the mark to the point that I am extremely curious, both personally and as a group. sales recruiter. .

It took me years to come up with these salary negotiation “rules” that I recommend most job seekers follow. They are broad, but since starting KAS, I find them most reliable, in the widest variety of job posting situations.

-Unless you need the money, don’t trade for a few thousand dollars.

With a smile, I once saw a vice president go back and forth with a 20-year-old for $3,000. How this vice president is still gainfully employed, I don’t know. When two people who don’t know how to negotiate get together, they have the perception that they both know. Both sides of the table seem to pretend that the boardroom table is a stall in some country bazaar.

So before you start your job search, set some ground rules for yourself. Don’t get caught up in situations like the ones mentioned above. At best, you’ll waste time or leave a bad taste in the hiring manager’s mouth. At worst, you will lose what should have been a sure thing or a job you really wanted.

Tell yourself what you’re going to gracefully walk away from, what you’re going to sit on, and what you’re going to sign the next day. Keep in mind that this number should change along with how much you like the job and your perceived strengths in terms of moving forward in your career progression.

If you love the job, remember that you only live once and weigh what luxuries you have to give up and do your best to make a decision.

– You do not know the job market well enough to negotiate

There are too many complicated variables that go into compensation.

When trying to gauge their value in the marketplace, job seekers tend to refer to friends and old colleagues. What they don’t understand is that their friend could have been in the right place at the right time.

For example, maybe the business owner who hired your friend needed to hire someone and was very desperate to get a body in the organization. In this circumstance, around 20% or more of the clearing leverage went to the friend.

This is just one of 20 different variables that baffle people when applying for a certain compensation package.

In any salary discussion, whether for a new job or a raise, citing an acquaintance or colleague’s compensation package is a weak argument. It’s the equivalent of saying, “Bobby has chocolate milk, so there shouldn’t be regular.”

When it comes to numbers, the employer doesn’t know Bobby; all they know is your budget and your company’s goals.

– Don’t fall into the profit trap

I always tell my corporate friends that if they get hit by a tank, they’re lucky they don’t have to pay the ambulance bill. If you’re younger, you most likely won’t need extensive health insurance coverage, beyond annual checkups and some prescription drug coverage. For most job seekers, especially those who don’t yet have families to secure, keep benefits out of the wage bargaining equation, all things being equal.

If you want to cut negotiations and get a higher salary…

Be upfront about the fact that you do not negotiate wages. Now the employer can catch you and ask for a specific number, but be vague and give a range. Come with the offer. If they are too low, walk away: underestimating yourself is unprofessional on the part of the employer.

Remember the emotions involved in the negotiation

Before you get into heated salary negotiations over $12,000 for weeks, remember that you will have to work with these people. The last thing you want to do is walk into a new office with strange faces and feel uncomfortable.

People make snap judgments about others, mostly within four to seven seconds. Strangers know when you’re upset or unhappy more than your own family, often because they haven’t gotten used to your behavioral tics. Not to mention that 80% of all communication is non-verbal. First impressions don’t last a lifetime, but they do last and are hard to change.

The last first impression you want in your new job is a reputation as the new person who stretched the budget unnecessarily.