Essential Interviews Tips and Skills To Get You Started!
Essential Interviews Tips and Skills To Get You Started!
Home / Interviews Tips / Do’s and Don’t of Salary Negotiations
The rule of thumb is: Don’t discuss salary until you’ve been given a clear indication that you’re the preferred candidate (or one of a short list). Yet this rule can be tough to follow, and diversionary tactics can quickly develop into something of a power struggle between you and the interviewer—which is not what you want. Salary negotiations should be the starting point for your employment with a company; that is, ideally, you will have been offered a position before talk of money begins. Of course, the operative phrase here is “should be,” because unfortunately, often salary negotiations may begin before you even walk across the company’s threshold—most commonly, on an application form or during a screening interview over the phone with a representative of the human resources department of the company, who has been instructed to do some preliminary weeding of the candidates. Your goal is to not show your hand until you have a clear idea of what the position is and what the employer thinks it—and you—are worth; the employer’s goal is to save time, and potentially money, by establishing as quickly as possible an opening bargaining position.
It goes without saying that you’ll be expecting to earn more in the target job than in your current position, so when you’re asked for your salary history, make sure you know what you’re actually earning. Yes, that’s what I said: Make sure you know what you’re actually earning. You’d be surprised how many people don’t. Though everyone can tell you what his or her monthly take-home pay is, many don’t realize that, when calculating annual income, he or she should factor in nonsalary compensations, which include medical benefits, stock options, overtime, bonuses, profit-sharing and retirement plans, and others. These factors can add 25 percent or more to your salary.
The question regarding your salary requirement may seem like a trap just waiting to be sprung. The chances of your answering too high or too low when asked this question (whether on an application or in person) are almost one to one. As I said, your goal is to keep your options open as long as you can, to enable you to drive up your value and knowledgeably state an amount satisfactory to you and the employer. I don’t know of a single case over the past 20 years when an employer rejected someone before an interview for not stating a specific salary requirement on a resume or application. Yet I know of hundreds of applicants whose salary numbers excluded them. Applicants concerned with being able to pay the rent/mortgage don’t realize how negotiable salary is to employers. Even the most structured compensation systems allow for hiring above the stated rate range.
Artificial salary constraints are a great negotiating tool, but they rarely stop employers from getting someone they want. Don’t let them stop you. Instead, after reading the following salary questions, which will test and hone your negotiation skills, adapt the answers to fit your situation and your style.
