How To Negotiate Your Salary
Salary negotiation is the next step to take when you make it through the job interview process. Negotiating your salary with your employer can be quite tricky hence the need to take it very seriously to avoid shooting yourself at the leg in the long run.
With the high influx of unemployed people in the job market, some employees or job seekers feel grateful to have found employment, settling for a lower salary, neglecting the fact that they are working beneath their worth looks like a better option compared to being unemployed.
If you’ve been offered a new role at a company and you are not comfortable with the salary structure, it’s important that you negotiate your salary with your employer. Negotiating your salary shows that you know the value that you are bringing to the company.
Negotiations are a vital part of the job offer process. Negotiating your salary is not just about you as the employee jumping on a job offer, it is an opportunity for you to prove to the hiring manager that you’re a professional, you know your worth and you are confident about what you can offer.
Why You Should Negotiate Your Salary
Salary negotiation skill is a skill that every job seeker must have to prove to the hiring manager that he/ she will show a high level of competency and professionalism while executing the duties of the new job role.
Research has it that more than 57% of people that apply for jobs fail to negotiate their salary with the hiring manager which is the most important part of the hiring process. Knowing your value and what you can bring shows that you have done your research. The following tips are reasons why you should negotiate your salary.
- Value: When negotiating your salary with your prospective employer, don’t sound or look desperate. You are aware of the value that your presence will be adding to the company. So you need to negotiate between the range that you know that you’re worth. It is when you don’t know your worth as an employee that your hiring manager will want to throw any price at you. Negotiating your salary shows your level of competence and what you have to offer.
- Not negotiating promotes mediocrity: When you negotiate your salary with your employer, you are not just negotiating because you want to negotiate. You are negotiating because if you take less than what you offered, it may affect your performance at work. When employees are underpaid, they are less productive, passionate, and enthusiastic about their jobs.
- To avoid future job challenges: Negotiating your salary gives you an avenue to avoid any money-related issues that may come up in the future. Negotiation helps you learn how to tackle difficult conversations at work.
Why Employees Don’t Negotiate Their Salaries With Their Employers
Salary negotiation is a very important step in the hiring process. Taking your time to explain to your employer the need to increase your salary helps them to understand the value that you will be adding to their organization. There are different reasons why employees don’t negotiate salary; a few of the reasons include:
- Not to Be Seen As Greedy: Employees fail to negotiate their salary structure with the employer because they don’t want to be seen as being greedy, but failure to negotiate can cost you a lot in your career.
- Fear of rejection: Now, you’ve been hired but you’re are scared that if you negotiate your salary with your hiring manager, you may be dropped. There are many people waiting to be hired but here you are, the job has been offered to you but the fear of the unknown will not allow you to fix a price that you’re satisfied with. The truth is, no hiring manager wants to hire an employee that says ‘yes’ to everything. Kill that fear inside of you and negotiate what you’re worth.
How To Negotiate Your Salary
As an employee, negotiating your salary can be a difficult task because you do not want to offend the hiring manager by fixing a pay that may look so huge and then lose the job afterward. The following tips will show you how to negotiate your salary with your hiring manager.
- Research: Make sure you carry out in-depth research on the salary structure of the company that you want to work for. Carrying out the research will give you an insight into how much you can negotiate your salary. If you’re not comfortable or satisfied with the salary being offered, you are not unreasonable by wanting the best conditions for yourself.
- Ask questions: Aside from the monthly salary, find out if there are other benefits attached. There are cases where employees have benefits such as travel benefits, and health insurance attached to their salary. You need to know if the organization offers benefits that will serve as compensation for the salary structure. Ascertain if you can work with the benefits despite the poor salary structure. Don’t be fast to conclude that your prospective employer wants to under-rate your skills, qualifications, and expertise, ask questions.
While negotiating your salary, ensure that your prospective employer breaks down your salary details so that you can know the full scope of what you are signing up for.
- Create a room for negotiation: You may not be comfortable or satisfied with the salary option that your employer is offering. Kindly ask the employer if you can negotiate your salary. If you can, ensure that you have listened attentively to the original offer by your employer before making a counteroffer.
- Negotiate politely: As an employee, the reason why you are negotiating your salary with your prospective employer is that you know the value that you’ll be offering and the money that your hiring manager is offering is not commiserate to the values you will be adding to the organization. While negotiating, do not raise your voice at the hiring manager, still, maintain a low tempo. The aim is to demonstrate that you are not there to exploit the company.
- Avoid negotiating via email or text message: As an employee, avoid negotiating your salary via email or text messages, you don’t want to give an impression that you are not confident and lack self-esteem. It’s very important that you negotiate your salary face-to-face with your hiring manager.
- Sign an agreement: Oftentimes, after negotiating the salary range with the hiring manager, employees forget to sign an agreement that proves or shows that they have agreed to a particular term with the hiring manager.
After arriving at a ground level with your hiring manager concerning your salary, make sure you sign an agreement. If your hiring manager is reluctant to write out an agreement, make sure you request it and sign the agreement to avoid unforeseen circumstances that may not be favorable to you in the future after you’ve settled in the job.
- Be considerate: After you have carried out your research and asked the right questions on the salary structure of the position you are about to occupy, try to understand from the employer’s viewpoint why he/she will not be able to pay you the amount that you want. The company might be going through a challenge and the hiring manager does not want to make empty promises. If you can, consider the offer that the hiring manager is proposing. Avoid ‘cutting the neck’ of the hiring manager.
- Walk away: Negotiating your salary with your employer is not a do-or-die affair. If the employer does not want to raise the pay to your standard despite knowing the values that you’ll be adding and you are not comfortable with the price the employer is offering, it’s best you walk away.
Finally, as a job candidate, before you accept the offer to work with a company, make sure that you negotiate your salary structure before starting the work. If you don’t negotiate, you give your employer the impression that you are comfortable with what they are offering or you are just so desperate to get the job that you don’t wish to negotiate your worth.
With the attitude of not negotiating, you are likely to be paid what is not your worth. So, before you accept the next job offer, make sure you negotiate and while negotiating do not lay emphasis on what you’ll use the money for but let your emphasis be on the value that you will be adding to the organization.
