8 tips to negotiate your salary

Source: MoneyTalksNews – The first time I ever negotiated for a higher salary was equal parts empowering and terrifying. I’d just been offered a great opportunity to advance my career. Because I still had my other job that I enjoyed, I felt comfortable enough negotiating for more money. So I went out on a limb and asked for $8,000 more than they’d offered.

I didn’t get it, but I did get $4,000 more. Plus, the experience taught me a lot about negotiating, a skill that I don’t get to use often.

Negotiating your salary at a new company can be intimidating, especially if you really need the job. But negotiating your salary for a new job is one of the most impactful things you can do to grow financially.

Every raise you get is based on your salary, so starting with a salary as high as possible will have a positive cumulative snowball effect on how much you earn in your entire career.

Don’t take a low salary offer personally.

There are a number of reasons why the job you want isn’t offering you the salary you’d hoped. Hiring managers are bound by budgets and time limits, and usually only have a few interactions and a resume to consult. Salary negotiation coach Kate Dixon says not to take low offers personally.

“The amount a company offers says more about how they value the job itself than how they value you as a person,” Dixon said. “If you can shift your mindset to take things less personally, it will be easier to take the emotion out of the negotiation, which in turn will make you more effective.” So take a seat at the negotiating table with a clear head and use tried and true negotiating tactics to improve your offer. You have the best salary negotiating power when you’re interviewing with a new company.

Companies put a lot of effort into finding the right people to fill their positions. It’s often cheaper to give a new employee more money than to expend more time and resources looking at more applicants. Still, there is a right and a wrong way for how to negotiate salary offers. The more informed you are about how to negotiate your starting salary, the more likely you are to get what you’re asking for.

1. Research the position

The thing most people are afraid of when negotiating a starting salary is that they’ll propose a number that’s so outlandish the company will retract its offer. While that’s a rare occurrence, you can avoid making an offer that’s too high by researching the position.

Sites like Glassdoor and PayScale offer free information on what companies typically pay for a position like yours and how much experience others in that position have. They also offer salary negotiation tips.

If you’re considering a job in a different city, you should factor in the cost of living. Use a cost-of-living calculator to see what you’d need to make in any city to maintain the same quality of life you currently have.

2. Communicate your value

You spent a lot of time making your resume stand out, so don’t forget all that hard work when it comes time to negotiate a starting salary. If the company is unwilling to budge on your offer after the first attempt, don’t give up. The hiring manager may have been given a budget for the position, but that doesn’t mean the money isn’t available.

Clearly communicate the unique value that you can bring to the company. Let your potential employer know any skills you bring to the table that you may have left out of your resume or interview. Be as specific as possible with why those skills are good for the company and how you’ll implement them when you get there.

The more specific you can be, the more incentive the hiring manager will have to get a higher salary approved for you.

3. Find common ground

A 2019 study found that our minds are hard-wired to prefer relationships with people who are interested in the things we are or have similar backgrounds to us. Employment law mediator Courtney Anne Chicvak says finding common ground with your hiring manager can give you an advantage in the negotiation process.

“Developing interpersonal relationships in negotiation can be helpful,” Chicvak said. “A negotiator can build connections by identifying at least one commonality that both negotiators share.”

Check the LinkedIn profiles of the people in charge of determining your salary and see if you have anything in common, like an alma mater or a favorite sports team.

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