It’s all about the green for some candidates – salary is an important motivating factor to accept an offer, among many other things. Some positions have parameters from the start of a contract on salary caps, but there could be ways to negotiate higher rates if you do your research.
Whether a job offer has just been extended to you or you are preparing to ask for a salary increase, you’ll want to collect the evidence to back up your reasons for negotiating a higher rate.
5 Tactics to use in Salary Negotiations
If you want to see the money, it’s important to show up prepared. Here are five tactics to use in your salary negotiations.
1. Bullet Point Value
In order to justify a bump in salary for yourself, or help recruiters justify an increased offer to hiring managers and executive staff, you will need to understand your value added, and be explicit about that value you are bringing to the team. Did you increase revenue on your last team by 15% year over year? Include that in your response to an organization’s offer. A 5% increase on your salary if you have past performance of increasing revenue over that could be an easy push to keep you in the candidate pool.
2. Market Research
Be sure to research what the going rate is not only for role and skillset, but also for your industry and location. An entry level mechanical engineer for the private industry in the Midwest is going to make a much different number from a entry level engineer with a TS/SCI security clearance in the mid-Atlantic region. Use more than one resource to determine what your expected salary should be – if you only rely on one, it could come to bite you because it could be lower than what the market is paying.
3. Salary Ranges
Are you a top shelf candidate? Be sure to pick a salary that’s in line with that if a range is included in the job requisition. Even if you come up with your own range through your research, it can be enticing to humbly request something toward the middle. Employers almost always negotiate down, so you’ll want to give yourself some wiggle room.
4. Offset Perks
If money is the most important factor you consider when deciding whether to accept a new role, make that known through negotiations and offer up ways for companies to offset the cost of increasing your salary. Not interested in PTO? See if they company will buy it back. Do you receive medical benefits through a spouse or through Tricare? Let the organization know you won’t be needing them. If the company is reluctant to increase through these, see if they’d be willing to do a hefty sign on bonus – and remind them that this is cheaper than an increase in your annual salary.
5. Use an Alter-Ego
Exuding confidence through these conversations show that you know what you’re worth and help to convince the hiring team of that. Utilize your confident alter-ego when you walk into the salary negotiation meeting (and apparently you should set it for a Thursday because studies show that professionals are easier to negotiate with as the week goes on). So, grab a cup of coffee, organize your thoughts, and most of all, be confident in knowing when to walk away if the salary dial just isn’t budging.
