Everyone wants more money, but it’s not only the money. Benefits may include, but are not limited to medical, dental, vision, profit-share, vacation days, summer Fridays, relocation, sign-on bonus, stock options, paid training.
Where do you start?
1) Research – Do your research to make sure you know the salary bandwidth for your job title in your geographic location. Try websites such as Salary.com, Vault.com or Glassdoor to find out the range of salary.
2) Hold off on negotiation until they offer you the job. This may be difficult as often they screen you out by phone if they think you want more than what they want to pay. So you have to say, let’s table the discussion until I have a clearer understanding of the roles and responsibilties.
3) When giving a range, make sure the low number of your range is a salary you can live with. Your low number may be higher than their low and your high may be higher than their high, so you don’t want to box yourself in.
4) Don’t accept the first offer. Say you are extremely interested in the position and you would love to work for the company. You would like 24 to 48 hours to think about it.
5) Call them back in 24 or 48 hours to say you would love to work for them. Can they do better? Do not give a number. Again, they may come up from their first offer knowing that there is room in their budget.
Remember – the ball is always in your court. The first person who says a number loses in the salary negotiation. So wait it out until they actually make the offer and then ask for time to think about it.
(c) 2019 Amy Geffen All rights reserved.