Salary negotiations
Posted on May 29, 2024 by Martin Hahn, One of Thousands of Career Coaches on Noomii.
This artiscle discusses the importance of salary negotiations even if it is your first job.
When you get a job offer for what would become your job for perhaps many years ahead, don’t say yes immediately. Even if you are applying for your dream job, always negotiate your salary before and make sure that a signed document or contract is signed before starting the actual work. The wrtitten offer should contain a salary figure, benefits, vacation time, holiday schedules, or incentives.
Ask for a written offer and explanation of benefits, vacation policy, expected daily hours, or if there is overtime or bonus pay. Also ask what the upward potential would be for the position. And ask for more money for moving up the career ladder.
While many people do not negotiate their compensation package for these reasons, some of the candidates do not for these things like salary and benefits. Accepting a salary offer without negotiating is, actually, quite common.
In a Glassdoor study, 3 in 5 employees admitted they accepted their salary offer and did not negotiate in their current or most recent job. Ladies, it’s even higher for us; 68% of women reported they did not negotiate their salary vs. 52% of men.
And automatically saying ‘yes’ to the a job offer can be a costly mistake. As a new employee, if you successfully negotiate your salary offer up by $5,000, you will earn about $634,000 more over the course of a 40 year career (assuming annual 5% raises). $634,000 are a lot of reasons to be sure you negotiate your starting salary!
Negotiating a compensation package is not unusual; it is, in fact, expected. Companies rarely provide their best offer as their opening one. They anticipate the potential new employee will ask for more and/or provide a counteroffer.
If you are a new employee and asks for more money, it conveys you know your market worth. If an employee is willing to negotiate their compensation package, they’ve done their research, know what comparable positions and responsibilities offer, feel their contributions should be valued, and aren’t afraid to stand up for themselves. These all are actually positive attributes in a new employee.
Negotiating the compensation package is not a negative, and it doesn’t make the hiring manager angry or re-think making an offer to the person. By this point in the process the company have spent a lot of time and energy selecting the top candidate. The coapnay want that person to come onboard.
All parts of a compensation package are up for negotiation including salary, bonus, title, vacation policy, work schedule, perks, moving expenses, etc. Prioritize what is most important to you. How flexible an employer can be on the different aspects of a compensation package depends on the type of company.
A startup, won’t be able to offer a big salary, but obtaining a more favorable stock option plan and a flexible schedule are possible. Large companies may have more ability to increase the starting salary and bonus, but may not be able to be flexible in offering more vacation time or telecommuting because of the need to enforce strict HR policies across all employees.
One critical aspect of the negotiations is to always convey that you are excited about the opportunity. It’s important that you come across as enthusiastic about the role and company and reiterate the value you will bring to the position. It then makes it much easier to request to be compensated accordingly and at the appropriate market rate.
If you are their top candidate, they are (hopefully) going to think you are worth it, but you also want them to feel your enthusiasm and ensure to continue to have positive discussions throughout the process.
