Career changes can be scary and intimidating. Once you’ve gone through resume shortlisting, screening rounds and interviews, the only thing remaining is your final compensation negotiation. But this can often be critical!
According to a Payscale study, over 60% of young professionals did NOT attempt to negotiate when an offer was made for a new role and instead accepted the offer. Additionally, only 37% of young professionals have ever asked for a raise.
Young professionals leave money on the table compared to their more experienced peers – Which is why it is important to learn about negotiation sooner rather than later.
Let’s get started.
Understanding the HR perspective
Think about it this way: Do you and the HR representative have any shared goals for salary negotiation?
No.
Most HR folks do not have any incentive to pay you well (or even what you deserve) because their KPIs are wired to hire you at the lowest possible compensation. Don’t take their word for it.
So what should you do?
Treat this as a simple negotiation.
The rules of a negotiation
Every negotiation has a ZOPA – a zone of possible agreement.
Each party has a settlement range. They will go to an alternative beyond this range, so all agreements will happen in this range.
The overlap between the seller’s and buyer’s settlement range form this ZOPA. Your goal is to find this range and land on the best point in that range.
In this case, you’re the seller (of your talent), and the company is the buyer (of your talent).
Essentially, it would help if you determined the values of Seller’s range, Buyer’s range, Alternatives and then determine your ZOPA (zone of possible agreement) strategy.
Applying negotiation tricks on your job negotiation
Now that you understand the basics of negotiation, let’s apply it to the job negotiation process:
- Buyer’s range – The company’s ability to pay: Gather data on the company. The most basic requirement needed to succeed in any negotiation is understanding who you’re dealing with and what they’re capable of paying. Here’s where you can find the salary ranges for the role:
- Glassdoor: This website is a treasure trove of salary data. Find out the salaries of your company, and maybe a couple of competitor firms too.
- Discussion apps (like Fishbowl): Post your queries anonymously here
- Your network: Ask around! Your friends from the industry might point you in the right direction if you ask them, ‘Company x had offered me $xx. Is this the right amount?’.
- Seller’s range – Your personal market value: Understand your market value and determine your walk-away amount – The amount that you want as a minimum. What do people in your position, education and experience typically make? What other offers are you fielding? Here are some sources of data:
- Current compensation: Break down your current compensation – But include all perks and benefits. Understand this number truly.
- Peer comparison: What companies are your peers going to? Find out those salary ranges on glassdoor.
- Other headhunters: Always engage with any headhunters and ask for salary ranges upfront to understand what your market value is.
- Seller’s alternative – Your alternative offers: What other offers do you have? Can you continue at your firm a little longer? Can you find more opportunities in the same space easily? If you have many unexplored options, you’re in a good bargaining position.
- Buyer’s alternatives – Other candidates for the same position: Is the talent market very hot? Is your skill very common? Does the company already have a backup candidate? If they have spent a lot of time on your candidature, believe me, they will be keen to close the deal with you.
Negotiating like a pro
Once you have all this data in hand, you can go in with a specific strategy to negotiate. Remember – HR has also spent time interviewing you and will be keen to fill the position.
Keep a smile on your face and lay out your facts around what you believe your market value is, the value you will add to the firm and what the market is currently paying. Please keep the conversation going with HR by countering what they say with your data while still showing the ability to discuss.
Your goal has to try to exceed your walk-away amount by as much as you can!
Final thoughts
You might be negotiating your pay for the first (or second) time in your life while HR completes negotiations every day of the week. It would help if you held your nerve to challenge them while remaining polite and professional.
I’ve seen this work with many mentees I’ve coached at Mentoresult. Just last week, a mentee increased their salary by 80% by showing the industry patterns and his specific skills. One mentee also negotiated a 100% increase by indicating higher offers received by similar candidates and establishing the need for parity. It seems absurd, but you need to ask to receive!
Try this, and you’ll be sure to improve the offer!
Looking for further help? Come have a one-on-one session with me here.
