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At the beginning
When you are interviewing for a job the question of money and salary comes up for discussion usually quite early on in the process. Often questions about previous salary begin at the first phone conversation. It’s important to note that even though the recruiter may want to know your previous or current salary, your reply should be in terms of your future salary expectation. Speak in terms of salary ranges rather than a specific amount of dollars.
The relevant discussion is what you are worth to them not previous earnings. Your salary negotiations will be from a position of strength if keep the focus from the start on your compensation expectations and your value to the company rather than previous salary history.
Remember that your negotiation should encompass the entire compensation package including benefits, perks, scope of the work and resources required. It is the whole compensation package not just the salary that counts.
Since many employers are cutting back on the fringe benefits, its wise to take nothing for granted and not assume you will be given a benefit even it if it’s listed in the company’s benefits package. Tuition reimbursement is a good example. Many companies will no longer approve tuition benefits for degrees and courses that do not relate directly to improving current job skills and abilities.
Wait for the offer
Many people forget that they need to wait until they get an offer before they ask for what they want. Always negotiate after you have sold yourself to the company and before you have made any commitments to accept the offer as that’s the point where you have the most leverage to ask for more money, time, benefits, resources, change of rules, etc.
Here is a list of terms and conditions that can be negotiated depending on your level, talent, and desirability:
Annual bonuses and sign-on bonuses
Incentives and profit sharing
Sales commissions
Deferred compensation
Frequency and timing of salary reviews
Company car and car allowance
Training and development
Vacation, sick days, sabbaticals, leaves
Tuition reimbursement
Telecommuting
Severance pay and Outplacement
Insurance: life, medical, dental, disability
Travel: (self, spouse, foreign)
Industry conference costs
Enhanced insurance packages
Scope of responsibility
Adequate budgets, other resources
Reporting relationships
Relocation costs, now and in the future
Stock Options
Negotiating the money
Make sure that you have the offer in writing and not just verbally proffered. Somehow, a written offer really seems to commit a company to you, whereas a verbal offer is easier to rescind when you start asking for more things that company balks at giving you.
If the money is not what you expected, there are always ways to deal with stretching the dollars. The easiest is to request a review in 90-120 days with an increase at that time depending on meeting certain deliverables or milestones.
Sometimes a hiring manager is unable to get past the company’s ceiling on a pay range until after you are hired. You may be offered a hire-on bonus if they can’t come up with the salary level you wanted.
Be sure to get all hire-on bonuses and promised future bonuses “netted up”. To net up a bonus means that the company pays the taxes on it not you. Thus, a $10,000.00 bonus will be a full 10K to you not $7000.00 after taxes.
Are you a super star?
The degree to whether you meet or exceed the qualifications for the position and how badly they want to fill the position will determine the degree of leverage you have to negotiate. If you have “mission critical” competencies, they will do whatever it takes to get you (i.e. Microsoft’s million dollar sign-on bonuses for engineers in the late 1990’s).
Of course, that was superstar level but if they want you bad enough, they will be much more amenable to your terms.
Get the offer in writing up front before negotiating. And don’t take their word or believe verbal promises made during the negotiation process. Put those in writing as an addendum to the offer letter. Hiring managers are notorious for amnesia 6 months into a job about the promises they made to review your salary, allow non-paid time off or telecommuting once you got the project going.
Finally, sometimes negotiations fall through. If for some you are not satisfied with the offer regardless of negotiations and decide to not accept it, then do say no with grace, don’t burn bridges.
About the author
Patti Wilson, a well known SF Bay Area career coach, owns http://www.careercompany.com . She has coached literally thousands of executives and professionals on job search, and career building from Fortune 500 and Global 1000 to small business and startup companies. She has a Masters in Career Development and is certified in Myers Briggs, Behaviordyne’s Behavioral Interviewing and the Predictive Index. Her 5000+ subscribers, online newsletter, http://www.theCareerzine.com , offers insights on employment. In the media, Patti has been frequently quoted or interviewed by PBS Radio's California Report, National Public Radio's Marketplace, Monster.com, Business 2.0/Fortune Magazine, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Chronicle, CBS’s Early Show, and USA Today.
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