I am putting this here as I am looking for opinons on how to negotiate salary.
I have always been weak at this. Basically if they don’t give me what I want I walk out the door. Well it’s been about 6 months now and with the job market cold I could use some advice.
Basically I had a very strong interview. She told me I was the ONLY candidate that knows anything about the hotel market. They are a real estate firm that buys small run down SROs (single room occupancy) places and convert them to Boutique Hotels. There chief accountant is leaving and presently they hire a guy as needed to do basic computer skills. I was the systems admin/analyst in my last job and have a lot of accounting experience.
Anyway I always hate when they say “what are you looking for salary wise?”
This interviewer said “what did you make last job”
I told her I made 40,000/year and with my overtime and bonuses it came between 47,000 and 54,000 depending on the two for each year. I worked 1/2 year in 2003 and made 26,000 for that year.
She said “well that’s in the range we can offer.”
So how do I negotiate should they offer me the job. I want the max, but on the other hand I have been out of work for awhile. I could go another 3 months without too much worry, but I have no health insurance in the meantime.
I would like 50,000.00. The only drawback to the job was I was getting 3 weeks vacation and here I would only get 1 week. But I figured I could make those two weeks up in Salary and maybe take a week off unpaid, if possible.
Any hints, opinons or suggestions? Even if I don’t get this job it’ll be helpful in the future.
Since you are in their ball park, negotiating should not be a big deal.
If they offer 48 and you want 50, I would just go back and tell them that. If they say they can’t give you that, ask what they can give you. Dry cleaning? Immediate health insurance coverage? An extra week a year paid vacation? Something that you can assign a value to that will close that salary gap.
The smaller the company, the more flexible they are in negotiating.
And FYI - I am a hotel controller and in my experience, if the inital offer is rejected, and they really want you, they will come back with more. If it’s still to low or they won’t throw anything in, then you are right to just walk away.
Just how strong was your interview? Interviews can be a fuzzy place between reality and good acting. You both are on your best behavior and no one wants the other to think to much about the negatives…
When you are asked point blank, and it is far below what you were expecting, then ask them point blank, how negotiable the offer is, and inform them you do not want to make a lateral move, and would rather an upward one.
The best advice I can give you is to NOT negotiate. At all.
Do you own math and calculate what you think you are worth. What’s the figure YOU want to make. Then tell them that.
Two things can happen
They can say yes. You’re happy.
They can say no. Then you either don’t take the gig, which is fine or you take the gig but you’ll always be thinking that you’re being underpaid. That ain’t worth it.
Note: this does NOT apply if you’re out of work and running out of resources. At that point…any port in a storm.
I did that last year with my unemployment running out and took a job for half my previous salary. It kept food on the table but I immediately began looking for a better situation. And I found one and took it.
Employers who pay under the going rate reap the whirlwind.
This book: “The quick interview and salary negotiation book” by J. Michael Farr has been absolutely indespensible in my last two salary negotiations. Check it out at your local library.
I was able to almost double my salary recently because of what I learned in this book. (I would have seriously underbid myself without the techniques I learned.)
The most important tip of which was: He who quotes a figure first loses.
Yes, you have the range, but the employer must be the one who gives a specific number first.
I could go on and on, but all you need to know is in the book.
(But if you really don’t want to check it out of the library, I can give you some more pointers. I just really have to go to the bathroom right now!!!)
For those of us who might not have it in our local libraries (I promise I’ll check!)… I’d be really interestered in a handful of pointers. Not that I’m in salary negotiations right now, but forewarned is forearmed…
When asked, go to the top of the range. It’s in their ballpark, and there’s a good chance they’ll agree. It also shows that you value yourself highly.
If they go lower, but still within that range, you probably should accept it. If it goes below, have no qualms about saying it’s low and asking for more.
The one time they asked me for a salary number, I went high – about $7000 a year more than I had ever made in my life at the time. They came back a little lower, but it was still about $5000 more than my previous salary.
Much more sophisticated analyses than I can offer are available. The first of the only two times in my life that I’ve been asked for my salary requirements was during the final interview for my first job after college. I naively lowballed myself so badly that the employer came back with an offer 25% higher than what I’d asked for. And I soon learned what a bargain I’d given them.
That situation doesn’t apply to you, Mark, because you are experienced. I was asked for my salary requirement when discussing what has become my present job. I told the person who is now my boss that I’d get back to him. As I’d been operating my own company for over a decade, I wasn’t too sure about corporado salaries. So I called everybody I knew well enough to ask in the industry, and was surprised at the consistency of the answers.
When I called back, I gave them a range of $5000 with what I wanted at the bottom end of that range. I also told them about my survey as well as mentioning that it fit with a related professional society’s recently published salary survey.
Not surprisingly, they came back with an offer at the bottom end of the range. I was happy; I took it.
Okay, here’s my strategy (which I learned from the book):
(Actually, not from the book) As a woman, it was hard to ask for money. I just faked being confident about it.
Do your homework and know what an acceptable salary range is for the position, considering the market, your skills and experience. www.salary.com has a great tool for this.
Never put a salary requirement on a resume or application. This question is only posed to weed you out or to lock you into a salary that may be too low. Never list your past salaries, either. Instead, put “To be disussed”.
A specific salary is only to be discussed after they have made an offer. When asked, “What are you looking for?” or words to that effect, reply “I don’t feel comfortable talking about salary at this stage. I believe that discovering if we are a good fit is paramount, and I’m sure that if we decide to go forward that we can come to a figure that is commensurate with my skills and experience, and that is a win-win for both of us.”
If they offer you a job and don’t give you a specific figure, instead pressing you to give one first, you say “I am very excited about this opportunity and it is very important to me. I’m confident that any figure you offer will be fair.”
If they keep pressing you, only give a range. Or “mid-40’s”, or something like that.
Once they give you a figure, you don’t automatically accept. Remember:
a. They have told you they want you. You are never going to be in a better position to get the best salary then at that point.
b. Employers never give you their best offer right out of the chute. It’s not in their best interest.
c. Don’t be afraid that you will lose the opportunity or offend the employer by turning down their first offer. Any good employer knows that salary negotiation is part of the game.
This is how you “turn down” their first offer. You always tell them you need 24 hours to consider their offer. You come back the next day and tell them, “I’ve considered your offer, and am very excited about the opportunity. I’ve given it some thought, and based upon the skills and experience I bring to the table, I would ask for a figure of _________ .” Then Don’t Say Anything!! Wait for them to respond. They will accept your number, say they can’t go that high, but offer you something higher than their initial offer, or say they can’t go higher than their initial offer.
You accept graciously the higher salary you negotiated, or, if you really want the job, but they don’t budge from their initial offer, then see if you can negotiate about benefits, or if you can get an agreement that your salary will be reviewed in 6 mos. to a year.
I was offered a job and the temp agency that I was working with said the employer absolutely positively was making their best offer and to not dick around and just accept it. After explaining to this gal for almost 20 minutes that I never, ever accept a first offer, she went back to the employer. The employer came back with a figure $5,000 higher than their initial offer.
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Fantastic advice, niblet_head. I would also like to say that the salary negotiations can tell you a lot about the company you’ll be working for. In one salary negotiation, when I refused to name a figure and risk lowballing myself, the guy interviewing me got mad at me. Needless to say, I didn’t take that job. You’re negotiating for how much they are willing to pay you to give them your time and effort. It’s a two-way street, and a company that tries to hold all the marbles probably won’t be a great company to work for.
I don’t know if this is a great idea or not, but I don’t even apply for jobs that stipulate “state salary requirements on application.” I feel that companies like that have a corporate mentality of taking advantage of their employees, and it wouldn’t be a good fit for me.
I read something a little while ago that might fit here. When pressed for a salary figure, say something like “I expect to be paid something in line with my qualifications and experience.”
And, in closing, I just want to say how unfair these negotiations are, and how much I dislike the corporate attitudes behind it. They know exactly what they’re willing to pay an employee; they’re just playing games, trying to get newbies to undervalue themselves. Bastards.