Get what you pay for? How about getting paid what you ask for?
Rule 1 – Don’t name your salary. Wait for an offer and negotiate from there
As suggested by Deepak Malhotra, Harvard Business School professor, never name your figure when first asked. Instead, wait until a salary has been offered and negotiate from there.
There is often such a disparity between what you believe you’re worth and what you’re actually worth – your financial worth should be reflected on your work ethic, experience, and knowledge and not just your confidence in asking for what you think you deserve.
If you go in too low, this will make negotiating extremely difficult to get anything more.
Rule 2 – Do your research
Your salary is of course dependent on your skills, background, location, education, and experience. But there are countless other aspects which factor into that decision too.
Think about the age of the company where you’re applying for a job – what is its turnover and how long has it been running for?
- Do your research on similar roles and what those companies’ salaries are.
- Research your potential company on Glassdoor to view current/previous employees’ insights into working there – you’ll often be able to gain some salary information for your level of experience or role that you’re applying for.
- Ask as many questions as possible throughout the interview process to gain a realistic idea of your workload and responsibilities. How will this compare to your current/previous position?
Rule 3 – Don’t just consider your salary
Salary isn’t the most important thing – consider your location, flexibility, work duties, career progression, benefits, parental perks, education, and growth opportunities.
Consider what your ambitions are first and foremost. Then consider which areas of your job will help you get there. Ask yourself some of these questions before having this conversation with your line manager:
- Do you want to work flexibly around your family or studies?
- Is private healthcare and/or dentalcare important to you?
- If you travel far for work, would you expect some kind of compensation for this cost?
- If you’d need to relocate for this position, would your company offer a relocation package?
- Are you looking for training/career progression opportunities?
These are all acceptable requests to discuss with your potential employer and shouldn’t feel afraid to open that conversation – perhaps consider which areas are most valuable to you in requesting.
If the negotiated salary still isn’t quite what you wanted, don’t fret. Consider some of these other options above that your employer may be able to offer you.
