Salary Negotiations Demand Clear Explanation Of Your Worth
In advance of salary negotiation, it is imperative for you to know exactly what your salary value is. If you do not know how much you are worth before negotiating salary, then you will find it very difficult to ask for a salary that matches what the job market will pay.
If you do not do your research, your employer will decide your pay increase for you and it may be very disappointing. Millions of people regularly negotiate salary, but very few get the maximum pay increase that they could.
Research the market in advance of approaching your boss for a pay raise, or before revealing your expectations for salary at job offer time. It is like a game. Do not reveal your information too soon. In this case, your strategy is to keep your information close to you. It could be your past salary history, or what you are planning to ask for in salary negotiation.
Before going into a salary negotiation, know what you are worth in compensation terms!
Whether you are looking for new employment or you are asking for a pay raise, do your research first. There are great Internet resources available, like SalaryExpert.com or Monster.com. These sites have continual access to all the salary information that is available.
Make sure you scrutinize the quality of information from each site, so you feel you have reliable information. If a web site reports salary scales based on information provided by subscribers it may not be as accurate as if the salary data is reported by the hiring department of the companies in that field.
Another method, if you are a little intrepid, is to do a bit of discreet research. If you know people who work for the firm, and are not fearful of asking direct questions, you may well find find out what other staff are earning in the same job for that business.
Better yet, if you can ask a valued human resources friend, you may find out not only about the company you work for, but you may also find out about other companies in your market. Whatever information you can find out, will be useful, as long as the source is someone you can believe.
One source of information that is invaluable are research reports published by the salary research consultants. These consultants survey HR departments nationwide, or in specific regions, and get very specific salary data for hundreds and hundreds of job titles in each region. The current version of these reports are very valuable to job seekers, but they are hard to find. If you do find one, you are very luck because current data is worth its weight in gold!
Many salary sites report salaries in the form of a large range. If the range is $45,000-$69,000, the site will often report that data in 25% intervals. The bell curve is sometimes found within the 0-100% range, and it is important for you to clearly assess where you fit in the range, and make sure you are not below the bottom or too far above the top.
If you perform well at your job, then you know it. Think about your performance critically and honestly, and determine using intuition where you think you fit in, as far as a percentile basis. Don’t worry if you think you’re in the lower regions. It may be lack of experience or tenure. If you are in the top end, you know you’re a high performer and you’re providing a lot of value to the company.
You will find valuable feedback from a colleague you like or even better, ask someone in a similar company what that salary range demands in terms of skills and experience.
Numbers speak loudest when dealing with employers and bosses. If you want to earn a larger salary, you need to make them understand you are worth it because you either cut costs, improved business efficiency, or drove profits. You know the work you do, and if there are quantifiable facts, use them to your advantage. If you don’t relate directly to the bottom line, think of other quantifiable facts (e.g. a teacher with a high rate of students on the honour roll). This is the best way to communicate your value.
Best of luck to you in your next salary negotiation.
Trevor Davide Grant is a project manager in the IT field and has extensive experience in salary negotiation. Trevor has worked for global telecom, electric utilities, software development consulting, and a prevalent web 2.0 site. He has learned salary negotiating in the most effective way. Learn great tactics on the topic of negotiating salary at www.HowToNegotiateASalary.com.
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