Interview Tips: Negotiate a Job Offer in This Economy
About salary history and expectations often elicit feelings of anxiety, particularly when times are tough in the job market. Many who have been unemployed for several months worry their power to negotiate has diminished. Others know they are overqualified for the positions they seek and fear their salary history will screen them out of consideration. Here are some suggestions after a job offer:
· If the offer is more than you expected, congratulations! But you may get an even better one if you don't jump at the first offer. Pause long enough to give the employer the impression you may be expecting more. You may even ask for time to think over the offer.
· If another employer has made a better offer, that's the most powerful argument you can use.
· If you have no other offers, but your research tells you the going rate is higher than what the employer is offering, say so. Keep in mind that the employer probably has also researched the employment market, so be sure you have good sources to point to.
· If the employer won't raise the offer enough to suit your expectations, ask the employer to agree to review your salary sooner than normal.
· Employers who won't budge on salary offers sometimes are willing to make concessions on benefits or perks that you want. Maybe you can get stock options, extra vacation, use of a company car or the ability to work at home part of the week. Sometimes you can argue that you both will gain from the benefit; for example, if the company pays your tuition expenses for night classes, it will profit from your improved skills.
· You may also be able to get concessions on certain work responsibilities you either want or want to avoid. For example, you might ask to be given a managerial task that's not normally part of the job, and this eventually could lead to a higher-paying position. Any tasks you ask to avoid should be lower-level so that ruling them out would not interfere with your growth in the job.
· If possible, do all your negotiations face-to-face, rather than by telephone, because you can gauge people's reactions better in person. Sometimes, candidates will say and do everything right during the interview process and during negotiations and still won't achieve the job offer they were seeking. In these instances, Shatkin suggests telling the employer, "that the job is one you would like if the salary were appropriate, and thank them for their time and consideration. It is possible that they will not find someone else to fill the position and will reconsider hiring you at the salary you asked for."
How to answer salary question in job interview
Americans aren't keen to discuss money. We like making it and we like spending it, but money doesn't belong in polite conversation. It sits on the shelf of forbidden topics, alongside politics, religion and sex.You haven't even met anyone at the company yet and you're expected to divulge information only you and your bank account know? How rude.Yet, one of the requisites often found on a job posting is, "Include salary history."
Like it or not, salary talks are part of job hunts, and often they arise in the early stages of the game. For a topic as sensitive and tricky as money, how should you proceed?
The dos and don'ts
As with any portion of a job hunt, there are bad signals you can send to an employer and vice versa. For example, you don't want to show up wearing beach attire to an interview. At the same time, you don't want to work at an office where all the employees looked unhappy and terrified of the boss. Salary talks have similar red flags.
"During salary discussions, an employer does not want to hear about financial pressures candidates may have, such as debt, loans or, especially, maintaining a lifestyle," Fuller cautions. "Showing an appreciation for the tangibles, intangibles and the big picture will go a long way. [Also], employers will screen out candidates who are all about the money and not about the contribution and advancement of the organization."
But be wary of employers during these conversations. You need to trust what you're being told; otherwise you probably don't want to work at the company.
"Candidates who cannot establish trust with an employer about the role, the expectations, the compensation and the future outlook should not accept an offer with an employer," Fuller says. If you have no faith in what you hear, can you imagine what it will be like to work for this employer every day?
The interview
Even if you're able to sidestep the issue during the application process, you might encounter it during a phone interview. Unless you like long, awkward silences, you'll have to address the issue.
"The best answer is to tell the employer what you are currently earning [or most recently earned]," Fuller suggests. "At that point, compensation is not at a negotiation stage; it is at the information gathering stage. This is an important distinction to understand."
If you're asked what you expect to earn, not what you did earn, Fuller recommends you give a realistic range for the position. This gives the employer an idea of what you want and can lead to a discussion of whether that pay aligns with what he or she had in mind.
Regardless of when the topic arises, Fuller stresses that job seekers be honest about their salary history. Employers can verify your salary in a matter of minutes these days, so lying only serves to make you look bad. Just because you give a high number doesn't mean the employer will match the amount, Fuller says.
