How to Negotiate your Salary
How to negotiate your salary?
Want to get paid more? When you think of offer negotiations do you cringe just a little bit? If so, you are not alone.
Negotiating for your salary can make you feel greedy and selfish. Your self-talk instantly takes over your mind and tells you things like “you don’t deserve any more” or “if you don’t accept what they are offering, you will lose the job”.
Well I'm here to let you in on a secret. You are not greedy if you ask for what you believe you are worth ….and there is a way to do that that comes off authentic and reminds the hiring manager why they want to offer you the role in the first place.
The company has already decided you are a fit for their company - and now you have to decide what offer would make you feel empowered to accept it.
Let's be honest, you've worked hard to get to this point of the offer process. You have spent countless hours on job boards, tailored applications for companies and have shared your experience in many interviews.
Accepting this job offer is just the start of your journey with this company. So, let’s ask for a salary that you feel fits the contributions you are going to give to this organization.
After all, this company is looking for a long-term employee and it’s important that we get you a salary that makes you feel valued and appreciated from the beginning.
So how are we going to ask for what you’re worth?
How to Negotiate: 4 things to ask & 1 thing you don’t
The offer negotiation process brings on a roller coaster of emotions for people. Let’s take the emotions out of the ask and come from a place that you feel confident and in control.
When you get that call “Hello You! We are so happy to offer you the position!” the sheer excitement clicks in that you have been chosen for this position. I think we can think back to the elementary school gym class when they are picking teams and your name gets called… who doesn’t like to be picked for something? It feels good, right? Yes… yes it does!
Regardless of how excited you are, I’m encouraging you not to say an immediate “YES!” to accept the offer they have just given you. Take a step back, s.l.o.w d.o.w.n the process and remind yourself of what $$$ you wanted before they told you what they were offering.
Yes, that’s right. I’m giving you permission to breathe, take a second to reflect, refocus your mind and regain control so you can ask what you are worth.
You are NOT obliged (and I highly discourage you from) immediately accepting what they offer
SPOILER ALERT: The recruiter wants you to immediately accept.... And they (almost always) have a negotiation amount that they are holding back and will over give you “if you ask”.
By this point, the company has decided they like you and they see it as part of their organization …use this to your advantage.
So what are some powerful statements to say when they present you with the salary?
“Thank you. I’m really excited about this opportunity”
Thank you does not mean YES. This is a good way to let them know you appreciate that they want you on their team. It gives the recruiter the hope that you can both make this offer work. Ultimately, it has to be the right fit for both of you - and you both have the same goal… to get you hired into their company. Now keep reading, this is where it gets good!
Ask: “Do you have flexibility with the salary that is being offered?
Then silence. Ssshhh that self-talk that wants to jump in and buffer this with follow-up lines like “If not, then that’s okay. Or I'm sorry I asked. I would actually be very happy with that”. S.i.l.e.n.c.e. Give the person who presented you the job offer the time to speak.
“If you could do X, I’m on board”
I love this one. Sometimes you have a number in your mind and what they are offering is. You’ve already reviewed their entire offer to understand what else is included…. And you just want to bridge the gap of that one thing. You can ask, if you could do “$100k instead of $95k, I’m on board”. Then yes, sit in silence.
“Do you mind if I take the night to think about it?”
Use this as the opportunity to make sure you fully understand what is being offered. Even if the salary is EXACTLY what you want (or higher), I would still take the night to review. This will give you the opportunity to review the entire package. How does their vacation policy stack up against your current role? What are they offering for medical and health benefits? Are you expected to go into the office or is it remote? …. You get the point. There is always more than JUST money to consider.
Slow your brain down to give it the space it needs to consider all aspects of the offer and not let the excitement over take you. The easiest way to increase your long-term salary is to negotiate smartly at the start.
(ps. Always ask for one more week of vacation too.. You might be surprised how flexible this is).
Those sound like simple statements, you might think “is this really that revolutionary?” Yes. Yes it is. After 14 years in recruiting, I am shocked at how few times people actually negotiate AND give the space for their ask to sit with the recruiter.
Ladies, I’m looking at you (especially). There is often an expectations as women, that “the company will treat me fair” and will offer their best offer first. Wrong. Ask for what you want. You deserve to get paid what you are worth and it’s important that you act as your best advocate.
And now my “Unpopular Opinion”. People may debate on this advice of “What NOT to do” and you know what, I’m okay with that. I always provide insights from a recruiter’s mindset and here is a real pet peeve of mine.
In salary negotiations DO NOT say “Based on my research”.
People love this one. I know, I know, you find comfort in the “facts” that you’ve found.
Often someone will say to me, “well based on my research, you should be paying X for this role”. Let’s just agree we don’t do this! It feels like a threat. It doesn’t give the recruiter the “warm fuzzies”. The recruiter wants to be your advocate and partner with you. By phrasing your negotiation like this, it looks like you are questioning their intelligence.
My question for you: where has this research come from? GlassDoor salaries? Word on the street? These are great resources to use to get a ballpark idea of what a company pays. However, it’s good to realize that these salaries are not verified data points. These are what current or previous recruiters have entered themselves into the system. And sometimes, people just throw in a fake number if they do not want someone in their human resources department to guess who entered the number. Also, these numbers do not take into consideration the “entire total compensation”, meaning what else is the company offering? Extra vacation? Health benefits? Cool fun perks unique to that company?
We have to look holistically at the packages being offered and fixating on the one piece of market data that you found that specific job title pays would NOT be my recommendation to leverage to ask for more.
So instead, ask clever open-ended questions and give the person on the other end time to think.
It’s okay to create a small amount of fear of missing out by the recruiter if you take a day to think about the offer.
Distance makes the heart grow fonder, it also allows that recruiter to go back and advocate for extra salary as a “just incase” it’s what the company needs to offer you to get over the line.
Remember, if you ask with curiosity and kindness (not entitlement) … you will have a better chance of getting the extra money that has been held back for you!
So despite your excitement to accept the first offer, don’t forget this is your best opportunity to negotiate your salary. Asking upfront for what you feel is fair, will offer you year-over-year success as you continue to get your annual increases on top of your base salary. If you do not negotiate upfront, it could take you years to eventually earn the same amount of money that you could have had from the start.
That recruiter often has approval to pay you more money … you just have to ask!
You deserve to get paid what you are worth.
