We'll talk about actual salary negotiations in a later. For now, you need some guidelines on the money you're looking for. Conventional wisdom says to find out, if possible, the maximum a company is willing to pay and then set your asking price a little bit higher. It's basic horse-trading gospel. The more you ask for, the less you have to settle for,
This advice isn't bad insofar as it goes, but it doesn't help you much in this preliminary, job-targeting phase of your search. Remember, too, that if you turn down a job offer because you're not happy with the money, you're pretty much closed to the case on that particular job. In any case, you need some salary guidelines independent of any specific situation: a ballpark figure to serve as a basis of negotiation.
The first thing you need to know is what the "going rate" is in the general target area you've set up. What are middle management financial executives making these days? How much are magazine editors making? Do some research in the library (there are books out that offer this kind of information). Read ads in the newspaper or trade magazines for additional data. You'll probably come up with a fairly broad range, and this is good because it gives you a chance to adjust your figure according to your situation. I'm going to assume that this range meets your basic living expenses. If it doesn't, you're looking in the wrong area. Get some new targets. But, assuming the salary range is something you can live with, figure in two things: one, what you were earning in your last job; and, two, the qualifications you bring to the new job situation.
In most situations, the hiring authority will base the offer you ultimately get on the company's salary range and your previous earnings, your qualifications and, if they want you badly enough, what they think it might take to hire you. Remember, though, that no matter how badly a company wants you, you're unlikely to be offered any more than your counterparts at the firm.
Let's figure that the company's range for a particular job is between $25,000 and $30,000. They'd like to pay $25,000. They'll go as high as $30,000 for a blue chipper. Now, assuming your qualifications are strong and you were making, say, $27,000 a year on your last job, you can expect an offer close to $30,000. If, on the other hand, you were only earning $20,000 a year in your last job, you'll probably have a tough time getting more than $25,000-regardless of your qualifications.
If you think it's unfair that your salary demands have to be predicated, not so much on how good you are, but on what you were earning in your last job, you're right. But that's how most people in the corporate world think. Like it or not, people will equate your contribution to a company by how much they paid you. You may have been the best office supervisor in the industry, but the fact that you were earning a good $5,000 a year less than other office supervisors in the same industry will worry a would-be employer. The suspicion will be that you're not worth more. You may get a chance, but you'll have to start at the lower figure and work your way up. My advice is not to fight the system but to join it.
Some job hunters tend to increase their salary demands in proportion to the length of time they're out of work. The logic is that now they have more economic ground to make up. I call this Half's Inverse Law of Successful Job Changing, and I urge you not to get caught up in it. Your attractiveness as a job candidate is not proportionate to the amount of time you've been out of work. If anything, it may diminish. If you were trying to sell a house and it had been on the market for six months without a bid, you wouldn't raise the price. So, if anything, you should be prepared, as time goes on, to reduce your salary demands somewhat.
A crucial point: the role your financial situation plays in your job decisions. If you have enough money in reserve to wait out the offer you're looking for, fine. Be as independent as you like; but be aware, too, that your reserve can thin out quickly. The higher your salary requirements, -the more you limit your chances. It would be nice to get more money in your next job, but if you have no job, smart money says to look for a lateral change.
The reason for this is pure arithmetic. Let's say you were earning $25,000 a year in your last job-about $481 a week. You get fired, and you figure that now is the time to up your salary demands, to $30,000-a 20 percent increase, or about $93 a week. It's a basic axiom in our business that job hunters looking to make a lateral move (that is, to a job that carries no major increase in salary) can generally expect to get a new job within a month or two of intelligent job hunting. Job hunters looking for a 20 percent increase, on the other hand, often take up to six months to find a position with this kind of an increase, and, at that, many of them have to settle for a lower salary. Remember, a company can often fill from within for a lower salary, even if they give their employee an increase.
Let's assume your six-month search is successful. You get a job that pays you $30,000 and you feel like drinking a toast to victory. Count me out. Based on the scenario I've just de-scribed, you've lost 22 weeks of salary at $481, which amounts to more than $10,500, less unemployment insurance. Forgetting, even, about income tax, it's going to take you nearly two years to make up the difference with your new salary. With those kinds of victories, you can't afford too many defeats.
Avoiding the "Faceless Candidate" Trap
Probably the toughest hiring situation of all comes about when you've been fired with hundreds and maybe more from your firm. Suddenly the local job race is crowded and, worse, crowded with people who, from the employer's point of view, all fit pretty much the same mold. So, rather than try to hire the best person from a company that has just laid off a great many people, some interviewers won't hire anybody from that company.
Here's what to do:
- Consider out of town. The idea may not appeal to you. Your family might not be happy. But it's an option that deserves serious consideration. In a mass layoff situation, your chances of getting hired out of town are always greater than they are if you stay put.
- Write a functional resume. Instead of listing the company first, stress your responsibilities and accomplishments. And when you write your covering letter, don't give the name of the company you've just been asked to leave. Don't even mention the industry. Simply put "large manufacturing firm," or some such description.
- Don't think small. You think "small" when you say to yourself you can only do one or two things well. Suppose you were in the technical department of your firm. Do you have a nice personality? Do you get along well with people?
Are you a hard worker? Maybe you could sell technical products.
- Ask for a chance. I see nothing wrong with asking for a job on a trial basis- to prove to the employer that you can handle it. It won't always work, but your chances of getting a job are better when you show a willingness to prove yourself than when you sit back and wait for guarantees.
I once interviewed a candidate who had had nearly fifty jobs in twenty years. "I'm actually very stable," he said. "I've never quit a job."
He had a point. Not a great point from the aspect of most interviewers, but a point, anyway. Having a resume that's filled with job after job after job could be a hindrance to you, especially if you're looking into a company that prides itself on its stable atmosphere. On the other hand, if you've had a lot of jobs, you probably have a lot of experience at getting jobs. The main thing to keep in mind if you have a background that is filled with a lot of jobs is to concentrate on "fast-track" companies-the companies that are known for hiring people with diversified experience, companies accustomed to taking people from outside the industry. Fortunately, these are the companies that usually get written about the most in the major business publications. Spend a couple of hours in the library with back issues of magazines like Fortune, Business Week, Barrons, and Financial World, and you'll come up with a list of a dozen or so of these companies. Then take it from there.
