Faced with these conflicting emotions, many job seekers can make unnecessary, costly mistakes during this final, vitally important stage. Far too many people sell themselves short without even exploring their options. Others have wildly unrealistic expectations of the level of compensation they should expect. Still others get so wrapped up in money questions they forget to consider any other issues--a big mistake.
Important Factors to Consider
If you're going to consider a job offer seriously, be confident that this is a job you really want. If you're just graduating, is the job in the field you'd like to pursue? Are you willing to live and work in the area in question? Would you enjoy the work schedule and the way of life?
Whether or not a job will help your career progress is ultimately a much more important question than what your starting salary will be. In some organizations you may be given a lot of responsibility right away but then find your upward progress blocked. Make sure you know if there are opportunities for advancement. Ask about performance reviews: how often are they conducted?
Other information you should have in order to make a sound decision includes:
- Start date
- Job title and associated responsibilities
- Salary, overtime, and compensation
- Bonus structure
- Tuition reimbursement
- Vacation and parental-leave policy
- Life-, medical-, and dental-insurance coverage
- Pension plan
- Travel requirements
Ideally, these issues will have been covered during the course of the interview process or at the time the job offer is made. But if you're unsure of any of this information, don't assume that the specifics will be to your satisfaction. Contact the personnel representative or recruiter and confirm all important details.
Work Environment
Another important factor to consider is the kind of environment you'll be working in. Is the company's atmosphere comfortable, challenging, and exciting? Consider specifics, including office or workstation setting, privacy, proximity to other staff, amount of space, noise level, and lighting. How much interaction occurs between co-workers? Some organizations strongly encourage teamwork and dialogue among staff, whereas others prefer to emphasize individual accomplishment. Which approach works better for you? Remember: if you don't like the work environment before you accept the job, you probably won't like it as an employee.
Salary and Benefits
Money may seem like the biggest criterion in accepting a job, but it can often cloud the decision-making process. Don't accept a job that you're not enthusiastic about simply because the starting salary is a few thousand dollars higher than what you're currently making. It's probably more important to find a job that lets you do something you enjoy. Ask yourself whether the position presents a career path with upward movement and long-range income potential.
Benefits can make a big difference in your compensation package, so don't overlook them! Perhaps the most important benefit to consider is health insurance. With health-insurance costs skyrocketing, you should be sure to find out if the company covers these costs in full. If the company, like many others, pays only a percentage of these costs, make certain that you can afford to pay the difference out of your own pocket.
What about life, dental, and disability insurance? Does the company have a bonus structure or profit-sharing plan? These things can contribute significantly to your salary. Is there a pension plan? How many vacation days or sick days will you get? You should consider all of these factors carefully.
If you plan to continue your education, it's important to find out if the organization will pay for your tuition and if the employer will give you time to attend classes. Some organizations offer tuition incentives but require so much overtime that it's very difficult to take advantage of the benefit.
Do Your Homework
Supplement the information that the organization provides by searching journals and newspapers for articles about the company and, if possible, by talking to current employees. Try to get objective comments-not, for instance, information from someone who was recently fired by the company. Alumni of your college or university who hold similar positions or are employed by the same organization may be an excellent source of information.
Negotiating the Offer
The prospect of negotiating salary and benefits strikes fear into the hearts of many job seekers young and old. But handling the inevitable money questions doesn't have to be difficult. And the more you think about them in advance, the easier they'll be for you to answer. Let's go through the process step by step.
First, the basics: Never try to negotiate salary or benefits until after you've gotten an offer. Try it, and you'll look as if you care more about money than about putting your skills to work for the company. Your goals at an interview are simple: (I) prove to the recruiter that you're well-suited to the job as you understand it, and (2) make sure that you feel comfortable with the prospect of performing the job and working in the environment the company offers.
If you've been offered a position, congratulations! The hard part is over. If you feel uncomfortable about negotiating for a salary, relax. The tables are now turned in your favor. Think about it-you've already gotten what you want. Until you say yes to the offer, the burden is on the recruiter. He or she has put a lot of time and effort into finding the right candidate and has decided that you are that person. If you say no, the recruiter will have wasted a lot of energy and may have to go back to square one to find another candidate.
So don't worry about the recruiter's withdrawing his or her handshake and showing you the door if you dare to ask if the company's offer is flexible. The worst case might be that the employer tells you your salary is set by company policy and there's really no room to negotiate. But the recruiter may just as likely tell you he or she can't give you an immediate answer and will have to get back to you.
The most important thing to remember about salary negotiations is that most salaries are negotiable. That doesn't mean that you name a figure and the employer either matches it or doesn't. It means that you're ready to listen to what the recruiter has to offer, and give it consideration. To succeed in negotiation, both parties have to reach an agreement with which both are happy. If you somehow succeed at winning yourself a bigger paycheck but antagonize your future boss in doing so, trouble lies ahead. If, on the other hand, you set realistic expectations and realize that you may not get everything you want, you'll probably do just fine.
Just how do you know how much you should expect? The answer is the same as in every other step of your job search: do your homework.
Contact your professional association or read the trade journals for your industry. Call employment agencies to find out salaries of jobs listed with them; read the newspaper help-wanted ads. Alumni of your college or university in similar positions (or employed by the same organization) may also be an excellent source of information. Doing this research will give you an idea of the general salary level you can realistically expect.
Setting realistic expectations is especially important for the entry-level job seeker or recent graduate. If you don't have a lot of professional experience, you don't leave the recruiter with much hard evidence on which to base a decision. Instead, you're asking him or her to take a leap of faith based on potential that you've demonstrated in classes, internships, volunteer work, or extracurricular activities. Without a track record of professional experience, your arsenal is missing a powerful weapon. This is why entry-level salaries are often determined by the marketplace. That leaves you very little leverage with which to negotiate. Even so, that doesn't mean you can't give it a try.
On the other hand, if you have some experience under your belt and are looking for a midlevel or executive-level position, your negotiating power might be much greater. For a lucky (or unlucky) few at the top of the heap, salary and benefit negotiations can be as complex and painstakingly slow as a bill passing through Congress. If you're like most people, you're not in that group. Whatever your level of experience, your task is to try to figure out just how high the employer is likely to go.
If, after listening politely to the specifics of the offer, you're left hoping for a higher salary, greater health coverage, or something else, it's okay to say so (calmly). Find out if the offer is firm. If it seems there may be some room to negotiate, make sure you have a specific figure in mind, because if the recruiter does have the freedom to barter, he or she will probably ask you point-blank to supply a figure that would satisfy you.
When you're asked that question, rule number one is as follows: don't tip your hand by giving the interviewer a concrete number for which you're willing to settle. You don't want to take yourself out of the running by naming a figure that's absurdly optimistic, and you certainly don't want to risk naming a figure that's lower than what the employer is ready to offer. Instead of naming your price, say something like, ''Based on my experience and skills, and the demands of the position, I'd expect to earn an appropriate figure. Can you give me some idea what kind of range you have in mind?"
If you're pressed about salary requirements during an interview and you feel you must name a figure, give a salary range instead of your most recent salary. And don't forget to add in the value of your insurance, pension, or any other benefits you had, says Rebecca Jesperson Anthony and Gerald Roe, career specialists at the University of Iowa.
Naming a salary range gives you a chance to hook on to a figure that's also in the range the company has in mind. In fact, many companies base their offers on sliding salary scales. Therefore, if you name a range of, say, twenty-five to thirty thousand dollars, it just may be that the company was considering a range of twenty-two to twenty-eight thousand dollars. In this case, you'll be more likely to receive an offer in the mid-to-upper end of your range. Of course, your experience and qualifications also play a part here. If you're just starting out and have little experience, the recruiter may be more likely to stick toward the lower end of the scale.
A few words about projecting the right attitude when discussing money-try not to reveal what you're thinking. Even if the salary offer seems barely above poverty level, it wouldn't be wise to inform the recruiter of that fact. Similarly, if the offer is much higher than you expected, doing cartwheels around the room probably wouldn't be appropriate, either.
In all seriousness, though your appearance and demeanor are important throughout your career, they are especially important at the interview and offer stage, if you want to be a professional, start right away by acting like one.
Some final notes: The point of your job search isn't salary negotiation; it's finding a job that you'll be happy with, that you'll grow with, and that will allow you to be yourself. If your starting salary isn't the one you dreamed about, but the job presents the right opportunity, think about the possibility of commanding a higher salary once you've had a chance to make yourself invaluable to the organization.
On the other hand, if the salary or benefits fall far short of your realistic expectations, despite all your efforts to negotiate, nothing says you have to take the job. Don't make the mistake of accepting a position with which you're fundamentally unhappy. Trust your instincts-if you're dissatisfied with the employer before your start date, don't bet that the situation will improve after you start.
