Most job hunters do not negotiate salary. They simply accept or reject the offered amount because we as individuals are not comfortable with haggling over price, although businesses are accustomed to bargaining in most matters of commerce. However, the primary error of job hunters is to reduce their negotiating power by providing early in the interviewing cycle all of the salary information requested by the employer. This information is used by the employer to either disqualify the job hunter or to formulate a standard offer.
Salary offers by employers are based on four factors: the current salary of the job seeker, his or her asking price, company guide lines, and strength of desire to hire the job hunter. Current salary is one of the most used variables, for it is very easy and convenient to formulate an offer by simply adding 10 percent or 15 percent to the current salary. If your current salary is relatively low for your level of experience, you may be immediately rejected because the company suspects something to be wrong with you. Occasionally, however, your low salary may make you more attractive to an employer with tight purse strings. Nonetheless, rarely will a new company want to atone for the sins of your old tightwad company by adding more than 10 to 15 percent to your current salary to bring you up to industry standards all at once. On the other hand, if your current salary is relatively high for your level of experience, a smaller percentage may be added on, or you may be rejected entirely as being already too expensive. Therefore, withhold this in formation if at all possible until you have been offered the job or until negotiations begin. Do not volunteer your current salary to the company, either in the interview or on the application.
Keep It Negotiable
The second factor, your asking salary, is first used as a screening variable, as previously discussed, and then as an element in the formulation of an offer. The more you convince the company of your worth, the closer the offer will be to your asking price but will rarely exceed it. The higher your asking price, the greater the probability of your being rejected or the more difficult it will be to persuade the company of your deservingness. Therefore, only later in the interview cycle should that figure be revealed. Moreover, your asking price is very likely to be higher or lower than the figure the company thinks is appropriate. As a result, always de scribe your salary expectations as negotiable until after the interview and an offer has been made or is about to be made. The only exceptions are when you are making a career change and you are willing to take less salary than your competition just to get started in your new field, or when you know that the company needs to hire as cheaply as possible and there are other compensating factors such as advancement potential, fascinating work, or a prestigious position.
Company salary guidelines are an important factor in the formulation of an offer. They are used by the company to ensure that new hires are paid comparably with existing employees under the assumption that, since most people are of average capabilities, people with similar quantities of experience deserve similar salary.
Thus, most companies will rarely offer a salary higher than that of a similarly experienced person within the company. However, on the other end of the scale, a company may offer you less than what is comparable if the offerer believes you will accept it. Nevertheless, guidelines do change with time, inflation, and varying job market conditions. Also, they are flexible if you provide the inter viewer with sufficient motivation to get them adjusted or to make an exception.
The biggest difficulty with company guidelines is that the hiring authority knows what they are, and you usually do not. Such information can greatly affect your negotiating strategy and ability.
Therefore, before you interview with a company, research the probable salary range for the position in question. This is one instance where the personnel department can be of -use to you. Call that department under the guise of considering a job change and being curious about the typical salary range for a given position and a given level of experience. Also inquire if that range is flexible and, if so, how exceptions are determined. Since you do not as yet have an application on file with them, the personnel department should give you an objective and accurate answer.
As a last resort, you can research the probable salary range either in the interview or at the beginning of salary negotiations. When the subject of salary does arise and before you communicate a current or asking salary to the interviewer, ask about the salary range into which the interviewer can hire someone after stating that you have an idea of what is normal. When you are answered with a range of figures, such as $16,000-$20,000, repeat the higher figure and state noncommittally that you and the company are ''in the same ballpark." Psychologically, you have committed the inter viewer to the higher figure. However, doing this research at this stage is riskier because the interviewer may be adjusting the salary range somewhat if he or she believes that negotiations have started or may use your response as a screening factor before you have been formally offered the job.
Therefore, research the probable salary range before the interview so that you can better avoid salary discussions until you have convinced the interviewer that you are the best person for the job. If you do not know the probable salary range, the company has an ace up its sleeve during salary negotiations. If you do know that information, then the ace is up your sleeve when you communicate the fact of your knowledge to the interviewer. "Mr. Interviewer, I know what the going rates are within the industry, and I am sure you will make me a fair and competitive offer, regard less of what my current and desired salary figures are. What salary range did you have in mind?"
The final factor in the formulation of a salary offer is the strength of the company's desire to hire you. This factor can outweigh all others if sufficiently strong. It can result in an offer of a lucrative raise over your current salary, the equaling of your substantial asking salary, the exceeding of company guidelines, or all three.
Companies, like people, like to be associated with individuals who, in turn, want to be associated with them. So the best job offers tend to go to job hunters with the 'Thank God It's Monday" attitude, people who demonstrate enthusiasm and interest in the company, the job, the interviewer, and working in general.
Although in the preliminary stages of screening applicants for any position, a company will select interview candidates by placing more weight on skills and experience versus subjective factors, the emphasis reverses by the end of the job interview to become 90 percent attitude and 10 percent aptitude.
