The Good News About Interviews – Tip 9 of 10
Going to an interview can seem a daunting prospect, so here is this week’s tip that you can take to improve the probability of your career success.
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Tip 9 of 10: Follow Up – Managing the Process – Salary Negotiation
It is surprising how many people take a job offer at face value and accept or reject it as it stands. It is important to negotiate as good an offer as possible for several reasons:
- For your own sake: you want to be valued at your real worth.
- Because salary is the basis of many other benefits, such as pension, car allowance, bonus etc.
- Money and benefits left on the negotiating table have gone for ever. The package that you agree will be the base for all future negotiations.
The way in which you approach the negotiating phase is crucial if you are to secure the best possible package and terms. To be in a negotiating position means that you must be at the offer stage, so the employing company is very interested in you. Remember your power. You may really need this job but don’t let that show; imagine that an even better position is just around the corner.
By choosing you, the company has nailed its colours to the mast, anyone else is now second best. It is not unknown for a company to take a long time to decide between the candidates on the shortlist and then, when the first choice turns the job down, to restart the whole process rather than go for an also ran.
Principles
- Don’t discuss salary at all until you are told there is an offer on the table. At this point there is a crucial shift in power: you become the buyer.
- Get the company to name the figure first; it is better to be negotiating up from a figure than down.
- Know what you want before you start the discussion.
- Focus on the base salary first; discuss other elements once that has been agreed.
- Don’t accept an offer there and then. Get it in writing and check carefully that what is written is what was agreed, then think it through.
So performing well in the interview might not be as daunting as you first thought and may not require anything more than a fresh perspective and way of looking at it. It sounds simple and it is, it’s just not always easy, especially when trying to do it alone.