Salary and Contract Negotiations

Office of Career Services * LRITC Room 4036 * career@nova.edu * 954-262-7201 • Top 10 Tips for Successful Salary Negotiations • Deadly Salary Mistakes • • • • Communicate Your Worth Calculate Your Expenses Other Negotiation Methods Salary Information Resources 1. Be Persuasive It’s hard to force compensation and trying to do so can potentially damage your working relationship. On the other hand, it’s much easier to persuade someone that it might benefit the organization to pay you more. Doing so will likely improve the way you deal with each other going forward. 2. Aim High and be realistic Many researchers have found a strong correlation between people’s aspirations and the results they achieve in negotiation. At the same time, you want to suggest ideas to which your boss can realistically say yes. 3. Start off with the Right Tone To be persuasive, you want to let your boss know that you will listen and try to understand his views. At the same time, you expect your boss to do the same for you, so you can work together to address this issues. Avoid ultimatums, threats and other coercive behavior. 4. Clarify your interests your compensation should satisfy Your compensation should satisfy a range of needs, not just salary. Make sure you have thought about other types of compensation that would be valuable as well like profit sharing, stock options that vest immediately, a bonus, greater work responsibilities, a quicker promotion schedule, increased vacation or flexible hours. 5. Anticipate their interests Just like you, your boss has needs and concerns of his own. To persuade your supervisor to say yes, your ideas will have to address those interests. 6. Create several options Joint brainstorming is the most effective way to find ideas that satisfy everyone’s interests. Brainstorming works best when you separate it from commitment, first create possible solutions and then decide among them. 7. Focus on objective criteria It is far easier to persuade someone to agree with your proposal if he sees how that proposal is firmly grounded on objective criteria, such as what similar firms pay people of like experience, or what others in the firm make. 8. Think through your alternatives In case you cannot persuade your supervisor to say yes, you need to have a plan B to satisfy your interests. Part of preparation is creating a specific action plan so you know what you’ll do if you have to walk away from the table. 9. Prepare thoughtfully to achieve your goals This is the only aspect of your negotiations you can completely control. To take advantage of all the above advice, you have to invest a significant amount of your time and energy. 10. Review to learn The only way you can really improve your ability to negotiate is to explicitly learn from your experiences. After you finish negotiations, reflect on what you did that worked well, and what you might want to do differently. • Avoiding to face the salary question until the question about “your salary requirements” is raised by the employer • Failing to deal intelligently with salary questions by not doing research on salary, comparable employers, and compensation options • Not knowing how much you’re really worth • Specifying a single salary figure when asked “What are your salary requirements • Thinking salaries are predetermined by employers • Assuming your “qualifications” and performance will automatically determine your salary • Under-valuing your worth • Over-valuing your worth • Thinking the employer is in the driver’s seat • Negotiating salary and benefits over the telephone or through e-mail • Prematurely discussing salary before acquiring information on your detailed job description • Forgeting to consider benefits, perks, stock options, and equity incentives as part of the compensation package • Playing “hard to get” when you have little or nothing to leverage • Lying about your past salary history or alternative offers • Failing to raise intelligent salary questions • Accepting the first or second offer • Failing to assess the employer’s needs and develop a strategy to meet those needs as well as relate this strategy to your salary requirements • Failing to know how to close or follow up the salary negotiation interview • Stating a specific salary on your resume or cover letter • Failing to know when to leave a job for another opportunity that will pay better Just Remember……….. What you make today reflects what you make tomorrow! * When talking about yourself, focus on your major strengths and accomplishments as they relate to the employer’s needs * Be sufficiently redundant on the points that stress your benefits for the employer * Answer and ask questions directly and in detail * Use examples for making your points * Give positive nonverbal clues and feedback * Help the interviewer through the process (The questions you ask may be more important than the answers you give) * Be employer-centered rather than self-centered Calculate Your Expenses Credit Card Bills Cost of Living Entertainment Rent/Mortgage Student Loans Investment Car Payment Insurance Payments • Signing bonus • Vacation time • Extra time away (paid or unpaid) • COBRA payments • Relocation benefits • Accelerated performance review Make sure you calculate your take home pay! Salary.com http://www.salary.com Wet Feet.com http://www.wetfeet.com/research/compensation_articles .asp Monster - Salary Center http://content.salary.monster.com/articles/ Occupational Outlook http://www.bls.gov/oco/ Cost of Living Index http://www.expatforum.com/ International Cost of Living Index http://www.homefair.com/homefair/calc/intsalcalc.html Salary Calculator http://www.homefair.com/homefair/calc/salcalc. html Wage Web http://www.wageweb.com/ Wall Street Journal.com Job Star http://jobstar.org/tools/salary/sal-prof.cfm Office of Career Services (954) 262 - 7201 career@nova.edu www.nova.edu/career