‘They’ say money makes the world go round, and while money isn’t the main driver for most people it certainly makes life a lot easier and sweeter. A salary is an important driver of people’s lives, it dictates where you can live, how well you live and the amount of activities you can do. Therefore it is crucial to negotiate your salary, there are a few tips below that can help you.
Know your worth
You should make sure before entering any salary negotiations you know your career ‘worth’, make sure you research the current market salary range and make it specific to your industry. Research what similar job postings are offering and always look at the top end of the pay bracket. An amazing tool to use is CV salary matcher, upload your CV and years’ experience and the generator will benchmark you and your experience against your peers – it gives an extremely accurate reading and the report can be printed. This is an amazing report to physically take with you to the negotiation as you will have market data to reference, not just a wild guess. Asides from what the reports may say, if you think you deserve more then go for it!
Be enthusiastic
All the way through your interview process, or moving into a new role you should be enthusiastic; enthusiasm shows the hiring manager that you are committed to your new job and ready for the challenge. Talk about the great value and ideas you can bring to the business, show them your email ready for this! Don’t underestimate this step in securing your salary.
Take your time
You do not need to accept or start negotiations right away. Give yourself more time to consider your offer you can ask for a couple of days to review it. If it’s more money than you ever dreamed of and want to snap the recruiters hand off, then don’t delay – but more salary offerings should be thought through with care, you are within your rights to do this.
Benefits
Make sure you always ask what benefits are included with your new salary. If your salary offer comes out lower than you had expected but the company offers private healthcare, free gym membership, discounts at some high street stores, pension etc as standard then this may be why; you will then have to think about what you would prefer from your wage package. A way to boost your salary offering is to ask for a higher percentage in your bonus – employers are more inclined to offer this as part of a negotiation
Holiday allowance
Along with the above benefits, you should investigate how many days of holiday are included in your package, as well as sick pay. Some companies will pay higher salaries but not offer sick pay as standard – you need to look at the whole package and work out how much you really are getting after all your benefits (or lack of) are tallied up with the salary offer.
Be assertive
You must be calm but honest in your offer negotiations, if you have a price you just won’t budge on then be firm with it. If the company won’t increase your salary offer then you will have to decide what you want to do, but always be true to what you believe you should be paid. You know your own worth, now go out and get it!
How have you negotiated your salary? Got any top tips? Let me know in the comments below.
