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4 More Ways of Basic Salary and Employment Negotiation

A friend recently negotiated a $10,000 bump in a salary offer because he used reasoning with a company that came after him. The current company paid $16,000 for his master’s degree, and asked the approaching company to invest part of what he would have to pay back. The company was impressed and agreed to work with him. Note that he only requested a portion and not the whole. Negotiation is an critical discussion in closing the deal. The ideal approach sets the tone for a prosperous career. Remember, reasonable. Read on!

1. Patient salary negotiation earns respect from employers

If you are tactful and respectful in making a request for anything using sound reason, the reciprocated respect is worth more than a salary bump. The word “REASON” is a powerful negotiation tool because it can make or break your efforts. To present a reason as a one-way often fails because the candidate is self-seeking. To offer sound reasoning is a value exchange: “I would like to work from home a day or two a week in exchange for working 6-8 hours overtime at the office.” This may work better with an employer who promotes work/life balance but it is only an offer.

2. You’re experienced. How about flexible?

If you have given a range of an expected salary, I hope is a thought-out, calculated, and measured answer. What about the other issues important to you, such as schedule, benefits, and perhaps holidays? If you have read articles on negotiation, they will say you should create a “must-have” list. Remember, be reasonable in requesting your “must-haves.” Negotiate with the professional relationship in mind.

3. Wait for it…in writing

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If you want clarity wait for the offer in writing before convening the Geneva convention. Depending on the professional level, the offer based on the value communicated. In lower level professions (hourly wage) the wiggle room is very small, which means you will have to consider non-salary negotiations (not true for every case but common).

An article in The Central New York Business Journal suggested,

If the desired salary isn’t available…make sure a position will offer other incentives prove beneficial later in a job candidate’s career.

Top Mistakes Professionals Make When Negotiating Their Salary. (2011). Business Journal (Central New York), 25(20), 10.

4. Salary negotiation is not a list of demands. It’s a business conversation

This approach is easier on both parties. No one is holding anyone hostage. Understand that for each “must-have” or request you make, expect requests. The success of this meeting will be the positive energy and mutual satisfaction (as stated in #6). Anything less than that you lose. Like the song says, “Know when to hold ‘em, and know when to fold ‘em…”

Again, the advice is basic, and by all means, read books on the subject if you desire a thorough knowledge base. Successful knowledge base rooted in expert knowledge of the value you offer and how to ask for what you want. Do you have tips to share? Please share in the comments.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Basic Salary and Employment Negotiation (Part 1)

Many job seekers ask about negotiating salary, yet never get in leveraging position. It is a passing thought or just too passive to strategize. There are also times when a job seeker doesn’t make enough money is understandable. It is also misunderstood knowing what it is and how it is an important part of accepting a job.

I am not a negotiation expert, but coached others on negotiating. There are some basics that could change the approach to employment. I have learned throughout several situations that negotiations are like an oscillating fan that it can blow everything off the table that isn’t stapled or bound. That happens to job candidates who concern themselves at the last moment and leave money on the table to be blown off.

1. Negotiation starts at the beginning of the last job

Before meeting or knowing the working relationship down the line, the best leverage is the new training and added responsibilities of last job. If you are passing on updated workshops, and training on new company initiatives, you are letting your career pass you by. Not to mention, as the clichés goes, leaving money on the table.

A willingness to learn or a teachable spirit doesn’t make you a well-qualified candidate. Employers ideal candidate can operate the car (so to speak) and teachable enough to learn where to go.

2. Negotiation is a plan throughout time, not an event

Negotiation strategy is effective before the first interview, and after the offer has been accepted. Beginning to plan after the first or second interview is too late. I am not suggesting but discourage any salary discussion during the interview other than to inject and reiterate value. If you cannot clearly assert your qualifications, your value will be a questioned.

Bill Holland, the author of Cracking the New Job Market: The 7 Rules for Getting Hired in Any Economy, and a widely regarded career expert states that,

Preparation is helpful, timing is crucial. If you communicate your preconditions to a company before you even land the job, you are violating the rule about delivering worth.

3. Negotiation is competitive AFTER they want you

Some candidates become comfortable after the negotiation begins. It is a big mistake. It is likely you are the first candidate they want but NOT exclusively. How you carry yourself, and enduring measurement against the second candidate on the list. Character flaws like arrogance and lacking discipline can make you undesired.

4. Negotiation is strategic

Most experts will insist that negotiation is a win-win process and I agree 100% that there is no other way. The way you lose is guessing your value (again, not always salary), and employers will not lose because someone will take something less than you. Research and plan but don’t wait for a special sign from God in form of a halo and a glowing ball. There are resources like Glassdoor.com to use for salary and culture research.

5. You don’t receive because you refuse to ask

As the lead hiring manager once upon a time, my director told me the rules of communicating to HR what to salary negotiate, but not one person negotiated salary. Fearing the unknown is a real and debilitating. Preparation and research is the great equalizer if you put in the time and effort.

Part 2 will be posted Wednesday. Do you struggle with any of these points? Please share in the comment section.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Best Interview Question Ever

Editor’s note: Jason Sanders is Vice President of Executive Search at Ivy Exec, a web-based recruiting company that combines next generation technology with human power to deliver customized hiring solutions targeting high caliber professionals to help place them in executive jobs. This article is reprinted with Ivy Exec’s permission.

As Ivy Exec’s Vice President of Executive Search I spend a lot of time interviewing high quality candidates, as you might imagine. Candidates talk with me about their executive job search, career progression, skills, experiences and personal lives. Usually, I am most interested in understanding what motivates a person. That discussion generally provides the most relevant information to screening and attracting excellent candidates for executive jobs. When you interview a candidate, you will need to balance both objectives in order to make a good hiring decision.

Normally, I spend about two hours total interviewing a candidate. Ideally, these conversations are broken down into an initial phone screen and a face-to-face interview. We cover many topics, including personal ones and a general career history. But what if you don’t have two hours to spend evaluating a candidate? Maybe you only have twenty minutes, or perhaps only five. How do you get the most information in the least amount of time? In short, what is the best interview question you can possibly ask?

You must to accomplish a number of things to make smart hiring decisions. You need to find out about the candidates’ primary skills, their general experience, their ability to synthesize information, their ability to present well and think on their feet, their people skills, their basic intelligence, and their fit into your organization. In truth, you will never fully evaluate a person until you work together. You can cover a lot of ground in a short period of time, though, using this question:

What is your most significant professional accomplishment?

This question has the advantage of leading to a very short answer, or a very long one. It may put your candidates at ease, or make them sweat. You may learn about your candidates’ values, their self-esteem and their cultural fit. You will certainly learn about their ability to communicate. If you listen well, you may be able to sort out sincerity from pretense. You may be able to tell how they view themselves in relation to a team. You may also be able to learn about the person’s drive to succeed.

You can use this interview question for any level candidate, and use it according to your own style. If you prefer, you may remain silent after asking the question, or you may use it as a basis for many follow up questions.

If you choose this question as a starting point, you create a theme for an entire interview. If there is time, you should dig more deeply by asking questions that qualify your candidates’ response. In the case of a consulting project, some of these questions might be:

What were the dimensions of the project? How was it sold? How long did it last? What was the makeup of the delivery team?

What was your role in the assignment?

What was the overall business impact of the assignment? This is a critical question to assess your candidates’ understanding of the connection between their work and the goals of their clients.

Why were you chosen for this assignment?

What challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

Which elements of the project did you enjoy, and which didn’t you enjoy?

How did you grow as a person during the course of the assignment?

What did you learn from your client, and what did you teach your client?

When you begin with a strong open-ended question, you lead with a very powerful analytical tool. You can gather a lot of information in a short period of time. You also create an anchor, around which to base a longer interview.

This question makes it easy to structure your interview by introducing a theme for the meeting. Preparing interview questions is always a good idea, but even without an organized approach, you now have something to refer back to. If your candidate begins to wander away from the topic, you will be able to steer the conversation, and learn about the candidate’s ability to stay focused at the same time.

The questions you ask are less important than how you listen to the answers. You may find, for example, that a person needs a lot of prompting. This may mean that they have not accomplished much, or it may mean that they are introverted, or maybe they have not interviewed in years and are a bit rusty. Your evaluation must be flexible according to the circumstances, and other bits of information you gather.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, you may find that your interviewee cannot stop talking about their work. Most hiring managers respond poorly to people who talk excessively, and with good reason. While over talking may make a person sound prideful, the opposite is usually the case. It also shows an inability to rapidly synthesize information, and in the worst cases, may be rude to the interviewer.

This question provides you with a firm grounding to begin, and to guide an interview. You should challenge a person, but also make them comfortable enough to reveal themselves. Your questions, and your style give candidates an impression of what it will be like to work for you. Take advantage of every opportunity to leave a good impression.

Using this question puts you in position to gather information and to ask smart follow up questions. It serves as a kind of interviewing cheat sheet, which helps you get around some of the preparatory work, like reading a resume. Don’t misunderstand me; reading a candidate’s resume is extremely important. If you are caught off guard, however, you can refer back to this question without tipping your hand.

In order to make a good hire, you need to check many different aspects of a candidate’s background, skills, personality, cultural fit and drive. You will need to use different approaches to get all the information that you want. Somewhere in the process, though, you ought to ask this question. You may get more than you expected.