The Voice of Job Seekers

Mark Anthony Dyson ★ Career Writer ★ Speaker ★ Thinker ★ Award-winning Blog & Podcast! ★ "The Job Scam Report" on Substack! ★ I hack and reimagine the modern job search!

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6 Practical Steps to Negotiate a Compensation Package

6 Practical Steps to Negotiate a Compensation Package

Don’t wait until you get an offer to start thinking about compensation negotiation. It’s never too early to plan for salary discussions, even if you aren’t going to leave your current job for at least a few more months.

If you’re strategic about it, negotiating a new compensation package doesn’t have to be scary. What should scare you, though, is only negotiating your paycheck while leaving the rest of your compensation package on the table! Many people settle for the first offer.

Rethink your negotiation strategy, especially if you’re only focused on your annual income.

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Negotiating compensation is stressful when you lack strategy. Anxiety appears when you’re unprepared, and it results in failure and disappointment. Employers are not interested in offering the best salary first. You must pursue it. If you’re unprepared to persuade employers to pay your worth, you’ll lose out.

Read Unemployed? The Voice of Job Seekers Is Here to Help

Kwame Christian, a business attorney and founder of the American Negotiation Institute, says people need to “recognize the opportunity to negotiate.” Kwame and I had quite a robust discussion on my podcast last winter.  Most people need practice in negotiating. Now is the time to prepare – even if you are not conducting a job search.

Here are several ways to ready yourself for a negotiation:

1. Recognize That ‘No’ Is Part of the Growth process

You never get used to hearing “no,” but enough “no” can help you adjust to negative outcomes. Christian suggests what he calls “No” Therapy: “Look for [negotiation] opportunities where the chances of success are minimal. Sometimes it works, and it’s a win-win when you don’t expect to succeed.”

This mindset is especially useful during particularly stressful negotiations. “It’s easier to accept rejection when the stakes are higher,” Christian says.

2. Know Where the Boundaries Are in Compensation Negotiation

Salary is important, but you need to consider the complete compensation package in order to determine the appropriate strategy. You can also get a head start on negotiating with a new employer by upping your salary now before you head onto the job market.

“While you’re working at your old job, ask for a raise, [which you can then] leverage when looking for a new [job],” Christian says. “The ceiling is the new floor.”

I used this strategy years ago while exiting a dissolving startup. Since others were exiting the company early, I had no pushback in getting a 15 percent raise.

Listen to How Can Underemployed Job Seekers Adapt to the New Workplace

3. Keep the Narrative Positive

Many job seekers focus too much on their opportunities for improvement and not enough on their strengths.

It’s especially important to emphasize the positive when negotiating a salary.

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“The impetus is on you to change the narrative,” Christian says.

4. Ask, But Also Show

Confidence comes from the application of your strengths. Strategize and execute a serious dialogue promoting your value. Proving your value will go a long way.

That being said, Christian also notes, “You don’t get what you deserve; you get what you ask for.” Proving your worth is only one part of the equation. You also have to set the terms of the negotiation.

Listen to Giving Women The Courage to Negotiate Salary

5. ‘No’ Can Also Mean ‘Not Yet’

Christian says most people fail because they think of the negotiation as a single conversation. Instead, he suggests approaching negotiation as if it “has no beginning and no end.”

When you have delivered value, you position yourself favorably for follow-up discussions. Even if the first attempt at negotiation doesn’t go your way, you may be able to reignite the conversation when you’ve proven your worth.

6. Defuse the Threat

If you start a negotiation by saying you want more money rather than by trying to establish a mutual value exchange, you’ll be seen as a threat. Negotiations need to be amicable, but you also want to keep your accomplishments top of the manager’s mind.

To help you make negotiation a pleasant experience for all involved, Christian recommends creating a paper trail when good things happen. Send emails with specific details and file them away for when it’s time to negotiate.

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Your job search could take months or longer, and seeing a bump in your compensation now could be leverage for your next job. Some people can get raises based on earned buy-in they’ve already built up with bosses. The rest of us can follow the above steps.

This article was originally published at Recruiter.com. 

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About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

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Not All Career Advice is Good For You

Not All Career Advice is Good For You

For any bad career advice given, someone will defend it, and others will claim it worked for them. Then there is the career advice police who will collectively say why you shouldn’t follow that advice. Most career advice is general, unless you fit the counselor or adviser’s intended audience or have paid someone for specific guidance tailored to you. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all career advice.

As a career professional who writes and speaks about careers and is often asked for career advice, policing all the advice I hear is exhausting. I stay in my lane more often than not. However, hundreds of thousands are currently offering career advice under the guise of being a career coach. And much of it isn’t good. However, I believe there are many positive aspects to consider. I am willing to focus on and celebrate the valuable and practical, regardless of who or where it comes from.

Scrutinize all career advice. If you don’t, conflicting advice can become quite messy. The bottom line is often what you want to do and where you want to do it when it comes to your next job. The lack of clarity becomes a journey for both career professionals and job seekers (or clients). 

Successful job candidates today must understand more than the job they want. Become critical thinkers of how the employer expects success. It would be best if you epitomized what employers want. As I said before, “be the prescription to the employers’ job description.” 

Most career professionals these days wouldn’t suggest the old-fashioned “Objective” statement on a résumé. Yet, the church that’s been looking for a secretary for six months will hire someone with skills, even if they have an “Objective.” Not to mention if the person with the “Objective” is referred by a church who was that person’s former employer. Referrals often eclipse errors on résumés.

I’ve suggested job seekers replace the “Objective” with a “Contribution Statement” on a résumé. It’s not just what you bring to the table. It’s the culmination of thoughtfulness, research, and listening to what employers and recruiters say are the problems. You don’t treat a cold with Ibuprofen, and you shouldn’t apply Neosporin to the skin if someone complains of a stomachache. It truly takes an examination on the job seeker’s part to understand and communicate they have the skills to solve the problem. It’s up to you, the job seeker, to apply best practices to align with your goals, motivations, and career objectives.

“Don’t be late” is said to adults as it is to kids, but it is a best practice in all industries. It’s preached from sermons to elementary school. That doesn’t mean someone can’t call to say they will be late. Or if it’s overlooked, if someone vouches for you. Some of you will think this is petty advice, and it is petty on all levels. It sounds good, but it may not be suitable for you. 

People in government sectors who’ve had long careers will still give the old, cut-and-paste-the-job-description-into-your-resume trick. And people have gotten interviews and jobs from that strategy. I witnessed this firsthand in a recent conversation. Generally, it doesn’t work well, but for someone, it did. We can call it an anomaly. However, it’s not a good practice, considering that I’ve heard of a thousand other people who tried and failed with the same strategy. 

My friend Hannah Morgan has suggested over the years we call informational interviews something else. Contextually, she is told to stop approaching people: “Can I conduct an informational interview with you?” She’s right. She has several articles in which she makes it clear it needs to be a conversation. I call it informational interviews countless times, and I’ve qualified it by saying it’s a business or informal conversation. Not always, but you get the point. Maybe I should say stop taking career and job-search advice so literally?

Career professionals offer career advice on how they would if they were the job seeker, without hearing what they are saying. What they say isn’t always in words, nor is their story a literal translation. Within those stories are feelings, and the words they speak are louder than unspoken. The career practitioner must listen for the unsaid as diligently as they interpret what is said. People who need advice are rarely straightforward, specific, and aware in their approach to job search, and are not always sure what they want.  

Many will argue they don’t have to customize their résumé to each employer. That’s arguable in this instance, despite best practices, but you will need to customize your approach if the company’s values and philosophies differ. Everyone prefers a different way to be charmed. You must respect their preferences if you want to be noticed.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

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Fascinating AI Tools for Career Development and Exploration

Fascinating AI Tools for Career Development and Exploration

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Dr. Dan Greenwood founded Best Fit Career Finder, an AI tool to help students explore compatible career options.

Dan is a Career and Educational Consultant. Greenwood Associates West Inc., Best Fit Career Finder, and Pacific Rim Education and Consulting Inc. are his companies.

Highlights:

Dan explains how their AI tool, powered by ChatGPT, assists students in understanding their strengths, values, interests, and abilities.

This AI makes the career exploration process interactive and tailored, tracking user interaction to provide personalized guidance.

 Dan says while AI is a helpful supplement, working with a career counselor remains crucial.

We discuss how career counselors may require pre-work from clients. The Best Fit Career Finder can aid this process by providing clarity before counseling.

Dan elaborates on his counseling method, integrating assessments with personalized action plans, and mentions that his model has been well-regarded in professional publications. 

You can find The Greenwood System and encouragement for the audience to try the tool for additional career exploration insights.

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About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.