Before we jump into the detailed process, let’s start with a very broad overview of how to negotiate your salary.
Salary negotiation starts early in the interview process, when you’ll often be asked for your current salary or expected salary. Rule #1 of salary negotiation is this: Do not disclose your salary history or salary requirements. This can be uncomfortable, but it’s your first opportunity to negotiate a much higher salary.
Once they make an offer, you’ll counter offer by sending a carefully written email that includes a strong case to support your counter offer. Typically, your counter offer will be 10–20% more than their offer, and you’ll focus on your base salary at first.
Figure out what you’re doing
Do your research. It’s often unwise to compare yourself to others, but in this instance it’s totally justified. Look at the market and try and get a sense of what someone in your position and with similar experience would be paid by a company in the same location as you.
Be realistic and understand your leverage: your negotiating power will heavily depend on your current employment situation. If you’re negotiating a package for a new role, ask whether you can negotiate the offer as it may not be negotiable to begin with.
2 Build a case to support your negotiations
As I said, you’ll need to build a case and you’ll need to be objective. Negotiating a salary isn’t necessarily about getting the pay you want, but ultimately proving to your employer that you are worth the investment.
Think about your roles and responsibilities and have a clear idea of what’s included in your job description and what duties transcend this. Jot down specific examples of how you’ve added value to your team and organization.
3. Think about what you want but most importantly do a lot of listening
Think about what you want and what your priorities are: are you financially motivated or are you looking for a role that offers more flexibility or remote working? Remember you don’t have to limit negotiations to just pay, you can also look to improve tuition, training stipends, paid leave, holiday time, pensions, and maybe even moving expenses.
Listening is a skill everyone needs. When it comes to your salary negotiation, good listening plays a very important role. It’s in the listening that you gather information about the company.
You can learn how generous they are from the words used by the interviewer. The look on his face when responding to you request for more and the voice tone can tell you a lot.
Just from listening, you can be able to estimate the financial muscle of the company. This will guide your responses and help you keep within the limits you sense they cannot go beyond.
4. Practice, practice, and practice some more
Practise really does make perfect. Whatever you do, don’t start negotiations without having rehearsed your pitch.
Find someone you trust to listen to your proposal until you feel at ease and hone your delivery. Ask that person to put you on the spot so that you can get a sense of how a real-life scenario might develop.
5. Be conscious of timing
Choose your moment. Timing really is of the essence so think about when it’d be acceptable to bring up salary negotiations.
If your employer is currently undergoing restructuring or financial hardship, attempting to negotiate a raise will appear tone deaf and it’s likely you won’t be taken seriously.
6. Be prepared for push back
You may not get a ‘yes’ straight away so be prepared to get some pushback. You need to be prepared to answer questions such as why you think you deserve the salary you’re asking for.
Try and remove your feelings and emotions from the negotiation process — remember it’s not personal. Stay focused, calm, and collected and don’t bow under pressure. Be gracious.
7. Show that you are well informed
Few things can rival your bargaining power when you have insightful information. Knowledge is indeed power and the more you know, the more capable you are of getting what you want.
Knowledge gives you the ability to know when a claim by the interviewer is meant to weaken your argument. And when you show that you have knowledge, you are immediately respected. They know that they cannot just counter your demands with empty words.
More than that, a smart employer will actually like you some more since he sees the potential you carry. You will be seen as proactive and good in doing your homework.
This further points to a possibility of you being a solution provider who is worthy of being invested in.