Remember, salary is the amount the market will support for your services. Most organizations, both large and small, establish salary ranges for every position based on standards and general practices for the field. Organizations determine where an employee falls in the salary range based on experience and special expertise or knowledge. It is in the organization’s best interest to hire you for fair market value for several reasons. First, the hiring process can be long and expensive. It would be inefficient for an organization to make low offers only to be rejected and have to begin the recruiting process all over again. Second, organizations want to hire and retain good employees. It is unproductive to pay you less than other employees.
The What, Why, and When of Salary Negotiation
What is it?
Salary negotiation is the process of reaching an agreement on what an organization will pay for your skills, knowledge, and experience. Contrary to popular belief, this is not an adversarial process. It is both the organization’s and your best interest to come to a mutually beneficial agreement.
Why or Why Not Negotiate?
The
only reason is to get fair market value for your skills, experience, and knowledge.
The process is important for future earning because most raises will be based on your starting salary. However, it is unwise to negotiate for negotiation’s sake.
For example, sometimes job seekers think a hiring manager expects them to negotiate, or that salaries should be negotiated as a general principle. Although organizations respect employees who can articulate the value they add, recent grads (or anyone else) can quickly alienate potential hiring managers if they are inappropriate and over zealous in their approach to negotiating their salary to “get a fair deal.”
When Should You Negotiate?
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