Home  Job Search: The Total System Negotiating Tips

Excerpt from Chapter 9 of Job Search: The Total System
Published by Total Career Resources

Negotiating Compensation: Money Follows Value

Negotiating compensation is typically considered a part of the interview process, and without question it's the most vital part of that interview.

Despite the fact that negotiations may occur at the same time and place as your job interview, the interaction between you and the employer changes radically at that point. In fact, it represents a 180-degree position shift. Throughout all the hours of interviewing, you've been selling, selling, selling. When negotiations begin, the company is sold. It wants you. Now the question becomes whether it is willing to pay enough to get you.

Do Your Homework

Your value is subjective, of course. So your interviewing performance will prove your value to the company -- or at least it must convince the employer that you're as valuable as your resume and your compensation expectations promise. Make certain, though, that you back up your newly won authority and confidence with research and preparation.

Part of the negotiating process is identifying exactly what you are to do in the new company. One of the best ways to obtain the right job for yourself is to tailor it to your specifications!

Put Everything on the Table

Compensation encompasses a great deal more than salary. There are other, often better, ways than dollars on a paycheck to achieve your compensation goals. Consider these options, which can increase the value of your compensation package:

• Benefits
• Performance Reviews
• Promotions
• Executive Perks

Our point is that everything is negotiable. This doesn't mean that you'll be successful on every item. But it means that whatever the company can do to increase the total value of your compensation is fair game to be placed on the table.

Negotiation Rules

Never assume "I can't get that" or "They have a policy against that." Remember, your challenge in the interview is to make yourself invaluable to that employer. If you've accomplished that goal, then you can approach negotiations with the mindset, realistically, that your total compensation package should be in direct proportion to what you bring to the company's bottom line!

• Never -- never -- meekly accept the first dollar figure offered.

• Always negotiate with the hiring authority, not with the human resources department, because it is the hiring authority's bottom line that you are impacting.

• Let the employer name a salary figure first. Then ask them to put the offer in writing. While they do so, you can prepare your counter offer.

• Never answer the question, "What is the minimum you'll accept?" or "How much money do you need to make?" with a lower figure than your most recent compensation. (You're not interested in minimums.) State your required compensation boldly and confidently as you also address how you will dramatically impact their bottom line.