In advance of salary negotiation, it is imperative for you to know exactly what your salary value is. If you do not know how much you are worth before negotiating salary, then you will find it very difficult to ask for a salary that matches what the job market will pay.
If you do not do your research, your employer will decide your pay increase for you and it may be very dissapointing. Millions of people regularly negotiate salary, but very few get the maximum pay increase that they could.
Doing extensive research before you approach your boss for a pay increase or before you discuss salary negotiation at job offer time, is an imperative. It is like a game of chess. You cannot reveal to your opponent what your next move will be. Likewise, you do not want to reveal your salary history if you can avoid it, and don't discuss salary too early.
Know how much compensation you can command before you ever discuss salary negotiation with an employer.
Whether you are looking for new employment or you are asking for a pay raise, do your research first. There are great Internet resources available, like SalaryExpert.com or Monster.com. These sites have continual access to all the salary information that is available.
One challenge is understanding the reliability of the source of the information. If a resume website is reporting salary ranges as reported by their list of job seekers, it may not be as precise as if the salaries are reported by the human resources department of the firms that are seeking to recruit personnel.
Another method, if you are a little intrepid, is to do a bit of discreet research. If you know people who work for the firm, and are not fearful of asking direct questions, you may well find find out what other staff are earning in the same job for that business.
Better yet, if you can ask a valued human resources friend, you may find out not only about the company you work for, but you may also find out about other companies in your market. Whatever information you can find out, will be useful, as long as the source is someone you can believe.
Salary comparison is done on frequent basis by human resources personal within companies and between companies as well. There are even research reports published by large research firms and human resource organizations that share information openly about their hiring practice in their regions. If you are able to gain access to one of these reports, you have the diamond mine of information you need.
Salaries are often reported on the basis of a salary curve. Take for example, a software developer in a given city with very specific experience in Microsoft technology. They may earn $70K or $80K or more. The reporting will show the percentage of workers who are earning in the top end of that range, middle of the range and bottom of the range. It is very clear based on the chart.
In order to determine where you lie in the salary range, you need to figure out your percentile. This is the measure to which you believe in yourself and your abilities, combined with your tenure, experience and proven status on the job. If you feel you are honestly a high performance employee, give yourself a higher rating. If you know you have less experience or you are new to a job, then rate a little lower. Be honest in your self assessment.
I have found it to be very useful to point blank ask friends at work where they feel I should be on the salary scale. They know themselves and measure themselves against you. You should do this with someone you have a very good raport with. You will get great direct feedback.
You must be able to express the value you bring to the business in terms that employers really like to hear. If you are able to describe your value in quantifiable terms, then you will have a lot stronger arguement. Think about cost savings, profits you've been responsible for and efficiency you may have brought to the business. This is the greatest way to communicate your worth when negotiating salary.
To your salary negotiation success. - 16463
If you do not do your research, your employer will decide your pay increase for you and it may be very dissapointing. Millions of people regularly negotiate salary, but very few get the maximum pay increase that they could.
Doing extensive research before you approach your boss for a pay increase or before you discuss salary negotiation at job offer time, is an imperative. It is like a game of chess. You cannot reveal to your opponent what your next move will be. Likewise, you do not want to reveal your salary history if you can avoid it, and don't discuss salary too early.
Know how much compensation you can command before you ever discuss salary negotiation with an employer.
Whether you are looking for new employment or you are asking for a pay raise, do your research first. There are great Internet resources available, like SalaryExpert.com or Monster.com. These sites have continual access to all the salary information that is available.
One challenge is understanding the reliability of the source of the information. If a resume website is reporting salary ranges as reported by their list of job seekers, it may not be as precise as if the salaries are reported by the human resources department of the firms that are seeking to recruit personnel.
Another method, if you are a little intrepid, is to do a bit of discreet research. If you know people who work for the firm, and are not fearful of asking direct questions, you may well find find out what other staff are earning in the same job for that business.
Better yet, if you can ask a valued human resources friend, you may find out not only about the company you work for, but you may also find out about other companies in your market. Whatever information you can find out, will be useful, as long as the source is someone you can believe.
Salary comparison is done on frequent basis by human resources personal within companies and between companies as well. There are even research reports published by large research firms and human resource organizations that share information openly about their hiring practice in their regions. If you are able to gain access to one of these reports, you have the diamond mine of information you need.
Salaries are often reported on the basis of a salary curve. Take for example, a software developer in a given city with very specific experience in Microsoft technology. They may earn $70K or $80K or more. The reporting will show the percentage of workers who are earning in the top end of that range, middle of the range and bottom of the range. It is very clear based on the chart.
In order to determine where you lie in the salary range, you need to figure out your percentile. This is the measure to which you believe in yourself and your abilities, combined with your tenure, experience and proven status on the job. If you feel you are honestly a high performance employee, give yourself a higher rating. If you know you have less experience or you are new to a job, then rate a little lower. Be honest in your self assessment.
I have found it to be very useful to point blank ask friends at work where they feel I should be on the salary scale. They know themselves and measure themselves against you. You should do this with someone you have a very good raport with. You will get great direct feedback.
You must be able to express the value you bring to the business in terms that employers really like to hear. If you are able to describe your value in quantifiable terms, then you will have a lot stronger arguement. Think about cost savings, profits you've been responsible for and efficiency you may have brought to the business. This is the greatest way to communicate your worth when negotiating salary.
To your salary negotiation success. - 16463
About the Author:
Trevor Davide Grant is a project manager in the IT field and has extensive experience in salary negotiation. Trevor has worked for large telecom, electric utilities, software consulting, and a prevalent web 2.0 site. He has learned salary negotiating in the most powerfulway. Learn great tacticson the topic of negotiating salary at www.HowToNegotiateASalary.com.
