Avoid throwing out a wildly overinflated number, as it may backfire. An effective rule of thumb is ... [+]
It’s always awkward and challenging when asked to give your salary requirements on a job application or in an interview setting. You’re afraid to ask for too much, worried you’ll be rejected because of the number. On the other hand, you don’t want to sell yourself short.
Avoid throwing out a wildly overinflated number, as it may backfire. An effective rule of thumb is to request about 20% more than you really want, so there is ample room for negotiations.
Be prepared with data and evidence to reinforce your salary requirements. Throughout the hiring process, you will need to sell yourself and remind the interviewers of your stellar attributes, skills, education and relevant experience, making you the best candidate for the role.
It's acceptable practice to negotiate and make a counteroffer. If you cannot get the compensation you desire, you can ask for more vacation time, remote work, stock options or a better corporate title. Avoid taking anything personally and put aside your emotions.
Do Your Due Diligence To Find Out What You’re Worth
You first need to research how much people are being paid in your specific role. You want to be armed with data and evidence that support your salary requirements. Speak with co-workers and former colleagues and diplomatically ask them how much they were paid when they switched jobs. Since money is a touchy subject, you need to tread carefully.
A subtle way of asking about compensation is to say, “I’m thinking of switching jobs. I know that you recently accepted a new job. I’m not asking how much you received, but I would be interested in the ranges offered when you were interviewing.” The person may offer the ranges or directly share what they were paid when they changed jobs.
Many states now require salary bands to be included in job descriptions. Since you know the range, you can anchor your number to the higher end of the salary band. Even if you know the salary is significantly higher than you would accept, it leaves room for negotiations. A caveat is that pay disclosures on job descriptions are sometimes ridiculously wide, and if you peg yourself to an unreasonably high salary, that might come back to bite you later.
Investigate LinkedIn’s job site, corporate career websites, niche job-specific platforms and aggregation sites, such as Indeed, Simply Hired, Payscale, Salary.com and Glassdoor. Synthesize the information gleaned from co-workers, past colleagues and job listings to gain a sense of the market in your field.
Figuring Out How Much To Ask For
When asked to submit your salary requirements, you are at an uneven competitive disadvantage. Although you have conducted your homework to find out how much people get paid for work similar to your position, there are a lot of unknowns at the firm you're interviewing with. All you really have is the job description, and maybe your recruiter gave you some insights.
Before the interview commences, you really don’t know much, if anything, about the hiring managers, human resource professionals and what’s going on at the company. The manager could be a toxic micromanager, and if you had known this, you might not have bothered to apply or asked for a significantly higher paycheck. Despite the unfairness of being ordered to give your salary requirements first without any context, it's part of the process and needs to be done.
A smart negotiating strategy is to provide a wide salary range instead of a fixed number. This will greatly help you better negotiate terms after the interviews are done. If you give just one figure, you are locked into it and held to that amount when it comes time for an offer. When providing a salary range, it gives you room for negotiations. The high point of the salary should be at least 20% more than you believe you can get. The rationale is to give a higher number so that when it comes time to haggle over the compensation, they’ll cut down your ask by around 10%, which puts you ahead of the game. The lower number on the spectrum should be moderately higher than what you’d like to receive. The company will anchor to that figure if you give a lower amount.
Justifying Your Salary Requirements
You need to substantiate why you deserve the salary you desire. Lean into your elevator pitch and showcase your experience, talents, educational background and achievements. Tie in your pitch to the requirements of the job description. The goal is to demonstrate that you are worth the compensation because you are the perfect fit for the role. An added touch would be sharing several letters of recommendation from managers, colleagues and people with whom you partnered on projects.
When discussing compensation with a human resources person or hiring manager, remain cool, calm and collected. Come across sincerely, and speak with confidence. Act as if it's already a done deal.
Salary Is Only One Part Of The Equation
Companies handle negotiations differently. One business may tell you that they only give one offer they feel is right, and there is no haggling or negotiations. In tough times, companies may give you a lowball offer to test how desperate you are.
If the company pushes back on your request, don’t get angry. Prioritize what’s important, and don’t take anything personally. Pause, compose yourself and let them know you are open to negotiations. Inquire about a higher corporate title, which will help you when you move on to another job, as well as stock options, a 401(k) plan, vacation days, paid time off, health benefits and flexible work styles, such as remote or hybrid models. You can also ask for a three-month review. The deal could be that you will see a pay increase if you exceed expectations and hit all your goals.
If The Salary Request Is Made Via Email
It's been standard operating procedure for most companies to make a verbal offer. If the candidate accepts the offer, the company will draft an official offer letter and email it to the applicant for review and signature.
If the HR person directly emails the offer to you, carefully review the letter and accompanying documents. If all the information looks correct, the salary is what you wanted, and all the benefits, stock grants, vacation and PTO time are accurate, you can sign the offer letter. If you have any questions or concerns, either respond by email or request an in-person meeting or video call to discuss any necessary changes to the agreement.
When returning the executed agreement, add a personal note thanking all the people instrumental in the hiring process. Let them know you are highly excited about the opportunity and look forward to joining the company. To show your motivation, ask the hiring manager if you could do anything to get a jump start on the work.
