How To Discuss Salary Requirements With The Hiring Manager

How To Discuss Salary Requirements With The Hiring Manager

A lot of people find the subject of salary negotiation tricky. Do you wait to bring up the salary requirements or do you wait until the potential employer does it first?

When you’re dealing with an internal recruiter or a recruitment agency, they should make sure that they know what your expectations are before arranging any interviews.

It is sometimes hard to be precise when stating your salary expectations. If you only mention your minimum required amount, you’re unlikely to get anything more at the negotiation stage. If you mention a number that’s much higher than your current salary – you’re risking pricing yourself out of the job.

It is safer to give out a range that you’re interested in at the start of the process. There are a lot of salary surveys online (many published by recruitment agencies), so it should be relatively easy to get an idea what someone with your experience should be earning in your area.

Your negotiating power of course depends on a variety of factors. The first is your negotiating skill – your ability to convince the employer to give you what you want. The second is the job market. If a lot of people are out there selling the same skills and experience as you, you lose some negotiating edge.

The third factor affecting your negotiating power is the type of job you’re being hired to do. Generally, the higher up the corporate ladder you go, the more you can bargain for wages, benefits and perks.

Let me give you some advice on how to make salary negotiation process a bit easier!

Focus on the needs of the employer.

When you negotiate salary, you must remember that you’re involved in a sales process. Your goal is to persuade the customer – the employer – to pay as much as possible for your services. The only way to do that is to convince the employer that doing so will pay off handsomely for the company.

Remember, you must focus on the needs of the employer and not on your own needs when you sell yourself in an interview. The same applies in salary negotiations.

Employers base their salary decisions on one thing only: how much value they think you’ll add to the company. If you want $5k more than the employer offers, you have to prove you’re worth $5k more to the company.

How do you do that? By reminding the employer of the benefits and advantages you offer and by citing examples of how your past accomplishments benefited previous employers. In other words, by using the same sales techniques you used to convince the employer to make you a job offer in the first place.

Be polite, enthusiastic and professional.

During salary negotiations, be flexible and self-confident, but not arrogant and demonstrate that you’re looking for a win-win solution.

A few years ago a company I recruited for withdrew the offer as the candidate was too pushy and it appeared like he was only interested in the money. You don’t want to adopt a “take-it-or-leave-it” attitude here – remain polite and professional.

Ask for a bit more & continue selling yourself.

It is a good idea to ask for a little bit more than you think the employer wants to pay, which gives you room to negotiate. For example, if the employer offers you $55k and you want $60k, ask for $63-64k and then work backward towards your targeted salary.

Remember to justify why you’re requesting more money by focusing on the employer’s needs, not yours.

Finally, when you make a salary request, offer a short, simple explanation as to why this amount is appropriate and then – remain silent. Wait for the employer to respond instead of going on and on about why you should get what you’ve asked for.

Hope you’ll find these tips useful – best of luck in your negotiations!

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