How to Negotiate Your Salary

Hey everyone, welcome to part two of 10 Things I Wish They Taught Me in College, How to Negotiate Your Salary. For many people, the past few weekends have been focusing on college graduation and with the finale of your college career came that feeling of panic of finding a job. While finding a job you love is your main focus, you would also like to avoid living out of a cardboard box, eating ramen, because you are unable to pay back student loans. Never fear, I have researched far and wide to help you negotiate a good salary for the job of your dreams!!

Research, Research, Research: Like many other things in life, negotiating your salary requires some prep work. Use websites like Glassdoor to look up the average income of people with the job title you are trying to achieve in your section of the country. Then look up the company itself on Glassdoor and find more about the amount people with titles similar to your potential job make. This will give a good idea on what kind of salary amount you can feasibly negotiate with for this specific position.

State Your Number Clearly: What do I mean when I say state your number clearly? I mean that you must tell the employer the amount you would like to make with a distinct number, instead of saying a general ball park. You should state this number in an assertive tone and make eye contact when you state your amount.

Counter Offer the Counter Offer: Remember, if the prospective employer gives you an opportunity to negotiate, then this means they want you, and are usually willing to negotiate further to get you. If the employer is adamant about being unable to pay you your goal salary, then negotiate for job perks, like extra vacation time, or a larger annual bonus. Just please keep your negotiations realistic.

Be Polite: This one should go without saying, but please be polite to the person you are negotiating with. The negotiator is a human being who is most likely not out to get you, so don’t be evil to them. Remember that you may be working with this person in the future.

I hope that these tips help those of you out there currently on a job hunt. Do any of you have any negotiating tips that you found helpful? If so, please feel free to leave them in the comments.